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Red Flag: Fake news about fake Jews from a German minister

In his weekly column, Nathaniel Flakin looks at supposed anti-Jewish boycotts—and actual boycotts


19/09/2025

Techno club About Blank in Berlin, Germany

“It’s a little bit like in the 1930s,” declared Wolfram Weimer on a podcast. Weimer is a far-right culture warrior with a side hustle as Germany’s state secretary for culture. Now, many people see frightening parallels to the 1930s, with a far-right party riding the crest of a xenophobic wave. But Weimer, an ideological forerunner of Germany’s Rechtsruck, or shift to the right, was referring to something completely different. 

“We have a situation where Jews in Germany—especially those who are…in the cultural sector—are afraid.” He mentioned Jewish DJs who couldn’t get gigs. “Why? Because you’re Jewish. That is pure antisemitism, and they experience this all the time.”

Is this true? Are Jewish DJs getting cancelled? Weimer has made this claim before—and as the left-wing newspaper nd showed in an investigation, he could not name a single Jewish artist who has faced a boycott.

Is This True?

I reached out to Weimer’s office to ask which specific DJs he was referring to. A speaker replied that they do not keep statistics, but there are “numerous reports.” They suggested I reach out to the Israeli ambassador, with whom Weimer recently met.

This is already a bit confusing: Does Ron Prosor represent Jewish DJs? Isn’t conflating Israel and Jewish people a clear case of antisemitism according to the IHRA definition?

I asked them to send me a few of these “numerous reports,” and they sent the same bizarre examples they had used in the past, such as the call to boycott the club ://about blank—a German, non-Jewish institution—for its pro-genocide stance. (It’s worth noting that ://about blank announced an event on antisemitism with zero Jewish speakers, and proceeded to deny Jewish activists entry.)

In other words, it appears the state minister has zero examples of the very specific claims he has been making. There are boycotts related to Israel’s genocide—but “because you are Jewish” seems to be Weimer’s invention.

The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra was disinvited from a Belgian music festival because of the Israeli conductor Lahav Shani. But besides the fact that Shani does not appear to be a DJ, this decision was not because he is Jewish, but rather because he supports the Israeli army while it carries out a genocide. As festival organizers wrote: “We are unable to provide sufficient clarity about his attitude to the genocidal regime.” 

The Munich Philharmonic should be familiar with this: In 2022, they fired their Russian conductor Valery Gergiev for not distancing himself from Russia’s war in Ukraine. Was that an example of anti-Russian or anti-Slavic racism? Or was it a political decision?

As far as I can tell, Weimer’s whole story appears to be what Germans call a Zeitungsente or “newspaper duck,” otherwise known as fake news. Weimer’s speaker emphasized that he finds this made-up story “worrying and completely unacceptable.”

Actual Cancellations

There have been numerous, well-reported cancellations of Jewish artists and intellectuals in Germany. In every case, it has not been because they are Jewish, but rather because they have publicly criticized Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Germany’s support for it. Nancy Fraser was fired by a German university; Candice Breitz had an art show cancelled; Masha Gessen had a ceremony for a literary prize scrapped; Yuval Carraso was beaten up by police. The list could go on and on.

In the podcast, Weimer took a moment to attack yet another Jewish leftist, and accused Karl Marx of antisemitism—deeply strange coming from an admirer of proto-Nazi philosopher Oswald Spengler’s theories of European decline. German nationalists like to imagine Jews as a homogenous group with centralized leadership—that’s why Weimer treats Prosor as the representative of the Jewish people. If all Jews are part of a Zionist collective, then opposing Zionism must be antisemitic.

At the Emmys last Sunday, the culture official could have seen an example of the diversity of views in the Jewish community when the actress Hannah Einbinder called out “Free Palestine!” She later explained:

“I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the State of Israel, because our religion and our culture is such an important and long standing institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state.”

As Haaretz put it, Einbinder is the “voice of a generation” of Jewish people who are breaking with Zionism (and thus joining a long tradition of Jewish anti-Zionism). In Germany, she would face a government boycott—all in the name of “fighting antisemitism,” of course.

I am still waiting to hear back from Weimer whether the boycotts against leftist Jews are “worrying and completely unacceptable.”

Springer’s Antisemitism 

Before joining the government, Weimer had a long career as a journalist at right-wing publications, including those of the Axel Springer Company. The podcast in question was hosted by Paul Ronzheimer of BILD, a Springer tabloid. What is Springer’s record on antisemitism? 

