Andreas Broeckmann via nettime-l on Mon, 18 Dec 2023 09:50:18 +0100 (CET)


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Re: <nettime> the silence on the rising fascism / non-violence


Am 18.12.23 um 01:23 schrieb podinski via nettime-l:
>
> the silences ( here in Berlin and DE especially ) are really
> disturbing ! and shameful !

pod, i understand the irritation and the agitation, though it is perhaps not so difficult to comprehend the general situation in berlin if you take the history of the past 75 (+3+12+15+4+43+x) years into consideration.* which perhaps doesn't make the current situation less disturbing, but the dilemma more understandable that many find themselves in.

as regards the discussion here on the list, it's hard for me personally to contribute to conversations that go like this one. where the meek fear of antisemitism is equalised with a call to murder, and where differentiation of place and event is extrapolated into global analysis. - see two examples below. (one comes from trans-planet.org that Frédéric pointed us to: i respect the thinking that leads to these opinions, but where to start a conversation that is headlined by "the interdiction of the event with Judith Butler ... is an interdiction of peace ... and is the promotion of war ... and murder"?)

i have an inkling that a careful conversation about shame and why people feel it (and why other people don't), might be an interesting starting point. [who feels shame for the events of 7 October?] - maybe these are conversations that one can not easily have in a large, public space.

greetings,
-a

PS: as regards the case of the Oyoun cultural centre in berlin, i recommend to also read up on the history of the "Werkstatt der Kulturen", and to recap the political changes in berlin since the 2016 and the february 2023 elections. for some of the political decision-makers, the current situation might only be a pretext (in which case the political campaign to save Oyoun's funding might have to be recalibrated).

* The German Minister of Economics, Robert Habeck of the Green Party, explained in November, some weeks after the pogrom of 7 October, the basics of an attitude which is complicated, not easy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdZvkkpJaVI


Am 18.12.23 um 08:11 schrieb Frédéric Neyrat via nettime-l:

Indeed, which civility should "speak"? Maybe the one of a planetary
ceasefire, rethinking non-violence at its roots (MLK, Gandhi, J. Butler's
latest book, "The Force of non-violence," see also the 7th chapter of
Robinson's Black Marxism). We're working on this with some friends:
https://www.trans-planet.org/ (texts in French and English:

"L’interdiction de la rencontre publique « Contre l’antisémitisme, son instrumentalisation et pour la paix révolutionnaire en Palestine », où Judith Butler devait parler au nom de Jewish Voice for Peace, est l’expression d’un vœu profond : interdire la paix.
Interdire la paix est promouvoir la guerre.
Promouvoir la guerre est appeler à la violence :
la violence pour maintenir un ordre injuste, pour mener des guerres à l’extérieur et pour assurer l’ordre intérieur par la brutalité policière.
Leur pacification s’appelle la mort."


Re: the silence on the rising fascism
by Brian Holmes via nettime-l

Similar to Germany, the center left and right have come together in the US
to seal off any public discussion about the war, despite polls showing that
a majority is against sending arms to massacre Palestinians. Meanwhile the
big discussion in the press is literally about dictatorship, how much
dictatorship would be possible under a second Trump presidency. It's eerie,
because at the same time you have Milei assuming power in Argentina and
devaluing the peso by 51% on the first day, with his security minister
saying that previously existing restraints will be abandoned, police on the
street will carry live rounds and protests will be confined to the
sidewalk. That's a recipe for a social explosion on a very short timeline.
In short this is the heaviest atmosphere I ever lived through in the
Americas.

It seems that climate change, the Russo-Chinese challenge to US hegemony,
and at the same time, boundary-busting technological innovations and
twisted perspectives of yet another capitalist growth binge have all opened
up a nihilistic sense of the need for states and elites to make a move. The
geopolitical crisis and paradigm shift that Armin Medosch and I were so
keen to analyze a decade ago is happening now. It's already on a huge scale
and it could get bigger. At the same time I think civil society has only
begun to speak, and there is an incredible amount to be said. The Empire
itself is naked barbarism. What are we gonna do?
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