“A new era” at universities

by Michael Klundt

[This article posted on 7/21/2024 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://www.ossietzky.net/artikel/zeitenwende-an-den-hochschulen/.]

It should be clear that racism and anti-Semitism are not only a danger to Jews, but to everyone in any society that considers itself democratic. People like to try to play anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim racism off against each other. However, it should be obvious that it is not enough to talk about the horrors of the Gaza war without mentioning the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. However, it is also not enough to deplore the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 and worldwide anti-Semitism without naming Israel's occupation regime, which is contrary to international law, its blockade policy, the Gaza war and its thousands of victims, and the long-standing sponsors of Hamas. When Jewish settlers take land from Palestinian farmers, they do so not out of anti-Muslim racism, but out of Zionist nationalism. When Palestinians protest, whether non-violently or violently, they do so not out of anti-Semitism, but out of anti-Zionism, or because they simply do not want to be robbed and driven from their land. International law recognizes the right of the occupied to (self-)defend themselves, but not the right of the occupiers to (self-)defend themselves.

It has also been shown that a certain form of undifferentiated criticism of anti-Semitism, or rather the accusation of anti-Semitism, has been used for some years by conservative and (new) right-wing to (pseudo) left-wing ideologues as defamation, character assassination and a regular instrument of domination, preferably against leftists (and among them, particularly often against leftists of Jewish origin). B. Wolfgang Gehrke: Rufmord. Die Antisemitismus-Kampagne gegen links, PapyRossa, Cologne 2015). The documentary film “Zeit der Verleumder” (2021) by Dror Dayan and Susann Witt-Stahl also offers many vivid examples not only from Germany and at the same time important analyses of the ruling function of the defamation ideology. Attacks on renowned social scientists such as Judith Butler, Nancy Fraser and many other intellectuals have also become increasingly frequent in recent years. For years, very Christian to evangelical anti-Semitism commissioners (such as Felix Klein or Uwe Becker) have regularly defamed people like Moshe Zuckermann, the Auschwitz survivor Esther Bejarano, Fraser, Masha Gessen, Butler, etc. . In this sense, they are joined by anti-German ideologues such as Samuel Salzborn, Matthias Küntzel, Heinz Gess, Alex Feuerherdt, Jungle World, among others, as well as Anetta Kahane and the semi-state “NGO” Amadeo Antonio Foundation. This is almost always associated with at least room bans and pressure on public institutions. As already practiced during the Corona period, it is almost never about public disputes of controversial arguments, but always only about canceling.

These various defamation campaigns are literally inflating the concept of anti-Semitism, emptying it of its meaning and destroying its important critical substance. This is a disservice to the fight against anti-Semitism.

The president of the University of Cologne, Prof. Joybrato Mukherjee, who was responsible for the cancellation of Nancy Fraser's lecture, is already known as the president of the DAAD for enforcing the academic boycott of any scientific contacts with Russian colleagues, universities and institutes on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office since the end of February 2022. He proudly reports: “The academic sanctions against Russia were and are correct, all connections at the institutional level to Russia have been cut” (Frankfurter Rundschau, September 5, 2022). Since then, there has been a virtual “BDS” (Boycott, Desinvestment, Sanctions) against Russia and everything Russian worldwide: culture, science, sports, etc. Note: “BDS” against “Putin's Russia” is “democratic” and “normal” – “BDS” against “Netanyahu's Israel” is “anti-Semitic”. It's that simple.

All of this was and is true – as I said – long before the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 and the Israeli bombardments of the Gaza Strip, as well as the even more intensified repression and killings in the illegally occupied territories of the West Bank. The weaker the argumentative power of the representatives of NATO narratives, the sharper their repressive attempts. As we know, the media and political smear campaign against pro-Palestinian students and scientists who are willing to talk, which even goes as far as restricting academic freedom, is once again bearing original fruit. A German academic like Herfried Münkler, together with CDU politicians, publicly calls for young Ukrainian men who fled to Germany before the war to be driven to almost certain death, and a science minister – fired up by the mainstream media – demands that German science be made fit for war: » The turning point in history also forces science to think strategically about security issues« (Bettina Stark-Watzinger in: FAZ v. 21.08.2023) So-called civil clauses of universities can only be a hindrance since the »turning point in history«. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is considering – unconstitutionally – criminal, disciplinary and funding law reprisals for insubordinate scientists, and the Springer press, for the sake of simplicity, simply refers to the defamed lecturers as “Jew haters”.