Axel Springer, before he became the Caesar of West Germany’s yellow journalism, worked as a small cog in Joseph Goebbel’s propaganda machine, and joined the National Socialist Motor Corps. Years after fascism had been defeated, Springer married a daughter of Werner Lorenz, one of the top officials of the SS in charge of ethnic cleansing of Eastern Europe—he just really wanted a war criminal in the family. Springer’s newspapers campaigned in defense of Nazi war criminals like Hans Globke.

Springer’s fanatical support for Zionism is often presented as a repudiation of his earlier Nazi convictions. In truth, however, the SS itself was fascinated by a Jewish movement that shared their goal of making Germany Jew-free. Springer was continuing a long tradition of antisemitic support for Zionism and Israel—the “philosemite” wanted Jews to be far away.

The German Right has long associated Jews with the universalist and internationalist ideas they despise. The attempts to erase and suppress all non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Jewish voices are nothing new. Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt, and Primo Levi all faced persecution—and they would not be allowed to speak at German universities today due to their views on Israel. But now, the German government frames this as “fighting antisemitism” and protecting non-existent Jewish DJs.

Red Flag is a weekly opinion column on Berlin politics that Nathaniel has been writing since 2020. After moving through different homes, it now appears at The Left Berlin.

Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle

Solidarity organization supporting the National Democratic people’s movement in the Philippines


17/09/2025

Friends of the Filipino in Struggle (FFPS) is an international network building support for the Philippine revolution and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines’s (NDFP) 12-point program for a just and lasting peace. Through education, mobilization, and other forms of concrete solidarity, FFPS works to amplify the voices of the Filipino masses, share information about their struggles, and strengthen anti-imperialist solidarity with the Philippine revolution.

As part of its main campaign FFPS tries to gather support for the NDFP and promote the Philippine revolutionary struggle. It is important to amplify the program of the Philippine revolution, learn from its inspiring practice and give concrete support where we can.

Under the current US-backed Marcos regime, the Philippine government wages a brutal counterinsurgency under the false banner of “peace.” Behind this façade lies an agenda of violent suppression, corruption, and deeper dependence on U.S. imperial interests.

FFPS campaigns internationally to expose this sham and to highlight that it is the NDFP—not the Marcos government—that offers a real path to peace. Through revolutionary armed struggle, the NDFP lays out a framework for national and social liberation.

In the face of escalating repression and disinformation, FFPS calls on movements worldwide to mobilize in support of the Filipino people’s struggle for liberation.

Day of Solidarity with the Filipino People

On September 20, Migrantifa Berlin, Lotta Basel, and Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) are hosting a day of solidarity with the Filipino people’s fight for national liberation.

In early 2024, an internationalist delegation visited the Philippines, where the Communist Party and its guerrilla force, the New People’s Army (NPA), have been waging a long-standing liberation struggle against the US-backed fascist Philippine government since the late 1960s. The event will feature a documentary exhibition and two presentations: one on solidarity work in Europe, and another reporting on the revolutionary mass movement in the Philippines and its successes on the ground.

For centuries, the Filipino people have faced oppression and exploitation at the hands of foreign powers. However, their fierce resistance against them has persisted for just as long. The Filipino people have the right to fight back against the root problems of Philippine society, namely imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines unites the fighting Filipino masses and represents the revolutionary mass movement. Its 12 point program unites the various classes and sectors of the Philippine society for national liberation, genuine freedom and democracy.

When: Saturday 20 Sept 12-6pm
Where: bUm (Kreuzberg)

Open letter to German media institutions

On Israel’s Deliberate Killing of Palestinian Journalists and the Complicity of German Media


Funeral of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh after her assassination in Palestine

(Note: this is the English version of the letter, republished by The Left Berlin with permission. As of 17.9.2025, the original open letter is still accepting signatures.)

We, journalists, media workers, and members of civil society, hold German media institutions fully accountable for their ongoing role in enabling the systematic and deliberate killing of our Palestinian colleagues. 

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in any armed conflict in recent history. Yesterday alone, on 25th August, Israel killed five more Palestinian journalists in a double strike on Al-Nasser-Hospital, raising the death toll of Palestinian journalists to 273 since 7 October 2023. Yet, most German media outlets continue to respond to these killings by ignoring, discrediting or defaming their colleagues. 

A harrowing example is the recent assassination of Anas Al-Sharif, a 28-year-old award-winning Al Jazeera journalist, who was murdered on August 10, 2025 by an Israeli airstrike, along with five other Palestinian media workers. They were sleeping in a tent clearly marked “press” outside Al-Shifa Hospital. Days before his murder, the CPJ publicly warned that Israel’s smear campaign against Al-Sharif was a precursor to assassination and called for his protection. Most German media outlets ignored these warnings and instead repeated Israel’s unverified claims that portrayed him a “Hamas terrorist.” What’s more, the repetition of these claims served to ignore the murder of the other five media workers by dangerously reinforcing it as acceptable collateral damage.

