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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   33654 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 31, 2025

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So, it appears that Germany is following Trump's footsteps with regard to selectively removing foreigners for political speech:

The orders — issued by the state of Berlin, whose Senate administration oversees immigration enforcement — are set to take effect in less than a month. None of the four has been convicted of any crimes.

Some notes:

  • The four people to be deported are citizens of the US, Ireland and Poland. The latter two countries are part of the EU, as is Germany. One of the cornerstones of the EU single market is the free movement of people. It appears to be more of a privilege than a right, actually. For contrast, imagine if Bavaria decided to refuse entry to people from Prussia, or California decided to deport any people born in Texas -- both would be blatantly unconstitutional.
  • This decision was made by the city of Berlin, which is ruled by a coalition of CDU/SPD (convervative/labor) -- the same constellation which will rule Germany in the future. The CDU is basically trying to rebrand itself as AfD light -- adopting policies suggested by the far right. (The AfD is of course very opposed to anything which could be considered pro-Muslim antisemitism. Not that they are overly fond of holocaust memorials, though.) The SPD is notorious for lacking any organ resembling a spine, so it is unsurprising that they went along with it.
  • The targeted people were accused of participating in a pro-Gaza demonstration. Some where accused of shouting "From the river to the sea", which is illegal in Germany (and I am ok with it being illegal). However, none of them have been convicted so far.

Now, I am not per-se against deporting foreigners if they have been convicted of a serious offense, say if their prison sentences exceed 10% (or 20%) of the time they have spent in the host country so far. From what I can tell, most of the accusations here are very minor, though. Using immigration laws to sidestep due process is wrong, though.

Also, for EU citizens, expelling them should additionally be contingent on a separate court case in front of some EU court and subject to criminal standard of evidence. If Berlin wants to get rid of these people, let them argue why they are a hazard to their security in front of a judge.

Without denying that (a) there is obviously a strong philosemitic streak on the German and American center-right and that (b) Israeli and Zionist lobbyists are obviously pleased with this kind of thing, it is also a convenient excuse to get rid of people both of these movements vehemently disagree with anyway.

Essentially nobody on the right is caught up in this (even comparatively fringe right-wing antisemites have essentially zero involvement in mainstream pro-Palestinian / anti-Zionist movements and would be immediately kicked out if their dissident right views on various other topics like immigration and race were known). By contrast, pretty much every leftist radical (even, increasingly, in Germany, where there was long an unusual minor group of leftist pro-Israel sympathizers) and all Islamists are pro-Palestinian. Given both groups are broadly opposed by everyone on the right, this is a convenient excuse.

Essentially nobody on the right is caught up in this

So? It's still an act of absolute cuckoldry to let it happen.

Not really, no. It gets rid of people they hate. That's why they did it.

Funny how they don't seem to be able to do that with unrepentant rapists.

Because actual criminals are not a threat to them. Activists are.

Did you think politicians were dispassionately interested in the welfare of the common person?

No, but 2rafa was making the argument that European right wingers shouldn't be bothered by this, because they won't be affected. That's the perspective I was addressing this from, not that of the politician.

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