In order to “prove” that Stark-Watzinger is right and that universities are supposedly a hotbed of anti-Semitism, various media have now chosen the internationally renowned childhood researcher Prof. Dr. Doris Bühler-Niederberger as their target. For decades, she has been committed to the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child worldwide in research and teaching. Together with the renowned childhood researcher Prof. Dr. Manfred Liebel, she has translated an essay on the subject of “Children's Rights and the Gaza War” into German. Together with several other participants, she has written an important epilogue that can be understood as an appeal to all scientists worldwide. To cite just one figure: the explosive force dropped on Gaza in the first few months alone is equivalent to about two atomic bombs.

What is the “crime” she is accused of? She forwarded an article by an English scientist who speaks of “genocide in Gaza”. In doing so, she has, according to the accusation in the Jüdische Allgemeine of June 17, 2024, the BILD of June 17, 2024 and the B.Z. of June 17, 2024, revealed herself to be an “anti-Semite” and a purveyor of “Hamas terror propaganda”. The Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper literally states the following about Bühler-Niederberger's “offense”: “Last weekend, she published a post uploaded a week earlier by a London professor named Hanna Kienzler. It said that 200,000 people in the British capital had demanded ‘an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza’. However, Israel is not committing genocide, but is fighting against Palestinian terror in Gaza to protect its population.” And anyone who questions this or forwards such a post is at least an ‘anti-Semite’, if not a ‘Hamas propagandist’. The logic of defamation is that simple.

Once again: newspapers that describe the Hamas terror of October 7, 2023 as “genocidal” deny the genocide in the Gaza Strip, which has been explicitly and implicitly proclaimed by Israeli politicians and military leaders for over 8 months, is on record and has been proven by its civilian victims, and which is being investigated by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. In this context, it is not insignificant that the Israeli Prime Minister has described the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as “one of the great anti-Semites of modern times” (ZEIT.de, May 21, 20 24), while the Israeli ambassador to the UN, with his Star of David action and shredding of the UN Charter, has portrayed the entire UN General Assembly of all states as a bunch of Jew-haters. Both Netanyahu and the Israeli ambassador to the UN are playing down the Nazi and Holocaust crimes.

The Gaza genocide deniers at the newspapers B.Z., BILD and Jüdische Allgemeine are thus slandering a childhood scientist who forwards an article about (demos against) war crimes in Gaza as an “anti-Semite” and a purveyor of “Hamas terror propaganda” simply because the article she forwards is about “genocide in Gaza”. This is apparently enough for the editors in question to defame her. This means that the genocide investigations of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court on the Gaza war are based on or spread “terrorist propaganda”. An accusation that can be considered somewhat daring in light of the indictment files, which are based almost exclusively on Israeli sources.

Next, the journalists in question condemn the scientist as “anti-Semitic” because she allegedly did not explicitly distance herself from a post by another person who elsewhere speaks of Zionism as a “cancer” (which is demonstrably false, as she explicitly distanced herself from it and from anti-Semitic positions on the same day, which the journalists in question suppressed against their better judgment). Furthermore, she had allegedly agreed to the slogan “From the River to the Sea” (a controversial slogan that has been used by Palestinians and the right-wing Likud in diametrically opposed ways since the 1970s. The author of the so-called anti-anti-Semitism appeal at German universities, Stephan Liebig, for example, supports this thesis in the sense of a Greater Israel and with the denial of the Palestinian right to exist between Jordan and the Mediterranean, which is contrary to international law (see jW v. 4.7.2024). In this way of thinking, every supporter of a two-state solution is probably also an anti-Semite.