This is not a single failure of fact-checking. This is systematic. The Israeli military has a well-documented pattern of smearing Palestinian journalists to label them as “lawful military objectives” in order to justify their deliberate targeting. By repeatedly amplifying this propaganda, German media outlets have effectively provided Israel with a license to kill Palestinian journalists with impunity. 

The following headlines, a glimpse of daily Gaza coverage across German media landscape, speak for themselves: 

Süddeutsche Zeitung (11.08.2025): “Jazeera Journalist Killed in Gaza. Israel: Terrorist”

Bild (11.08.2025): “Israel Kills Gaza reporter – Journalist or Terrorist?

taz (09.01.2025): “Can Journalists be Terrorists?”

Die Welt (10.06.2024): “‘Journalists held Hamas hostages’ – Jazeera denies connection”

Tagesschau (05.02.2024): “Qatari broadcast Jazeera – Support for Hamas”

To be clear, killing journalists constitutes a serious war crime and justifying it is an act of complicity!

German journalist unions have also played their part. While condemning the recent killing of Anas Al-Sharif, the Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union (DJU) labeled him a terrorist sympathizer and the Deutsche Journalisten-Verband (DJV) warned a week before about alleged photo manipulations of starving children by Palestinian journalists. Both actions serve to discredit Palestinian journalists and cast doubt on their reporting.

Meanwhile, German media has failed to offer their Palestinian colleagues any visibility and protection routinely provided to international reporters. Most outlets haven’t issued even basic statements of solidarity, ignoring the courage of these journalists who report relentlessly under fire, forced displacement and a deliberate starvation campaign the genocide of their own people.

Even more fundamentally, major media institutions have consistently obscured the historical and political context in their reporting on Gaza and presented that it all began on October 7. This framing erases decades of Israel’s brutal colonization, illegal occupation and systematic oppression of Palestinians, thus reversing victim and aggressor. This is not a coincidence but an expression of the compliance with German state narrative and its declared Staatsräson. 

A recent example is the outlet taz, which published two articles this month that deny the Nakba—the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Palestinians and the dispossession of their land. One of the articles even went so far to compare these crimes to “Germany’s liberation from fascism in 1945.”

This professional and ethical collapse within media institutions not just dehumanizes Palestinian journalists and contributes to their killing, it betrays the core principle of journalism itself: a commitment to truth, to those risking everything to tell it, and to always question power and state narratives.

We demand that German media institutions

  • stop spreading amply unverified Israeli state propaganda and refrain from using passive language that avoids naming Israel as the perpetrator;
  • stop framing Israel’s crimes against Palestinians as a neutral “conflict” between equal sides and provide the historical and political context;
  • stop dehumanizing Palestinians and instead include their voices, perspectives and lived experiences in their reporting;
  • establish transparent editorial policies detailing how reporting on Gaza is sourced, verified and labeled;
  • collaborate with and employ Palestinian journalists, ensuring they receive credit, visibility and institutional support;
  • publicly defend press freedom in Gaza and demand protection for Palestinian journalists and media workers on the ground;
  • adhere to professional and ethical standards of journalism, including rigorous verification of information and the questioning of power and of Germany’s state narratives on Palestine and Israel;
  • undertake a full political, legal and public reckoning of their role in enabling and legitimizing Israel’s crimes against Palestinians and the genocide in Gaza.

We urge all journalists and media workers within German media institutions 

to reject being used as tools of propaganda by power, and to stand unequivocally for the truth and with their Palestinian colleagues reporting on the ground.

Berlin, 26.08.2025

The open letter was initiated by a group of journalists and media workers based in Berlin. For feedback or inquiries, please email openlettertogermanmedia@proton.me.

List with Signatories (Update: 267)

Lea Jungmann, Concerned Citizen

Pary El-Qalqili, Filmmaker

Anna Barakat-Goelnitz, Concerned Citizen

Emilia Tudose, Lawyer

Walid Abdelnour, Filmmaker

Jan Ralske, Film Director

Matthias Monroy, Editor

Caytana Lydia Hrachowy, Concerned Citizen

Nadine Simmer, Artist

Moritz Gauss, Concerned Citizen

Karim Eid-Sabbagh, Independent Researcher

Rainer Brömer, Historian of Science

Ramis Örlü, Professor from Norway

Nadine Essmat, Independent Photojournalist

Myrielle Busch, Concerned Citizen

Damon Taleghani, Writer

Eva Gutiérrez Alonso, Light Designer

Julian Daum, Journalist

Sebastian Damm, Civil Servant

Rami-Habib Eid-Sabbagh, Product Manager

Wael Eskandar, Independent Journalist

Mariam Aboughazi, Photographer and PhD Candidate

Fares Hamade, Filmmaker

Hüseyin Doğru, Journalist 

Nasrin Karimi, Lawyer 

Sunna Keles, Legal Advisor (juristische Referentin)

