Category: General

“Whatever legitimacy Israel’s initial response had has been obliterated by the scale, duration, and deliberate brutality of its war on Gaza,” argues Shadi Hamid in his recent article “A genocide is happening in Gaza. We should say so,” in the Washington Post.

He is, unfortunately, entirely correct.

We, as the EU, should urgently consider imposing sanctions against the regime of Benjamin Netanyahu in the same way we sanction the Russian government and its leaders. We should also suspend the Association Agreement with Israel, as proposed by the ETUC. And, of course, stop sending weapons.

Like Netanyahu, the Tsar is still murdering the people of Ukraine.

Additionally, there is no news on the upcoming climate emergency. There are too many climate deniers in our current government, hellbent on burning our planet and our future.

(University Campus, Cologne, 5/26/25)

No change in the overall state of affairs: The Tsar is murdering people in Ukraine, Netanyahu is murdering people in Gaza.

There was some progress locally, though; we can now officially call the “noAfD” right-wing and fascist. Someone leaked the government dossier on them, and Correctiv published an analysis (in German) that’s well worth reading.

The documents do not contain any real surprises, but several hundred pages of insights into the enormous amount of hatred and the disturbing worldview of the far right are eye-opening and challenging to read.

Similar to MAGA, the people of our right dream of a world, where White males rule supreme and control everybody else; especially women, queers and foreigners.

Given our inept ultra-conservative government, the next four years will be challenging on all counts.

Oh, and did anyone mention that it’s getting hotter every year?

(Random street, near Cologne, 5/13/25)

 

During the night from Easter Saturday to Sunday, a young man was shot by the German police.

He was shot in the back four times.

Can we repeat this?

He was shot in the back four times.

He was not threatening the police officers; he was turning his back towards them, most likely running away. But he was a person of color.

So, he was shot in the back four times.

It’s time to defund the police.

(Justice for Lorenz, Cologne, 4/26/25)

Easter symbolizes renewal and rebirth, representing hope and new beginnings for members of the faith.

Julia Klöckner, a leading figure in the Christian Democrats and self-professed Christian, used Easter to scold the Church for being too political. And for voicing opinions on social and environmental justice. Come again?

If anything, the Churches are too complicit in social and ecological injustice.

But it is a clear indication of how far the Christian Democrats have moved to the nationalist right, abandoning any pretense of social responsibility in favor of self-righteous Germanness.

Our incoming government, under the leadership of the Christian Democrats, does not convey a message of hope and a new beginning; quite the contrary. It’s sending a message of despair and of a return to values of times long past.

It’s high time to dismantle the Patriarchy, isn’t it?

(Allerweltshaus, Cologne, 4/3/25)

It’s getting increasingly difficult to protest against governments, elected or not.

Across the Atlantic, you risk persecution and deportation if you are critical towards the Presidents Musk and Trump. If you rally at a Tesla showroom, you’ll be marked as a domestic terrorist.

Here, similar patterns emerge. If you disrupt traffic to support the climate, you’ll be persecuted for terrorism. You’ll be pampered as a concerned citizen if you do the same but target the Greens instead.

No need to mention all the other Autocrats; they’re equally allergic to criticism.

The current negotiations for our next coalition government do not bode well for minorities and migrants, which is utterly shameful and calls for more protests. Wait. Is there maybe a connection here? 🙂

(Crtitical Mass, Cologne, 3/28/25)

 

Authoratism is on the rise on both sides of the Atlantic.

The amount of stuff that the Presidents Musk and Trump wreck daily is mind-blowing. Nothing is safe, from Social Security to Voice of America and, even worse, Science and Health research. No alliance is secure, and no neighbor is safe.

Unfortunately, it’s not much better on our side. Our designated chancellor is as erratic as his US counterpart, albeit with less power. It will be difficult for him and his party to wreck the civil service, but they’ll still be able to afflict long-lasting damage.

If we look at all the strong men globally, the Putins, Trumps, Netanyahus, Mieleis, Xis, and Orbans, and the wars they wage against their fellow humans for no other reason than to gain power, one could despair.

But we know what to fight and what to fight for!

Another world will become possible once we abolish the Patriarchy’s stronghold on our societies.

(8. März, Innerer Grüngürtel, 3/8/25)

First came the results of our national election. The neo-fascist AfD got 20% of the popular vote, and the right-wing conservative CDU/CSU got 28%. Together, that’s almost half of all votes. Thus, we’re now looking at four years dominated by right-wing politics and that does not bode well for anyone who is not straight, male, healthy, and White.

Second, the US sided with the Tsar and abandoned Ukraine, upending the post-WWII world order. At the same time, Elon Musk is destroying and looting the US government. We’re now looking at a complete breakdown of transatlantic relations, which does not bode well for smaller democracies, especially Taiwan.

Not good. And then there is the climate emergency, progressing unchecked and endangering all life on our planet, except maybe for a couple of Billionaires.

Did I mention Gaza?

But it’s not the time to give up hope and stop working for a better future!

(Radkutsche, Cologne, 3/2/25)

Donald Trump is proceeding at breakneck speed to reshape the USA in his image.

His latest executive order ends the separation of powers essential for a democracy to function, similar to the Ermächtigungsgesetz of 1933.

On a world stage, the USA is now critically endangering long-term allies, such as Ukraine and Taiwan, and completely alienating the European Union.

At home, the USA is now endangering anyone who is not White, male, non-disabled, and cis-heterosexual.

Europe will need to find its place in the world without the transatlantic alliance, which has guaranteed peace for decades.

We also need to fight the climate emergency. Oh well.

(Wähl Liebe, Cologne, 2/15/25)

Like its American counterpart, the German conservative party is being taken over by far-right nationalists.

As Correctiv pointed out in a recent article, conservative think tanks, such as the INSM, are actively pushing the CDU to cooperate with the neo-Nazis. The last time when that happened, and the CDU’s predecessor cooperated with them, the Nazis started mass slaughter and a world war—just saying.

Part of it is driven by rampant nationalism and White supremacy; part is simply misogyny and another part is a deep hatred of anything associated with being Woke or Green. I leave the analysis of the frail male ego to psychologists, but the development is troubling for every person who is not mainstream, and it is an attempt to roll back the last decades of progress.

The backlash didn’t come unexpectedly, but its ferocity is worrisome.

(Glory to Mankind, Cologne, 2/11/25)

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to participate in Berlin’s Flinta* March 2025 with 15,000 other people.

That was strong support for Flinta* rights and thus for climate justice!

Patriarchy is the foundation for Capitalism and Fascism, and Feminism is the practice of toppling them and reaching a good life for all.

I can’t wait to see what 2025 will bring!

(Flinta* March, Berlin, 1/19/25)