The next turning point
By the editorial team of German-Foreign-Policy
[This article posted on June 10, 2024 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://www.isw-muenchen.de/online-publikationen/texte-artikel/5253-die-naechste-zeitenwende.]
Germany and Europe are facing a second “turning point”.
This
is the prediction of the Berlin-based Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik
(SWP) in a recent study. According to the study, a significant
reduction in US military activities in Europe can be expected after the
US presidential election on November 5, not only if Donald Trump wins
the vote, but also if Joe Biden emerges as the victor.
The
SWP also believes that Joe Biden would, “in case of doubt”, give
priority to a possible war against China over Taiwan over continued
support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. It will therefore be “the
main task” of German foreign and military policy to “secure” the EU and
NATO countries of Europe against Russia in the future. “All aspects” of
armament must be geared towards “this goal”. This
means that smaller military operations around the world must now be
“avoided”. This is not least in line with considerations in the USA,
where it is believed that the looming scenario of three simultaneous
wars – against Russia, in the Middle East and against China – can only
be won with massively armed allies.
Two candidates, one direction
After
the US presidential election on November 5 this year, the states of
Europe will be “confronted with another turning point in history,”
predicts the SWP in a recent study.
With
Joe Biden and Donald Trump, “two schools of thought are facing each
other” that “define the role of the United States with regard to
American policy in and towards Europe in very different ways”.
Trump's intention to reduce the United States' military activities on the European continent is well known.
But this cannot hide the fact that the Biden administration's
“geopolitical[...] focus” is also “on the Indo-Pacific region”; “the
current engagement in Europe” is also for them only an “exception”. “The
social currents and cohesive forces” in the USA are pushing “the
foreign policy program of both candidates in the same direction,” states
the SWP.
Trump and the Restrainers
The
Berlin think tank attributes Donald Trump – despite some reservations –
to a foreign policy faction whose supporters are sometimes referred to
as “restrainers”. These advocates “favor a selective engagement of
Washington in international politics”, which should be exclusively
“oriented towards the national interests of the United States”,
according to the SWP study. Restrainers believe that the United States
has “in the past... entered
into too many security commitments” and should now “reduce them”. They
see the war in Ukraine as a “peripheral war in the eastern reaches of
Europe” that “does not affect America's strategic core interests” and
therefore does not justify any outstanding US activities. The
restrainers are calling for a massive “shift of the burden... away from
the USA, towards Europe”. This
could “lead to a Europeanized NATO”, in which the United States would
act as a kind of “logistics service provider of last resort” and
“guarantor of free sea and trade routes”.
Biden and the Primacists
Joe
Biden, on the other hand, classifies the SWP as close to the school of
thought of the “primacists”. According to this, the United States must
strive in international politics to “maintain its geopolitical
supremacy”; the “basis” of its “global dominance” is “the country's
unrivaled military superiority”. However,
the Biden administration is aware that the US cannot “handle two wars
at the same time – Russia's war against Ukraine and a potential war
between China and Taiwan.”
It is clear that they would “give priority to a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if in doubt”.
A “Biden administration 2.0” will therefore “work towards a much greater burden sharing,” the SWP predicts.
This
will – just like the burden-sharing expected from a new Trump
administration – require a significantly stronger “European pillar of
NATO”.
All for one goal
In
both scenarios, the “main task” of German foreign and military policy
will be to “secure the EU and European NATO members against an
aggressive and revisionist Russia,” writes the SWP. “From now on, all
aspects of planning for the Bundeswehr – financial, personnel, armaments
and force planning” – must be geared towards this goal. The
Bundeswehr budget would have to reach at least 75 to 80 billion euros
per year from 2028. The SWP points out that the defense budget in 1963
was as high as 4.9 percent of gross domestic product; however, this
could “only be achieved again today as a reaction to a foreign policy
shock”. The
necessary military focus on the power struggle against Russia means
that Germany will have to “distance itself from international crisis
management” – military deployments around the world – in the future. The
SWP also rejects the participation of the Bundeswehr in maneuvers in
the Asia-Pacific region: “Isolated attempts to stylize the Bundeswehr...
to a
provider of security” in the Indian and Pacific Oceans ‘could not be an
expression of a serious orientation of German security policy’.