The professor's “crime” thus largely consists in her “contact guilt”. Since we live in a constitutional state, this must be repeated once again: the defamatory newspapers apparently cannot prove a single anti-Semitic statement or “Hamas propaganda” to the childhood scientist.

On the other hand, anyone can read the genocidal demands made by a wide range of Israeli media, ministers, military officials and even President Herzog himself. The motto: “In Gaza, there are no innocent people in the attacks of October 7!” (see p. 60ff. of the South African indictment against Israel before the International Court of Justice on suspicion of genocide). The hundreds of thousands of children under the age of five, the one million minors without Hamas complicity; all are guilty of genocide and should be “treated” accordingly.

The denial of the deliberately and therefore genocidal collective punishment of all inhabitants of the Gaza Strip for the attacks of October 7, 2023 since October 9, 2023 with daily hunger, thirst, lack of water and medicines, with bombs and rockets, with death and mass displacement (including of hundreds of thousands of small children), the denial of this genocidal practice appears to the defamatory journalists to be absolutely harmless compared to the alleged “Hamas propaganda term” of “genocide in Gaza” by the attacked scientist.

At the same time, the mainstream media, political and scientific treatment of the Middle East conflict is literally endangering Jewish lives, as Dave Braneck writes in the magazine Jacobin.de on November 13, 2023 : “Politics and the media are doing Jews a disservice by equating them with Israel's government, suppressing Jewish voices for peace, and pursuing xenophobia and deportations as a solution to anti-Semitism.”

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NATO's war on the psyche

by Georg Rammer

[This article posted on 7/21/2024 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://www.ossietzky.net/artikel/nato-krieg-gegen-die-psyche/.]

The battle-hardened minister stands in the turret of the battle tank. In full battle gear, he shows us the way and the goal: forward... We have long since become accustomed to the photos and reports in the media: war propaganda from all sides (to stay with the image). In their sights: we, the people who have grown accustomed to war.

For centuries, the common people have had to be lured and manipulated into murdering and voluntarily allowing themselves to be slaughtered for the power cravings of the rulers. But the PR methods had to be perfected. Following the NATO attack on Yugoslavia (which is not referred to as such in our media), which was in violation of international law, former NATO spokesperson Jamie Shea was invited by a PR firm to talk about how to sell a war: “Selling a Conflict – the Ultimate PR Challenge”. Of course, NATO had violated international law and sovereignty – that's why they invented the ‘humanitarian mission’. The TV audience had to be offered daily soap operas with main characters and a clear division of roles: ‘good guy’ and ‘bad guy’. And: ‘If you don't have a story, make a story’.

However, this propaganda seems outdated compared to “cognitive warfare” (CW), which NATO is developing as a “game changer” (see “The 21st-Century Game Changer – Cognitive Warfare”, The Three Swords 39/2023). Manipulation is considered a new type of weapon. Since the “war on terror”, which the West under US leadership has authorized itself, psychological warfare has gained massively in importance. Because a victory on the battlefield, as in Iraq or Libya, does not guarantee political success. The shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan also shows that the battle for the hearts and minds of the people is decisive in war.

The wars against Russia and China in particular must be fought with the weapons of propaganda – against the enemy both inside and outside. NATO declares the human mind to be the battlefield. In numerous publications, it explains the benefits and necessity of psychological warfare: CW can destroy entire societies by “sowing doubt in government leadership, undermining democratic processes, triggering civil unrest or instigating separatist movements” (own translation from “Countering cognitive warfare: awareness and resilience”. Nato Review 20 May 2021). Anyone who thinks of Ukraine in 2014 or Georgia today is not far off the mark. As a method, CW uses, for example, the dissemination of contradictory narratives, the polarization of opinions, the radicalization of groups and their incitement to destroy society.