Nadija Samour, Lawyer

Miriam Schulte, Theatre Maker

Yasmeen Daher, Director- Febrayer Network for Independent Arab Media

Xénia Gomes Adães, Freelance (Photo-) Journalist 

Antonella Lis Vigilante, Care Worker

Christiane Schmidt, Filmmaker

Robert Grabosch, Lawyer

Valeria Tapia  D. Gauss  Singer, Concerned Citizen

Schirin Amir-Moazami,  Professor

Don Karl, Autor

Nahed Awwad, Filmmaker

Farah Maraq, Journalist and Media Researcher

David Fernandez, Musician

Nina Ogilvie, Lawyer

Kyra Levine, Freelance Media Worker

Sahar Barghouti, Concerned Citizen

Michele Faguet, Writer

El Solh Wahid, Sound Engineer

Helen Whittle, Journalist

Melissa Müller, Independent Journalist

Anosha Wahidi, Lawyer, Civil Servant, anti- Racism Avocat 

William Noah Glucroft, Journalist

Lisa Kaya Teacher

Danja Bergmann, Human

Anonymous, Musician

Ewa Wyrebska, PhD, Philosophy Scholar

Dr. Sylvie Tappert, Psychotherapy 

Lucy Thomas, NGO Consultantb

Teresa Zonno University Lecturer

Julian Breuer, Technician

Jasmine Rochereul, Student

Marcello Maschke, Civil Servant

Anonymous, Director of Photography

Aileen Phoenix, Musician

Martin Born, PhD Researcher

Philip Holzapfel, Author, MENA Advisor to Former EU High Representative Josep Borrell

Andrés López Ponce, Film Editor

Elad Lapidot, Professor for Hebraic Studies

Daniel Jess, Teacher

Dr. Benjamin Schuetze, Senior Researcher & Research Group Leader

Melanie Schweizer, Lawyer

Aliaa Adel, Head of Strategy

Montserrat Alvarez, Baker, Concerned Citizen

Louis Maurer, Healthcare worker

Wael Salam, Teacher

Rebecca van Es, Concerned Citizen

Kai Kappes, Former Journalist

Eva Bollerhoff, M.A.

Tamara Böhme, Concerned Citizen

Justus Könneker, Independent Journalist

Maria Klenner, Photojournalist

Sanela Kapetanović, Journalist 

Julia Bar-Tal, Farmer, Food Rights Defender

Chiara Wettmann, Photographer

Sofian Philip Naceur, Journalist

Anonymous, Islamic Studies (Islamwissenschaftler)

Viviane Schmidt, Student

Luise Hirner, Student

Henry Hakamaki, Educator, Editor, and Podcaster

Christoph Jahn, Linguist

Luisa Hahn, Midwife

Olivia Günter, Lawyer

Michele Tan, Ex-UN, Independent Peacebuilding Consultant

Cordula Reimann, Independent Process Facilitator & Mediator

Paul Ziegler, Human

Miray Demir, Children Rights (Kinderrechtswissenschaftlerin)

Dr. Martin Thiele-Schwez, Entrepreneur (Unternehmer)

Nicole Wolf, Academic

Philip Rizk, Filmmaker 

Tamara Kohl, Consultant

Anonymous, Psychologist

Åsa Sonjasdotter, Visual Artist

Raphaël Grisey, Filmmaker, Visual Artist, Researcher

Zahra Fayad, Concerned Citizen

Andrew McCormack. Graphic Designer

Najwa Sabra, Humanitarian Worker

Parwane Ehrari, Hotel General Manager

Noa Élie Vollmer, Student

Stefanie Baumann, Researcher

Dmitry Vilensky, Artist and Filmmaker

Thomas Klingenmeier, Process Manager

Miquel Ramos. Journalist

Atilla Massier, Concerned Citizen

Anne Klingenmeier, Concerned Citizen

Yasmin Bauer, Test Engineer

Dana Novanova IT consultant

Ann Kiernan Political Illustrator

Snežana Stanković, Researcher

Jeanine Atai; Literary Studies (Literaturwissenschaftlerin)