“Activating 900,000 reservists”
The
Federal Government is indeed guided by the maxim of focusing all
available resources on preparing for a possible war against Russia, and
is currently doing so to an even greater extent than before. Defense
Minister Boris Pistorius is currently demanding that “we” must be
“war-ready by 2029”.[2]
In
order to be “capable of sustaining and growing”, “young women and men”
are needed in greater numbers than before; therefore, a new form of
military service is inevitable. At the beginning of last week, there was
also a call for easier access to former Bundeswehr soldiers for
mobilization. It
was necessary, for example, “to re-register the registration data and
then also to check the state of health,” demanded the chairman of the
Bundeswehr Reserve Association, Patrick Sensburg (CDU).[3] The outgoing
chairwoman of the Bundestag's defense committee, Marie Agnes
Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), called for the activation of the
“approximately 900,000” former soldiers “that we have in Germany”; it
was necessary to “become capable of defense as quickly as possible”.[4]
Three wars at the same time
Enlightenment is resistance
If
you want to improve political conditions, you shouldn't just sit at
home and type away on your keyboard – it's better to go out on the
streets and talk to people.
“What
form of resistance do you want to join?” Ullrich Mies asked the
audience in the Manova program Klartext with Elisa Gratias. Most people
might think first of all that they could write or publish something.
This is important, but it remains somewhat impersonal. In addition,
political opponents have many opportunities, especially on the internet,
to censor content and make it untraceable. But
the following thought is truly encouraging: no matter how well
organized a power is, it cannot prevent resistant thoughts from being
passed on from one person to another in a personal conversation. That is
why the exchange from person to person is the most original form of
political communication. In response to Ullrich Mies' question, the
author describes how she went out onto the streets and immersed herself
in real life. She describes how she tried to convince passers-by of her political ideas and under what circumstances this can also succeed.
by Susanne Klodt
[This
article posted on 6/12/2024 is translated from the German on the
Internet, https://www.manova.news/artikel/aufklarung-ist-widerstand.]
Inspired
by the question posed by Ullrich Mies in the last Klartext program with
Elisa Gratias, which resistance we want to join, I would like to report
on a form of resistance today: individual educational work on the
street.
For
a long time, demonstrations and similar gatherings were no longer
enough for me. I felt that we had to go directly to the people. So,
shortly before Easter, I decided to educate my fellow human beings about
the planned conclusion of the WHO pandemic agreement and the
International Health Regulations (IHR) until the meeting of the World
Health Assembly from May 27 to June 1, 2024 in Geneva. A
fellow campaigner had several thousand copies of the “Doctors for
Clarification” flyer and the World Health Alliance (WHE ALL) printed.
And then it started!
I
made a list of weekly markets and flea markets and set off to make
direct contact with people. I already had experience in this area from
my numerous activities in citizens' initiatives in the past. From
previous campaigns, I knew that you have to be extremely well informed
in order to be able to answer questions in detail and to respond to
possible counter-arguments. I
had listened to all the lectures by the designated experts, including
those by Philipp Kruse, Renate Holzeisen, Beate Pfeil, Silvia Behrendt,
Wolfgang Wodarg and Beate Bahner, and had studied all the articles on
the subject, as well as giving a presentation on it, so I was very well
prepared.
My
area of operation was Berlin and the surrounding area. Within a month, I
had distributed hundreds of copies and it was great fun. About 95
percent of the traders and customers I came into contact with were very
interested and open-minded. About half of those I approached already
knew quite a lot. I met a colorful mix of people from all walks of life,
age groups and nationalities, and had some impressive encounters.
I
had some very valuable conversations, including with people who had
been in the resistance themselves, such as lawyers and doctors, but who
were not organized anywhere.
On the other hand, I met many people who were very angry about the
fact that they had been injected. Some told me about the pain and
restrictions they had suffered since the injection. That's why they were
“fed up”. Others reported deaths among their relatives after the
injections.
Several
also complained about their experiences with their children during the
lockdowns and the measures, and were outraged at what had been done to
their families psychologically and emotionally by months of lockdowns
and curfews. “We never want to experience anything like that again,”
they said.