Digital media provide the basis for comprehensive manipulation: they know what we like and believe they can track where we go and with whom we spend our time. Search and e-commerce platforms use our tracking data to identify and implement our preferences, desires and beliefs. But the enemy is of course familiar with all these methods too. That is why NATO must “proactively” take the lead on the battlefield of the human mind. In the long term, the NATO states will only be victorious if they gain total control over the psyche of people, both civilians and military personnel, and over states. This requires a war against critical thought and opposing beliefs. The representation of reality in people must be changed: “It is therefore a war against its ways of thinking, its mental logics, its spontaneous representations and its conceptual processes. The goal is to alter the representation of the world, but this has the consequence of undermining the whole of society in a very likely durable way« (Cognitive Warfare, a Battle for the Brain. NATO, Francois du Cluzel, undated).

“Cognitive warfare": the term is too narrow. The war is not only aimed at thoughts, but also at feelings and sensitivities and orientation in the world. Traditional values and certainties are to be dissolved, as is the recognition of connections. To achieve this, security and embededness in reality must be destabilized and destroyed and replaced by a new (illusory) reality shaped by state propaganda. Such a destabilized person in such a society is not considered sick, but a desired end product. For the sweeping, lasting “success” of this war, it is not enough to target individual critics; the entire society must be permeated by the all-encompassing reformatting of reality. The destabilization of the psyche and of society guarantees total control – as far below the threshold of perception as possible, so as to prevent any resistance from arising.

In the context of these NATO concepts, it is easy to understand what “turning point” and “war-readiness” education also mean: not only rearmament and militarization, but also what used to be called brainwashing. Criticism of arms deliveries to Ukraine, demands for negotiations are labeled as treason, and references to the history of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution are stamped as hostile disinformation. Every day we are confronted with political events that confuse and destabilize. While Western politicians such as Michael Roth, SPD, are making inflammatory speeches in Georgia to prevent a law against foreign influence, the USA, the EU and Germany are already practicing or planning comparable laws. On World Refugee Day, politicians praise their commitment to refugees as “active humanity”, while at the same time radicalizing their defense and canceling the right of asylum. A US historian (Anne Applebaum), who is fighting for a military victory over Russia, receives the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, after having previously been honored with the Carl von Ossietzky Prize (!).

The double standard is systematic – and confusing. The perception of reality must give way to fake reality. While state representatives celebrate the constitution, scientists are punished for statements that do not fit the arbitrarily defined state reason. Politics praises large demonstrations against “remigration” – and at the same time passes the “Return Acceleration Act”. The victory over fascism is celebrated without even mentioning Russia – the memory is erased. Billions of euros in aid for Ukraine are linked to plans to exploit the country. While criticism of Israel's inhumane policies is branded as anti-Semitic, support for Palestine is threatened with expulsion, the state supports the right-wing extremist government and its massacres politically and militarily for “reasons of state”. The bombing of refugee camps is not being investigated – because of the “welfare of the state” and the “secrecy interests” of the Federal Republic. The same applies to the murder of well over a hundred journalists in Gaza.

The line between appearance and reality is becoming blurred, and the transformation of the representation of reality is in full swing. The war against false thoughts and feelings resembles the Monsanto strategy: destroy every weed with poison and genetically modify the entire field. The definition and punishment of dissenting opinions and statements is the responsibility of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. And already an army of assistants in politics, business, the press, science, foundations and think tanks is ready to wage cognitive warfare with narratives: auxiliary organs of NATO in the construction of fake reality. No conspiracy is needed: people know what is required and do it for the sake of alleged national security, which does not coincide with the needs of the population. It is perfectly sufficient to propagandistically disseminate the general direction of politics: the enemy image, economic war, the moral superiority of Western values – while ignoring colonialism, war and world domination.

Capitalism rules (almost) the whole world: has it made it a better place, have people become happier? Not at all. But this system cannot peacefully seek a balance of interests and treat people equally. War is portrayed as inevitable, and any critic is considered a dissident and must be treated as an enemy. Western politics, with its obsession with hegemony, threatens to destroy the world. NATO is at war, and we are also at war.