Claudia Rodriguez, Project Manager @ Siemens Healthineers

Hinnrk Glnitz, Lawyer

Olivia Günter, Lawyer

Miriam Lethmate, Concerned Citizen

Jakob Reimann, Journalist

Walid El Houri, Editor & Researcher

Naima Sebe, Filmmaker

Áine Hutchinson, Psychotherapist

Zarona Ismailova, Concerned Citizen

Kent Klich, Photographer

Volker Jacoby, Political Scientist

Sînziana Păltineanu, Writer

Pauline Plötz, Concerned Citizen

Omran Mohra, Concerned Citizen

Daniela Koerppen, Concerned Citizen

Stefan van der Burg, Sound Engineer

Prof Michael Barenboim, Musician

Bianca Maass, Concerned Citizen

Mounia Mälzer, Concerned Citizen

Minu Vogel, Theatre Educator and Master’s student in Transformation Studies

Melih Akyazililar, Director, Editor, Writer

Ralf Pleger, Filmmaker and Director

Sylvia Girgis, Concerned Citizen

Matthias Böhler, Artist

Iris Hefets, Psychoanalyst 

Gabriela Seith, Concerned Citizen

Nissrine Saraireh, Senior Business Operations Manager MBA

Udi Raz, PhD Candidate BGSMCS

Aurelia Kalisky, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre Marc Bloch Berlin