I
also heard that people had given up their entire existence in Germany
and emigrated out of sheer desperation at the never-ending measures and
the associated suffering.
Sometimes
I met the same trader at different markets. He told me that he had read
the flyer and would like to have more of them for his customers.
I
exchanged information about relevant books and internet platforms with
people who were already partially informed. In general, I had the
impression that a large proportion of people no longer trust public
broadcasting or public media. I was surprised to learn how many people –
according to their own statements – no longer turn on the TV.
Another
group of people, on the other hand, had many questions. They were not
aware of the extent of the totalitarian powers that are to be enshrined
in the WHO pandemic treaty. For others, on the other hand, it was new
that the WHO is at least 80 percent privately funded. I
then explained this to the people in detail, as well as the digital
surveillance, censorship and abolition of fundamental rights and
democracy that would come with the WHO pandemic treaty and the IHR. Many
people pricked up their ears at these terms.
At
the same time, I received important information from market traders and
residents, for example that the Berlin Senate is seeking to contain the
weekly markets in Berlin. They are to make way for so-called meeting
zones. Some of the markets served as a meeting place for exchanging
opinions during the period of the measures.
Many traders apparently showed solidarity with the critics of the
measures at the time. Furthermore, the weekly markets are a thorn in the
side of the large supermarket chains and thus the corporations, because
they can neither control buyers nor customers there and payment is made
in cash. Incidentally, the markets give farmers from the surrounding
area the opportunity to sell their goods there. This seems almost like a
relic from ancient times.
Many
of the people I spoke to thanked me for my work, and some praised my
courage. My distribution activities went smoothly. At no point did I
experience any aggressive reactions or troublemakers. The advantage of
such individual actions is that you don't have to register them, and of
course I don't announce them on the internet either.
For
me, this activity was an enrichment in every respect, because I did
what I thought was necessary and fulfilled me, and I came to the
realization that the number of critics and skeptics is not as small as I
suspected, but much larger. Above all, however, I realized how
important it is to have one-on-one conversations. This
approach is suitable for all socio-political topics and is an effective
weapon against the social distancing and division that is politically
desired. I can only recommend that everyone do the same as I did!
Susanne
Klodt, born in 1963, was born in West Berlin. In the 1980s, she studied
law and Latin American studies. From 1987, she spent twelve years in
Latin America, mainly in Mexico and Colombia, where she worked as a
language teacher, translator and environmental activist. She
has been living in Berlin again since 2000 and is a full-blooded
activist in the field of public services, opposing all PPP projects.
Read more
The false “we”
Related article
The false sense of community
More
and more often, profiteers are trying to suggest a sense of community
to the victims of the system in order to persuade them to accept the
circumstances.
29.05.2024 by Gunther Sosna
Tunnel at the end of the light
Since the end of the corona regime, society has been in a pre-apocalyptic limbo, because the next shock is already planned.
Since
2022, the polycrises have been simmering on a low flame. The state of
emergency from 2020 to the beginning of 2022 was the provisional climax
of a cascade of crises. With the expansion of the Ukraine civil war into
an international conflict, the degree of repression was initially
weakened. However, this new state of affairs still means a crisis mode
that did not exist before Corona. Rising
energy prices, inflation and narrower corridors of opinion are
affecting people's lives more drastically than ever before. Some have
been stumbling from one crisis to the next for two years, paralyzed;
others are sitting frozen like rabbits in front of snakes, waiting for
the next big bang. It is unlikely that the world's complicated situation
will resolve itself without turbulence and upheaval. The
next shock in the sense of “the shock strategy” as described by Naomi
Klein is bound to come. Corona caught the critical part of society and
that part that only became critical as a result of it. Like startled
chickens, some have fluttered around and, as we must admit in
retrospect, have fallen into a partially blind activism. The cards are
now reshuffled. The
oligarchic corporate philanthropists, their spin doctors, PR experts
and military have learned a lot from the Corona era – but so has the
critical mass. So how do we prepare for the next big shock and at the
same time maintain our inner peace?
by Nicolas Riedl
[This
article posted on 6/8/2024 is translated from the German on the
Internet, https://www.manova.news/artikel/tunnel-am-ende-des-lichts.]
