The good men of Leipzig
bin grad durch einen tip (danke tari) auf folgenden artikel aus der haaretz gestossen...direkter link hier
The good men of Leipzig
By Assaf Uni
LEIPZIG, Germany - The phone call two weeks ago reached D. at a cafe in Conne Island, the center of the pro-Israel radical left in Leipzig. On the line was a correspondent from a local radio station asking the 24-year-old if members of the club were aware that at that very moment a neo-fascist parade was being held on the other side of town.
"Do you realize what they did," D. said angrily last weekend. "The neo-Nazis and the municipality concealed it from us and called it 'a protest against the deployment of the German army around the world,' but basically it was an anti-Zionist rally. They shouted 'we won't shed our blood for Israel,' after troops were deployed in Lebanon."
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Within an hour, D. and his friends were able to organize 200 young people, most of them non-Jews, to stream into the neighborhood where the parade was taking place to confront the neo-Nazi demonstrators. This is what the anti-fascist left does at nearly every rally, parade or gathering of the extreme right across Germany. But the German police force was prepared and identified the young protesters and prevented them from disrupting the rally.
"This time it didn't end with blows," said D. "Many other times it did."
The Conne Island center, a complex with a performance hall, library, cafe and impressive skateboard rink, is the headquarters of the pro-Israel radical left-wing activity in Leipzig. One would not have expected these activists to show uncompromising support for Israel and for the advancement of neo-Marxist values.
There are Communist skinheads, punks who oppose the use of drugs and sex, skate-boarders and sprayers (street artists who are responsible for the dazzling graffiti covering the walls of the complex).
A plethora of movements
Almost all of the activists are young, aged 16-30 and nearly all of them are active in some sort of political movement. The center brings together different coalitions, including the Bundnis Gegen Rechts (BGR or Network Against the Right), the Antifaschistischer Frauenblock Leipzig (AFBL or Anti-fascist Women's Block Leipzig), and the Bundnis Gegen Antisemitismus Leipzig (BGAL or Network Against Anti-Semitism Leipzig) and the Anti-Deutsche.
The Anti-Deutsche is an ideological movement whose followers unequivocally support Israel and the United States and denounce any manifestation of nationalism among Germany's residents (and thus the source of its name: anti-Germany).
"What we all share is support for Israel and coming out against any form of anti-Semitism, fascism and sexism," says the center's director, Christian Schneider, 26. "All in all, there around several hundred people active in Conne Island."
A good example of the pro-Israel activity in Leipzig is the public campaign against wearing kaffiyehs, once an essential accessory in the European left-wing activist's wardrobe.
"Do you have a problem with Jews or is it only that your neck is cold?" was the slogan for the campaign organized by the center in recent years.
The campaign aimed to prevent young people from wearing what the center perceived as a symbol of identification with the Palestinians and with anti-Semitism.
"If a young person shows up today at one of the events here wearing a kaffiyeh, (Conne Island is one of the most popular performance spaces in Leipzig - A.U.), we will politely ask him to remove the kaffiyeh, while explaining to him what the significance of it is. Otherwise, he simply won't enter," says Schneider.
The committee that runs the center assembles before every live performance there to review the ideology of the groups performing at Conne Island.
If they came out in the past against Israel or in favor of German nationalism of any kind, they are offically banned.
Very soon afterward, the committee publishes a notice explaining the reasons for the rejection in the center's journal, C-I.
Against German nationalism
Schneider says the most recent decision was to ban the troupe Mia, one of whose songs opens with a reference to "black hair, red lips and a shining sun" - a blatant reference to the black, red and yellow colors of the German flag, a nationalist symbol that Conne Island members refuse to accept. Moreover, every ticket to a performance there has an anti-fascist surcharge of half a euro to finance the center's range of activities.
The phenomenon of support for Israel among the extreme left in Germany is not new, but it has gained momentum and many supporters in recent years.
Alongside ideological friction during the 1990s, which led to a split between anti-imperialists and Anti-Deutsche, the second intifada and the September 11 attacks hastened the division of the anti-fascists into two separate camps that see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict differently.
On the one hand, as most radical leftist organizations in Europe maintain, Israel is an imperialist, racist power; on the other hand, due to Germany's unique history and its responsibility for the murder of six million Jews during World War II, there are also some who unequivocally support Israel.
The pro-Israel process also gained momentum as a counter-reaction to the radical, neo-Nazi right's use of Palestinian and Iranian symbols to protest against Israel. At the last World Cup, which was held in Germany, groups of neo-Nazis waved pictures of the Holocaust-denying Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with Iranian flags. The radical right also frequently uses the slogan, "Freedom for Germany and Palestine."
To a large extent, Leipzig is unusual in the German scene, because most of the leftist anti-fascist activists there are also pro-Israeli. In other places in Germany, such as Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and university cities such as Tubingen, there is a heated fight between the anti-imperialist left and the pro-Israeli left.
A fight that according to D., who was formerly an activist in Anti-Deutsche, "has already put many people in the hospital."
"I'm the living example of the change the anti-fascist left has undergone," says D. "Ten years ago, I thought the U.S. dominated the world with cruelty, and that all the poor people should fight against it.
