I did not claim the AfD denied the Holocaust as that's illegal in Germany. But Gauland from the AfD famously called the Holocaust "Vogelschiss" which is not far away from Hallam's "fuckery", is it? Was he persecuted? No. Was he "depublished"? No. He's still interviewed, whatever he says is still reported on, he still has a platform, he was not removed from any social media either, he had no consequences to face whatsoever.
I disagree with the naive assessment about the AfD you're portraying here, but alright. Especially in connection to what just happened last week with the WDR and this week with the BR and Gutjahr's open letter.
>So the foreign minister of Germany is not part of the government? He didn't use his public position to help start, and legitimize, this witchhunt? That whole episode didn't make Roger Hallam a Persona non grata among the German branch of the ER?
So if the German foreign minister criticizes a public activist's take on the Holocaust that to you is a witch-hunt? So Hallam bears no responsibility here? Who is allowed to criticize him then?
It is comical how you think this episode is almost more devious than what's happening in India at the moment. It shows to me a complete lack of perspective. But let's agree to disagree then.
> But Gauland from the AfD famously called the Holocaust "Vogelschiss" which is not far away from Hallam's "fuckery", is it?
It's very far away from calling it "almost just another fuckery" particularly when the context of that statement was other genocides and the prospect of the climate-catastrophe making all of them look rather small-scale.
> I disagree with the naive assessment about the AfD you're portraying here, but alright. Especially in connection to what just happened last week with the WDR and this week with the BR and Gutjahr's open letter.
It's not at all a "naive assessment", you only call it that because it contradicts the popular narrative of "Every single one of them is just a neo-Nazi, so none of them have any valid points".
It's a narrative that leaves certain political issues completely in the hand of the AfD, by painting these issues as topics that supposedly "Only AfD neo-Nazis would talk about", like the financing of public broadcasting and how it over proportionally encumbers single-person households.
No other party actually has that on their agenda, and that most certainly won't change because by now that whole issue has been "sullied" by the AfD.
Then there's the reality that the AfD abuses the stigma of certain topics to gain popularity trough controversy, literally gaming the system that's supposed to keep them marginalized.
> So if the German foreign minister criticizes a public activist's take on the Holocaust that to you is a witch-hunt? So Hallam bears no responsibility here? Who is allowed to criticize him then?
The German foreign minister did that on the basis of an interview that wasn't even publicly available at that point. So nobody could actually read the full context of Hallam's statements, but plenty of people ended up reading Mass unique take on it.
How Mass got hold of the interview prior to publishing? Nobody knows, and apparently nobody even cares because who would want to defend somebody who supposedly relativizes the Holocaust? Certainly nobody in Germany, because that would be the equivalent of character-assassinating yourself.
>The German foreign minister did that on the basis of an interview that wasn't even publicly available at that point. So nobody could actually read the full context of Hallam's statements, but plenty of people ended up reading Mass unique take on it.
How Mass got hold of the interview prior to publishing? Nobody knows, and apparently nobody even cares because who would want to defend somebody who supposedly relativizes the Holocaust? Certainly nobody in Germany, because that would be the equivalent of character-assassinating yourself.
Maas linked to the article when he made his statement on the issue. The article was already available:
The AfD started as an anti-euro party. Most people who look at the party somewhat objectively don't think it's only filled with neo nazis. The five hundred op-eds about how Union and SPD missed the mark and have to take the "besorgte Bürger" seriously were all published in media across the political spectrum.
But it's absolutely obvious that the far right wing part of the party has won over control. It's also obvious that people with neo nazi affiliation do exist in the party and a person with strong ties to the scene like Kalbitz even leads the party in one of their most important states. Look at their last party meeting. Look at Petry leaving, Lucke - the party's founder - leaving a lot earlier. Your assessment of the AfD is extremely naive as this party is consistently talking about putting caps on the freedom of the press. Just look at Höcke's comments after his interview on ZDF this summer.
To your other point, no, I don't think Gauland's comment was all that different in what triggered the response. Again though, what kind of persecution did anyone here face? Is there a travel stop to Germany for Hallam now? Was his interview removed? Is he now not allowed to sign a book deal with another publisher? What terrible fate did he endure? You think this is more devious than what's happening in India. I've rarely read a more first-worldian approach than this.
We are very divided on this. I don't think you're being very objective here, you seem to fall prey to simplistic notions like "Nazikeule", and your perspective does not sound all that thought out to me.
I disagree with the naive assessment about the AfD you're portraying here, but alright. Especially in connection to what just happened last week with the WDR and this week with the BR and Gutjahr's open letter.
>So the foreign minister of Germany is not part of the government? He didn't use his public position to help start, and legitimize, this witchhunt? That whole episode didn't make Roger Hallam a Persona non grata among the German branch of the ER?
So if the German foreign minister criticizes a public activist's take on the Holocaust that to you is a witch-hunt? So Hallam bears no responsibility here? Who is allowed to criticize him then?
It is comical how you think this episode is almost more devious than what's happening in India at the moment. It shows to me a complete lack of perspective. But let's agree to disagree then.