{"id":296353,"date":"2024-10-09T07:04:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T07:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=296353"},"modified":"2024-10-11T07:36:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T07:36:14","slug":"fear-and-loathing-in-new-normal-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=296353","title":{"rendered":"Fear and Loathing in New Normal Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

CJ Hopkins \u2013 Off-Guardian Oct 8, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The first rule of New Normal Germany is, you do not compare New Normal Germany to Nazi Germany. If you do that, New Normal Germany will punish you. It will sic the Federal Criminal Police on you. It will report you to its domestic Intelligence agency. It will ban your books. It will censor your Tweets. It will prosecute you on fabricated \u201chate-crime\u201d charges.<\/p>\n

I know this, because that\u2019s what happened to me. I broke the first rule of New Normal Germany. I compared New Normal Germany to Nazi Germany. I did it with the cover artwork of my book.<\/p>\n

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Yes, that\u2019s a swastika on the cover. A swastika covered by a medical mask. I tweeted that artwork in 2022. The German authorities prosecuted me for that, and have convicted me for that. So, now I\u2019m a \u201chate criminal,\u201d and an \u201canti-Semite,\u201d and a \u201ctrivializer of the Holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s the second rule of New Normal Germany. You never, ever, display a swastika. Displaying a swastika is not \u201cin Ordnung<\/em>.\u201d Displaying swastikas is totally \u201cverboten<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unless you are the Health Minister of New Normal Germany, and you\u2019re comparing your political opponents to the Nazis. Or unless you are a popular German celebrity, and you\u2019re comparing the Russians and their supporters to the Nazis. Or unless you are a mainstream magazine, and you\u2019re comparing German populists to the Nazis.<\/p>\n

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Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In which case, displaying a swastika is fine. And is not \u201cverboten<\/em>.\u201d And definitely not a \u201chate crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the third rule of New Normal Germany. If you agree with the government, obey their orders, and parrot their propaganda, you are not a \u201chate criminal.\u201d If you\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>the government, like an actual minister in the government, like the Minister of Health, you\u2019re definitely not a \u201chate criminal.\u201d And, if you are part of government\u2019s propaganda apparatus, needless to say, you\u2019re also not a \u201chate criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, if you criticize the government, or if you compare the government to Nazi Germany, and if you do that using your book-cover art featuring a swastika behind a Covid mask, then you\u2019re absolutely officially a \u201chate criminal,\u201d and an \u201canti-Semite,\u201d and a \u201ctrivializer of the Holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how\u00a0Das Kammergericht<\/a><\/em>, Berlin\u2019s superior or appellate court, explained that in their press release<\/a>, after they overturned\u00a0my acquittal in District Court<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The swastika, one of the main symbols of the banned National Socialist Workers\u2019 Party (NSDAP), is used here exclusively to express criticism of the federal government\u2019s Corona policy; A clear departure from the ideals of National Socialism cannot be seen in the posts in question. The comparison of Corona measures, which are supposed to be embodied by the use of mouth-and-nose coverings, with the Nazi terror regime symbolized by the swastika represents a trivialization of National Socialism and the National Socialist genocide of millions of Jews, but not a criticism of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I remember when the presiding judge read that out in court. I remember it distinctly, because the judge to her right, the bespectacled woman with the short white hair (see the photograph of the courtroom above), was glaring at me with bone-chilling hatred.<\/p>\n

We got into a staring contest, which she eventually won, because I couldn\u2019t take it for very long. After a minute or so, I started having flashbacks of scenes from\u00a0The Pianist<\/em>, Roman Polanski\u2019s film, and of the eyes of medical-mask-wearing Germans when they saw the protest message I wrote on the mask I was forced to wear in grocery stores in order to buy food during the roll-out of the \u201cNew Normal\u201d in 2020-2022. That protest message read, \u201cBefehl ist Befehl<\/em>,\u201d which roughly translates as \u201corders are orders,\u201d and was the Nazis\u2019 infamous defense at Nuremberg (i.e., \u201cI was just following orders\u201d). If you have never been surrounded by mobs of medical-mask-wearing Germans glaring at you with seething, utterly bone-chilling hatred \u2026 well, let me assure you, it is quite an experience. I experienced it, daily, for over two years.<\/p>\n

I experienced it again in\u00a0Das Kammergericht<\/em>, where my acquittal, back in January, was summarily overturned at the insistence of the Berlin Public Prosecutor. Yes, they can do that in New Normal Germany.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to spare you the procedural details, and legal arguments, and descriptions of the ham-fisted anti-terror-style security protocols that\u00a0Das Kammergericht<\/em>\u00a0ordered in effect for my trial. If you want to read about that,\u00a0Aya Vel\u00e1zquez covered it in her recent extensive report<\/a>, and Dr. Clivia von Dewitz, a German judge and expert on the Nazi-symbol-ban statutes, covered the legal questions in\u00a0this article before<\/a>, and\u00a0this other article after<\/a>, the trial.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t translated that second article (as I did the first), but here\u2019s an excerpt\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this decision, the German judiciary is once again moving away from the principles of a liberal democracy, which thrives on the exchange of conflicting beliefs and opinions as well as criticism of government actions. If\u00a0Der Spiegel\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Stern\u00a0<\/em>are permitted to use swastikas on their magazine covers, the same freedom must apply to those who criticize the government. When, as here, the judiciary begins to apply double standards, and condemns obvious criticism of the government via the use Nazi symbols, and conducts a trial under inappropriate \u2018anti-terror conditions,\u2019 one has to ask oneself how far the judiciary in Germany has departed from fundamental democratic principles. In response to the court\u2019s ruling that such posts are not covered by freedom of expression or freedom of art, what, if not that, is freedom of expression or freedom of art? An American married to a Jew can hardly be accused of \u2018trivializing National Socialism\u2019 or of \u2018not expressing an explicit rejection of National Socialism.\u2019\u201d
\n\u2014 Clivia von Dewitz,\u00a0Berliner Zeitung<\/em><\/p>\n