Athanasia Tsavala, Concerned Citizen

Sedige Ghadiri, Concerned Citizen

Jacob K. Langford, Scholar and Artist

Aline Palloure, Teacher

Dr. Lana Sirri, Researcher

Anna Margit, Architect

Milena Wernthal, Concerned Citizen

Laura Boser, Performer and Theatre Maker

Sonja Knüppel, Cultural and Social Worker

Alice van Caubergh, Concerned Citizen

HP Ruth Luschnat, Social Worker

Loreto Solís Germani, Journalist and Translator

Dona Asisi, Artist

Anna Lena Meisenberg, Artist

Leander Baer Lienert, Stage Lightening

Ruth Fruchtman, Writer

Yergalem Taffere, Artist

Friedrich Rosen, Concerned Citizen

Nina Pietropoli, People Ops Manager

Daniel Oppenheimer, Employee

Robert Sachse, Ingenieur

Dr. Brian Currid, Translator

Linh Tran, Social Worker

Rexane Rasmussen, Political Scientist

Lida Papakonstantinou, Concerned Citizen

Zorka Obrenić, Concerned Ctizen

Anika Gabler, Nurse

Sabine Bretz, Political Educator

Hatice Caliskan Nurse

Adam Ruprich,  Concerned Citizen

Eliana Ben David, Concerned citizen

Andreas Seelig, Physician

Dima Moghrabi, Concerned Citizen

Hartmut Vogel, Concerned Citizen

Dr. Mark Curran, Artist & Educator

Leila Boukarim, Author

Lola Risse, Student

Carolina Doran, Project Officer

Anonymous, Copywriter

Olaf Schnabel, Physician

İlknur Bahadir, Actress

Barbara Meier, Concerned Citizen

Nicolas Batthyany, Actor

Jerome Hillel Bark, Software Engineer

Martin Borgs, Ingenieur

Fabian Goldmann, Journalist

Ahmed Farouk M.Aly, Journalist & Translator

Anonymous, Care Worker

Aşkın-Hayat Doğan, Diversity Trainer

Sarah Lucey Teacher

Dr Daniel G.B. Weissmann, Pol. Comms Researcher

Nadin Klomke, Concerned Citizen

Mina Jawad, Writer

Diana Hodali, Freelance Media Worker

Gennaro Gervasio, University Professor

Roberta Pasini, Concerned Citizen

Alessia Cecchini, Consultant

Rossella Merullo, Concerned Citizen

Martina Altieri, Life Coach

Yasar Fattoom, Aid Worker

Anna Susi,  Language Teacher

Helena Klaßen, TraumaTherapist

Paola Stablum, Advisor

İdil Efe, Concerned Citizen

Yara Almunaizel, Concerned Citizen

Meltem Arsu, Editor

Rachela Tonta, Independent Researcher

Anonymous, Concerned Citizen

Mara Müller, Student

Nora Lawand, Concerned Citizen

Hanan, Concerned Citizen

Bettina Marx, Journalist and Writer

Dr. Tamar Amar-Dahl, Concerned Citizen

Abdullah Habhab, Concerned Citizen

Klara Maria Appel, Concerned Citizen

Anonymous, Grant Specialist

Ruairí Casey, Concerned Citizen

Hadas Emma Kedar, PhD student for Communication Studies, UHH

Marie Gollmann, Concerned Citizen

Ali Aykar, Actor

Raja Goltz, Social Worker and Researcher Artist

Alissa Fink, Freelancer

Prof. em. Dr. Fanny-Michaela Reisin, Professor

Anonymous, Lawyer

Nicole Tews, Nurse and Art Therapist

A. Hecht, Student

Theresa Schwenk, Student

Anonymous, Call Center Slave

Jakub Czernieski, Concerned Citizen

Zoë Claire Miller, Artist and Organizer

Anonymous, Student

Katya Sander, Professor

Nurit Hershkovitz ter Kuile, Concerned Citizen

Kurtis Sunday (Pen Name), Writer

Eyal Li, Researcher

Wieland Hoban, Composer, Translator and Author

Hadi Albalkhi, Software Developer

Mark Gerban, Concerned Citizen

Ahsan Atique, Ingenieur

Nevin Duran, Lawyer

Cenî Kurdish, Women’s Office for Peace

Sarafina Franziska Lovisa Paschold, Student

Evelyn Bittaye, Retired

Dr. René Wildangel, Independent Journalist

Moritz Zahn, Student 

Nils Vogel, Academic

Walid Aqleh, Senior Staff Software Engineer

Merle Annika Michaelsen, Gynecologist

Alexandra Fabitsch, Communications Specialist

Anonymous, Project Manager

Franziska Weber, Educator

Nora Geisler, Communications Consultant

Julian Brudereck, Concerned Citizen

Frauke Driessen Artist

Georg Auernheimer, Concerned Citizen

Manfred Jeub, Pastor and Schuldekan i. R.

Shirin Rahman, Concerned Citizen

Anonymous, Scientist

Grit Lemke, Author and Director

Caroline Haertel Director and Producer

Lucia Vannucchi, Filmmaker

Catalina Florez, Director

Julie Pfleiderer, Director

Fascism is colonialism coming home

The dehumanization of immigrants in the E.U.


16/09/2025

For the hope of better opportunities, you travel thousands of kilometres. Everything you once knew, you leave behind. Your mother waves goodbye as you leave a trail of dust behind. You dare not prolong the goodbye; it’s too painful. Inside your chest something is already missing although you have barely even left. The car ride is silent; the radio is off. You could turn it on, but you wouldn’t focus anyway. You drive past signs, perhaps the last ones you’re familiar with. Your car slips into an old pothole. You’ve slipped into it many times. This time it isn’t an annoyance; it too says its farewell. You’re on your own, driving into strange smooth roads, without potholes.

A paper, a uniform, a gun, barbed wire. It’s for border security, they say. The paper with the cold short notice ‘entry denied.’ The uniformed man is once again following orders. He doesn’t see the immigrant as human, but rather as a problem to be managed. A little of his own humanity got lost with years of holding the baton. Trained for years to be numb towards the violence he inflicts. Told that the immigrant is alien, illegal, dangerous. A life to be disregarded and dealt with.

In today’s age where ethnonationalism and fascism is on the rise across the world, immigrants, especially refugees, are among the most vulnerable of marginalized groups. Lacking legal representation, financial means, and the seeking of safety politicized, the mistreatment of immigrants is more often than not systematically condoned and perpetuated. The history of colonialism and its effects cannot simply be ignored while it echoes through in today’s dehumanization of immigrants. Criticism of this rhetoric is crucial to challenge the systems that benefit from the suffering of the marginalized. 

Social identity and prejudice 

A myriad of scholars, academics, and ordinary people alike have grappled with the question of how humans are capable of inflicting extreme violence on one another while simultaneously using weaponizing language in the media to gain consent from the public.

How is dehumanization justified? The social identity theory and “Cognitive aspects of prejudice” by Henri Tajfel, tackles the sociopsychological roots of dehumanizing behaviour. His main focus lay in understanding how the ‘ordinary’ people of Germany in the 1930s became complicit in the Holocaust. He argued that it does not take a tyrant to commit horrific acts of violence. Rather, the core of the matter lies in categorization of people. “The social world is not just a collection of individuals; it is a collection of groups”. The categorization of people is numerous, including race, nationality, ethnicity, etc. He adds that, once established, the differences of categories are magnified. Simultaneously, the similarities of the same category are exaggerated. 

Discrimination and prejudice thrive on the exacerbation of differences. In the context of immigration, the categories are the citizen and immigrant. The former is characterized as orderly, lawful, working, ordinary, etc. While the latter is unruly, criminal, unemployed, illegal, etc. A CNN quote about Denmark’s new housing law states: “A new law aims to force changes in 15 housing estates across the country that the government calls ‘hard ghettos'”, makes use of the word ghetto, a term that carries with it associations of seclusion, crime and danger. Such language shapes the perception of the public, enforces harmful prejudices and normalizes poor living conditions of immigrants. 