The September 11 attacks caused me to sober up from the delusion that this was the way to fight capitalism. Since then, I have supported the U.S. as part of Anti-Deutsche. However, at the moment, what remains is mostly support for Israel. I saw that in the radical left, they simply express classic anti-Semitic positions under the guise of anti-imperialism."
D. is now actively researching anti-Semitism and the Holocaust for a study he is writing.
How does he handle having a neo-Marxist and anti-nationalist ideology, and at the same time supporting Israel's activities in the territories? "As far as I'm concerned, there needn't be discussion about this in the wake of the Holocaust. Support for Israel is above any ideological debate," he says.
The good men of Leipzig
By Assaf Uni
LEIPZIG, Germany - The phone call two weeks ago reached D. at a cafe in Conne Island, the center of the pro-Israel radical left in Leipzig. On the line was a correspondent from a local radio station asking the 24-year-old if members of the club were aware that at that very moment a neo-fascist parade was being held on the other side of town.
"Do you realize what they did," D. said angrily last weekend. "The neo-Nazis and the municipality concealed it from us and called it 'a protest against the deployment of the German army around the world,' but basically it was an anti-Zionist rally. They shouted 'we won't shed our blood for Israel,' after troops were deployed in Lebanon."
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Within an hour, D. and his friends were able to organize 200 young people, most of them non-Jews, to stream into the neighborhood where the parade was taking place to confront the neo-Nazi demonstrators. This is what the anti-fascist left does at nearly every rally, parade or gathering of the extreme right across Germany. But the German police force was prepared and identified the young protesters and prevented them from disrupting the rally.
"This time it didn't end with blows," said D. "Many other times it did."
The Conne Island center, a complex with a performance hall, library, cafe and impressive skateboard rink, is the headquarters of the pro-Israel radical left-wing activity in Leipzig. One would not have expected these activists to show uncompromising support for Israel and for the advancement of neo-Marxist values.
There are Communist skinheads, punks who oppose the use of drugs and sex, skate-boarders and sprayers (street artists who are responsible for the dazzling graffiti covering the walls of the complex).
A plethora of movements
Almost all of the activists are young, aged 16-30 and nearly all of them are active in some sort of political movement. The center brings together different coalitions, including the Bundnis Gegen Rechts (BGR or Network Against the Right), the Antifaschistischer Frauenblock Leipzig (AFBL or Anti-fascist Women's Block Leipzig), and the Bundnis Gegen Antisemitismus Leipzig (BGAL or Network Against Anti-Semitism Leipzig) and the Anti-Deutsche.
The Anti-Deutsche is an ideological movement whose followers unequivocally support Israel and the United States and denounce any manifestation of nationalism among Germany's residents (and thus the source of its name: anti-Germany).
"What we all share is support for Israel and coming out against any form of anti-Semitism, fascism and sexism," says the center's director, Christian Schneider, 26. "All in all, there around several hundred people active in Conne Island."
A good example of the pro-Israel activity in Leipzig is the public campaign against wearing kaffiyehs, once an essential accessory in the European left-wing activist's wardrobe.
"Do you have a problem with Jews or is it only that your neck is cold?" was the slogan for the campaign organized by the center in recent years.
The campaign aimed to prevent young people from wearing what the center perceived as a symbol of identification with the Palestinians and with anti-Semitism.
"If a young person shows up today at one of the events here wearing a kaffiyeh, (Conne Island is one of the most popular performance spaces in Leipzig - A.U.), we will politely ask him to remove the kaffiyeh, while explaining to him what the significance of it is. Otherwise, he simply won't enter," says Schneider.
The committee that runs the center assembles before every live performance there to review the ideology of the groups performing at Conne Island.
If they came out in the past against Israel or in favor of German nationalism of any kind, they are offically banned.
Very soon afterward, the committee publishes a notice explaining the reasons for the rejection in the center's journal, C-I.
Against German nationalism
Schneider says the most recent decision was to ban the troupe Mia, one of whose songs opens with a reference to "black hair, red lips and a shining sun" - a blatant reference to the black, red and yellow colors of the German flag, a nationalist symbol that Conne Island members refuse to accept. Moreover, every ticket to a performance there has an anti-fascist surcharge of half a euro to finance the center's range of activities.
The phenomenon of support for Israel among the extreme left in Germany is not new, but it has gained momentum and many supporters in recent years.
Alongside ideological friction during the 1990s, which led to a split between anti-imperialists and Anti-Deutsche, the second intifada and the September 11 attacks hastened the division of the anti-fascists into two separate camps that see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict differently.
On the one hand, as most radical leftist organizations in Europe maintain, Israel is an imperialist, racist power; on the other hand, due to Germany's unique history and its responsibility for the murder of six million Jews during World War II, there are also some who unequivocally support Israel.
The pro-Israel process also gained momentum as a counter-reaction to the radical, neo-Nazi right's use of Palestinian and Iranian symbols to protest against Israel. At the last World Cup, which was held in Germany, groups of neo-Nazis waved pictures of the Holocaust-denying Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with Iranian flags. The radical right also frequently uses the slogan, "Freedom for Germany and Palestine."