Or you can read Eugyppius, another German, writing in English in\u00a0The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/em>, or\u00a0Boris Reitschuster<\/a>, yet another German, reporting in German, or\u00a0The Epoch Times<\/a><\/em>, or\u00a0this excellent piece by Milosz Matuschek<\/a>, which focuses on the legal arguments.<\/p>\n

Or, if you\u2019d prefer to hear from the enormous Goebbelsian keyboard instrument that is the majority of the mainstream German press, and you\u2019re able to read German, you can read all about how seditious and insane I am in\u00a0Der Tagesspiegel<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Die Tageszeitung<\/a><\/em>, and the\u00a0Legal Tribune Online<\/a><\/em>, a legal journal.<\/p>\n

For some reason I can\u2019t possibly fathom,\u00a0Der Spiegel<\/a><\/em>\u00a0were rather reserved in their coverage. I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that they had printed that big fat swastika on their cover.<\/p>\n

It was rather surprising that the mainstream German press turned up to cover the proceedings, as they had been studiously ignoring the story. Maybe the court\u2019s PR people contacted them, or maybe they just smelled blood in the water.<\/p>\n

In any event, the atmosphere in Room 145a of\u00a0Das Kammergericht<\/em>\u00a0was dripping with sanctimonious, fascistic authority. It was clear from the outset that the three-judge panel were there to teach a \u201cCovid denier\u201d a lesson, and remind the German public what happens when you break the rules of New Normal Germany.<\/p>\n

The judges had clearly already decided to overturn my acquittal, so the rest was just theater, which, apart from my attorney\u2019s lengthy arguments, and\u00a0my statement to the court<\/a>, mostly consisted of the judges radiating imperious contempt and seething hostility down at us from the bench like an enormous three-headed Gila monster.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor had mumbled two or three sentences in a monotone at the outset of the trial. She didn\u2019t bother to attempt to appear to present an actual legal argument, as that would have ruined the fait-accompli mise-en-sc\u00e8ne effect they were obviously going for.<\/p>\n

I have to give the courtand the prosecution credit for their dramaturgy. The point of staging a public trial like this \u2014 which the prosecution demanded, which is unusual at the appellate level \u2014 wasn\u2019t to pretend to be carrying out justice. It was a show of force. A demonstration. A public humiliation ritual. And, all things considered, they staged it well.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s embarrassing, but, the truth is, they got to me. At some point during the bizarre proceedings, I started experiencing waves of disturbing flashbacks from 2020-2022, when hate-drunk New Normal Germans were chasing down maskless passengers on regional trains like the pod people in\u00a0Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/em>, and goon squads (i.e., the German police) were savagely brutalizing anyone who protested against the \u201cCorona measures,\u201d and government leaders, the state and corporate media, and the vast majority of the German masses were fanatically persecuting \u201cthe Unvaccinated\u201d with a fervor not seen since the bad old days.<\/p>\n

Those flashbacks looked a little something like this\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u2026so I was a little disoriented as I left the courthouse.<\/p>\n

It has taken a few days, but I\u2019ve mostly recovered. After consultations with my fearless attorney, I\u2019ve decided to submit my case to the\u00a0Bundesverfassungsgericht<\/em>, i.e., Germany\u2019s supreme court, because \u2026 well, at this point, I kind of have to. If I don\u2019t, the precedent the New Normal German authorities are trying to establish will stand, and the right to freedom-of-expression in Germany will have become nothing but a sick fascist joke.<\/p>\n

And, yes, that right is guaranteed in the\u00a0Grundgesetz<\/em>\u00a0(i.e., the German constitution). It isn\u2019t quite the 1st Amendment, but it\u2019s good enough for Germany, and I\u2019m not willing to let it be distorted and made a mockery of by a bunch of fascists, not without a fight.<\/p>\n

If you want to help me fight that fight, which is going cost about 12,000 Euros in legal fees, plus whatever expenses I incur along the way, you can contribute to\u00a0my rebooted \u201clegal defense fund.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0If you do, please note the disclaimer at the bottom.<\/p>\n

My heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has already contributed! Your engagement and generosity has overwhelmed me once again. I did not want this fight, but now it has to be fought. If it were just about me, it wouldn\u2019t matter that much, but it isn\u2019t just about me, and it matters, greatly. It is a fight that it is being fought throughout the West, not just in Germany and the USA, and the UK, and Ireland, and Australia, but everywhere that people are fighting to defend constitutional rights and democratic principles.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know whether I will win my fight, but I know we will win the bigger fight. As I said in my statement to the court, totalitarianism, fascism, never wins. Not in the long run. History teaches us that. And it is history that will judge us all in the end.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

CJ Hopkins<\/strong> is an award-winning American playwright, novelist and political satirist based in Berlin. His plays are published by Bloomsbury Publishing and Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. His dystopian novel, Zone 23<\/a>, is published by Snoggsworthy, Swaine & Cormorant. Volumes I and II of his Consent Factory Essays<\/a> are published by Consent Factory Publishing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amalgamated Content, Inc. He can be reached at cjhopkins.com<\/a> or consentfactory.org<\/a><\/p>\n

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Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first rule of New Normal Germany is, you do not compare New Normal Germany to Nazi Germany. CJ Hopkins learned this the hard way and despite being initially acquitted of inciting ‘hate’ new charges have been brought against him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":296354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary","category-controlling-the-news-andor-the-free-exchange-of-ideas-and-information","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=296353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296402,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296353\/revisions\/296402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=296353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=296353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=296353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}