The categorization of peoples and colonialism

The categorization of people is tightly intertwined with the history of colonialism. The process wasn’t merely psychological but deeply political. Throughout history, beginning as early as classical Greece, notable figures like Aristotle held the belief that non-Greek speaking people were ‘barbarians’. In the Middle Ages, Christians in Europe categorized Muslims and Jews as spiritually inferior. Resulting in numerous expulsions of Jews across Europe. During the 14th century, the slave trade and colonization of Africa and Asia by the Spanish and Portuguese, the sense of superiority over people who were considered to be subordinate people became more and more systematic. This wasn’t an accident. The colonizer, enacting violence on a scale, larger than ever seen before, needed a justification. Views of racial inferiority wasn’t just an opinion, it became law in order to continue the exploitation of resources and slave labour, most notably through the transatlantic slave trade. 

Renowned scholar, Edward Said who extensively wrote about the process and impacts of colonialism, particularly in West Asia and North Africa, published his book Orientalism in 1978. Orientalism is defined in several ways. Including, firstly, as a study compiled of a large body of colonial writings. Secondly, as an invented dichotomy between the ‘Orient’ and ‘Occident’. A worldview entirely Eurocentric, existing as a kind of academic weapon to dominate and uphold the established colonial structures. European colonizers sought not only to subject the land but also its people. As a result, they had no interest in interacting in a respectful manner or getting to know the local population accurately. Instead, they prescribed traits at best at random, at worst through a racist and prejudiced lens. Common ways of describing the ‘Oriental’ were savage, lazy, irrational, uncivilized, and mystic. Using circular logic, the colonizer justified why the people of the ‘Orient’ could not in any way self-govern; that the European is far more suited for this task.

Similar Orientalist tropes can be seen in the ‘post-colonial’ world today. Immigrants and refugees are subjected to a similar dynamic to the colonized in the past. Perhaps one of the most harmful perceptions about immigrants is the normalization of their suffering. This was grossly evident in the reports of the Ukraine-Russia war, with a reporter from CBS stating: “This is not a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European city.”  This reflects not only hypocritical reporting but also the extent to which the suffering of the global majority has become a mundane and inevitable occurrence. The West both perpetuates the cause of suffering while at the same time normalizing and legitimizing it. Through constant destabilization and occupation of West Asia, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and others or meddling in political processes of various African countries. 

When migrants and refugees attempt to seek refuge in Europe, they are often met with no better fate. Arriving at Europe’s borders, they are immediately met with dehumanizing tropes of ‘swarming’ or ‘invading’, a rhetoric often amplified by media and political figures. This discourse was starkly evident when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stood at the Polish-Belarusian border, praising Poland’s “successful defence” with a 5.5-meter-high steel wall against ‘irregular migrants’.

This Eurocentric narrative consistently undermines the human need for safety, prioritizing perceived threats over humanitarian obligations. Such rhetoric results in countless human rights abuses, including illegal pushbacks, which have been systematically documented. For instance, on the Polish-Belarusian border, an aid group reported that in 2024 at least 3,183 pushbacks occurred, a practice the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has called to stop. This is made worse by the criminalization of providing aid, as seen in the trial of the ‘Hajnowka Five’ in Poland where aid workers are facing prison for providing “emergency assistance to an Iraqi-Kurdish family with seven children” found “in catastrophic health” in a freezing border forest. One defendant, Ewa Moroz-Kaczynska stated, “If we are found guilty of this, it also means that human decency is a criminal offence”.

In othering another person or group, it may at first glance seem like the one inflicting ‘the othering’ has won. But the moment he inflicts dehumanization he arguably loses his own humanity. He has at that point lost the ability to connect and empathize. He also confirms that were he in the weaker position, others would be permitted to see him as no longer human. Victor Frankl, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, observing the Nazis brutalizing prisoners in the camps, dehumanized themselves too by losing their empathy not only to others but to themselves alike.

While migrants suffer physical and psychological injury, Europe suffers a moral one. Described most notably by Cesaire, in his famous essay “Discourse on Colonialism”, Cesaire interprets the fascism of the 1930s and 40s as an ‘imperial boomerang’. He points out that the mass deaths of the Holocaust were not at all exceptional as it had been happening across all the colonized territories. Fascism is colonialism coming home.

Today, each pushback, imprisonment, and erasure of migrants deepens the contradiction of the EU being a place of freedom of movement. Every media statement dehumanizing a migrant reinforces the concept of conditional humanity. Safety is not guaranteed because one is a human being, only if it serves the profit of corporations trading lives for dollars. And, although Europe now exists in relative safety, who will hold out their hand in a future catastrophe after years of complacent silence?  Perhaps it is only a matter of time before the uniformed guard, too, has to say farewell to something familiar and beloved to him. Maybe then he can relate to leaving behind what he once held so dear.

Largest fascist-organised street mobilisation in British history

Eye-witness report and photos from the fascist and anti-fascist demos in London


Saturday saw the biggest fascist organised street mobilisation in British political history. Around 100,000 attended, which is at least five times bigger than anything seen before.