To a large extent, Leipzig is unusual in the German scene, because most of the leftist anti-fascist activists there are also pro-Israeli. In other places in Germany, such as Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and university cities such as Tubingen, there is a heated fight between the anti-imperialist left and the pro-Israeli left.
A fight that according to D., who was formerly an activist in Anti-Deutsche, "has already put many people in the hospital."
"I'm the living example of the change the anti-fascist left has undergone," says D. "Ten years ago, I thought the U.S. dominated the world with cruelty, and that all the poor people should fight against it.
The September 11 attacks caused me to sober up from the delusion that this was the way to fight capitalism. Since then, I have supported the U.S. as part of Anti-Deutsche. However, at the moment, what remains is mostly support for Israel. I saw that in the radical left, they simply express classic anti-Semitic positions under the guise of anti-imperialism."
D. is now actively researching anti-Semitism and the Holocaust for a study he is writing.
How does he handle having a neo-Marxist and anti-nationalist ideology, and at the same time supporting Israel's activities in the territories? "As far as I'm concerned, there needn't be discussion about this in the wake of the Holocaust. Support for Israel is above any ideological debate," he says.
posted by transponder at 9:10 AM
7 Comments:
hi benjamin,
bin nicht mehr über festnetz zum telefonieren gekommen -mist!
wann hast du denn immer so feierabend?
dann würde ich es morgen von tel aviv probieren.
der herzi
puh, also momentan lieg ich krank im bett und müsste dann morgen zuhaus erreichbar sein...
jajaja - leipzig ist toll und der rest ist mist. ist mir zu platt und auch fehlende diskos besonders in leipzig, wo jeder diskopopper über jahre gewachsene erkenntnisse ohne hinterfragen oder eigene geistige bemühungen nachplappert, halte ich für kritikwürdig. lieber heterogen und disko als hegemonie und scheuklappe. davon abgesehen ist der artikel ganz gut und leipzig rockt auch klar mehr als so kotzdörfer wie magdeburg... aber gut - - - :-) das wussten wir schon vorher.
WWW.SCHMONDT.DE.VU
Hey du alter nögel kop,
hast ja recht damit das der artikel etwas platt is, aber fehlende disko und theroretischer backround?keine ahnung aber ich hab den eindruck da passiert in leipzig immer noch am meisten... C I, Phase 2, Veranstaltungen etc. und das da leute gern mit aufspringen dat passiert in allen dörfern, bei jedem scheiss ob nun punkrock, antiimp, vegan,fussball , feuerwehr oder halt israelsoli
ich find an dem artikel eher spannend, das er in israel gelesen wird und sich scheinbar leute dafür interessieren was in der ostdeutschen provinz so vor sich geht und mit so nem artikel die ganze linke-polit-welt zu erklären is wohl auch etwas viel verlangt ;)
ps. haste jetzt mal den flug gebucht? wenn nicht..am 14.2 spielt hapoel gegen die rangers im uefacup vielleicht kriegste dat ja noch mit rein, aber es gibt auch andere tolle dinge zu bestaunen...meld dich mal
flug is gebucht wie angekuendigt, also kein hapoel-spiel... und der artikel is auch mehr cool als uncool und leipzig is auch mehr cool als uncool (zufrieden?)
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und hier noch was von deinen anarcho-freunden da... die musste mir unbedingt mal vorstellen, wenn ich vor ort bin. ;-)
- - - - - - - - -
Left wing activists block Tel Aviv street with part of separation fence
By Roni Singer-Haruti, Haaretz Correspondent
About 20 activists from the Anarchists Against the Fence organization on Thursday briefly blocked Basel Street in north Tel Aviv with a piece of barbed wire fence taken from the separation fence.
Signed hanging from the barbed wire, also taken from the separation fence, stated: "Mortal danger ? military zone: Any person who passes or damages the fence endangers his life."
The act of protest created a traffic jam at the site, and police forces were called to the scene, but the activists dispersed before police arrived.
The activists said they wanted to bring the daily Palestinian reality to the residents of Tel Aviv to remind them of the movement restrictions and land theft taking place in their name only a few kilometers away.
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mein lieblingskommentar unten drunter ist der hier:
IF A TERRORIST GETS THROUGH THAT PORTION OF THE FENCE DISABLED BY THESE JACKASSES, AND SOMEONE IS KILLED OR INJURED OR THERE IS PROPERTY DAMAGE, THEY SHOULD BE CHARGED WITH THE CRIME AS IF THEY DID THE CRIME THEMSELVES. THROW THE FRIGGING BOOK AT THEM.
gute nacht.
www.schmondt.de.vu
jup...bin sehr zufrieden;)
vorallem darüber das du den flug gebucht hast!
und so ne freunde hab ich hier nich... gibt es ja in d-land schon genug aber ich zeig dir mal den hübschen infoladen in tel-aviv, ich sach nur vegane revolution!jetzt auch in ramallah!
Tja Keule, wir sind halt einfach die Guten, nech? Aber wennde irgendwann wieder da bist simmer noch viel viel besser! ;-)
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