It was clear from the beginning that this was going to be huge. The internet was flooded with paid adverts on every platform and in a rare show of unity it was backed by pretty much every strand of the hard right except Farage and the Tories. Walking around the area in Whitehall set aside for Tommy Robinson’s rally, the amount of private funding available was clear to see. The stage, security, portaloos, production team, sound system and giant plasma screens would have cost tens of thousands just for the day, begging the question: who is paying for all of this?

It was clear from previous experience that it was never going to remain peaceful. Tommy’s fanbase are not renowned for their attention spans, so it didn’t take long for attendees to leave the sites of the speeches in large groups to take swings at their political opponents.

The counter protest, which was bigger than expected, was still less than a fifth of the size of the racist mob. When it reached Trafalgar Square, thousands of fash (many of them drunk) were waiting. The cops were outnumbered and soon found themselves under sustained attack as they protected representatives from Stand Up To Racism and other such estblishments from the racists assembling at the top of Whitehall.

It’s strange how resources to clamp down and control peaceful (and generally far bigger) protests for Palestine seem almost unlimited. Yet a mobilisation made up of people with a long track record for drinking and violence seems to be beyond the ability of the state to manage? The riot plods raised their batons to threaten the fash, but seldom used them, despite coming under a constant barrage of missiles including rocks and glass bottles for several hours. Very few arrests were made. Had their attackers been on the left, or people of colour, it would likely have been a very different scene.

To their absolute credit the anti-fascists stood firm and worked together (for once) to keep their people safe from the attacks that were occurring around Trafalgar Square. One unfortunate group found themselves stuck on the wrong side of the lines for a considerable time but eventually managed to rejoin the main protest unharmed. There was at least one extremely sickening racist attack on a young black man by a mob of violent thugs. He had to be rescued by riot cops.

There is no single component behind this frightening shit show. A range of factors are to blame.

Firstly, history tells us that liberal centrism has achieved little but opening the door to far right rhetoric since the 1920s. Then, as now, the ruling elite are bankrolling fascism to protect their wealth in an uncertain world that is falling apart around them. There are very obvious parallels between what is happening today and Henry Ford funding the Nazis in the 1930s.

GB News is the £500 million pet project of a single individual and remains privately funded to spread its bile – despite making an annual loss. White supremacist Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion to turn it into (another loss making) racist cesspool. Mail Online, owned by the tax dodging Rothermere family, spews racist clickbait on a minute-by-minute basis. The list is endless.

These people have the money and influence to peddle whatever (racist) distraction from their parasitic greed that suits them, be it ‘small boats’, ‘grooming gangs’ or ‘money laundering barber shops’. I’m old enough to remember when ‘Jamaican yardies’ were the existential threat to our society back in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, more mainstream media has played its part with a consistently anti-working class, pro-establishment narrative; we have seen the BBC as an example of such, gifting the likes of Farage with what amounts to a season ticket for shows like Question Time.

Most of all there is the total incompetence and dishonesty of the worst Labour government in history. Starmer is the greatest giveaway to the far right of all time. Completely wedded to the establishment, he endlessly betrays an electorate screaming for transformative change. This is matched only by his ability to be the most unlikable politician ever. To make matters worse he panders to the narrative of REFORM instead of challenging it. In a deluded belief that he can beat Farage at his own game.

His dehumanisation of the Palestinian people as the UK remains an active player in the ongoing genocide also helps fascists smell victory like nothing else. He posts his public condolences after the murder of racist lunatic Charlie Kirk but refuses to have an opinion when the Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi and many others were slaughtered in an air strike. Such double standards send a very clear message.

On Saturday Robinson made the idiotic claim that his demo actually comprised 3 million attendees. While this over-excited Nazi goblin basks in the glory of his big day out, it is worth remembering that the UK has a trade union membership of over 6 million.

If the left are to adequately respond to what is now the most urgent internal fascist threat that we’ve ever seen, the unions will have to play a key role in not just mobilising their members but also providing hope for workers in the face of government sell outs. The same anger being exploited by Farage and Robinson can also work for us.

The unions also need to urgently realise that the scenes on the streets can be played out at the ballot box, as they have done in the USA. An inevitable collapse in support for Starmer could lead to a Tory/Reform coalition where Farage could be king maker. This would not just mean more repressive anti-union legislation but a fundamental threat to their very existence.

Meanwhile the radical anti-fascist left needs to do something that I’ve yet to witness in 30 years of involvement in this scene. They need to start concentrating on what they have in common rather than what they disagree about. Time is fast running out.

All photos: Guy Smallman: www.guysmallman.com.