2020
was a year of shocks, both figuratively and literally. In the summer of
that fateful year, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever shook
Beirut. The Hollywood-style explosion, which was preceded by a small
detonation, was captured on numerous cell phone cameras. The
camera angles of those eyewitnesses who were several kilometers away at
the time of the detonation are remarkable in this context. In the
videos, we see the white mushroom cloud of the explosion from a
distance, and then several seconds pass before the bang of the shock
wave shakes the air and even makes windows rattle kilometers away. Light
is faster than sound.
Metaphorically
speaking, we, the various people of the critical part of society, find
ourselves in a similar observer role. We see the approaching disaster in
the distance and know that sooner or later it will have to crash. We do
not know exactly when the bang will sound. We still have time to make
preparations.
The next “big current thing”
The
crash prophecy is a tricky business. It is easy to make good money with
it, as it is with fear-mongering in general. In the financial sector in
particular, the business of predicting doom is booming. The prophets
are happy to generously overlook the fact that their prophecies almost
always reliably exceed their sell-by date without their predictions
coming true.
It is virtually impossible to predict the shape and timing of any
crash, whatever form it may take. It is therefore more sensible to gain
an overview of possible scenarios and to take precautions for these.
Fortunately,
the UN's future pact provides a whole range of conceivable “complex,
global shocks” that could inspire apocalyptic fantasies. These include:
Major climate event, future pandemic risks, biological agent threat,
disruption of global goods, people or financial traffic, cyber
incident, major space event, unpredictable risks (so-called “black swan
events”).
Here,
everyone can pick out the horror scenario that seems most likely to
them. Media consumers are well accustomed to the weekly new pig that is
driven through the (digital) village. The listed scenarios correspond to
a large pig that keeps the village in suspense for months and years and
changes it sustainably, as the PCR test pandemic has done. Afterwards, as already threatened, nothing was the same as before. From then on, there was talk of a “new normal”.
The
most likely scenario is probably a hybrid of several crises, such as a
(bacterial) pandemic – this time a really dangerous one – that targets
the microbiome and is attributed to climate change, bringing global
trade and passenger traffic to a virtual standstill, while then,
in the middle of the “lockdown dark”, a blackout occurs, which in turn
leads to the entire financial system being rebooted and people waking up
with the return of electricity in a world of cashless central bank
currencies and social credit points. As I said, there are no limits to the fantasies of doom and gloom.
But
instead of remaining in the confines of fear, it is now time to
consider how we can prepare for the next shock and not repeat our
mistakes during the corona period.
Advantages, wisdom and experience from the opposition to Corona
Looking
back at the first year of the “new normal” with the benefit of
hindsight, some things that were said and done by the opposition seem
strange. Some actors and institutions that seemed trustworthy at the
beginning and made promising statements about educating the public and
preventing crimes have, over time, taken a very strange turn. It is possible that they were already heading in this direction from the outset, but this only became clear later.
The
Corona investigation committee has undoubtedly brought to light
important findings. But whether and how much money was misappropriated
and embezzled from accounts remains unclear to this day. Some of the
first investigators did a commendable job, but later tried to profit
from the crisis by selling supplements and prepper products.
In short, if a new (plan)demic breaks out tomorrow, the various
opposition groups would be well advised to prove that they have learned
from the years 2020 to 2024.
In
the following, we would like to draw some conclusions from this period
and record them as lessons learned. The list is by no means exhaustive.
There is no Messiah! Redemption myths are psyops! Always!
Stories
of a savior-messiah are like a ghost train station where we can wait
forever for a train that will never arrive. In the first few months of
the “new normal”, redemption stories sprouted and proliferated, which is
not surprising. Humanity was plunged into a state unprecedented in
history, the collapse of almost the entire world. In such a situation,
the ground for savior narratives was more fertile than ever. Especially
since everyone was living a life that they had thought impossible just a
few weeks earlier. But if lockdowns were enforced, what else might be
possible that was previously thought impossible?
The
best-known messiah narrative is the Q-Anon story, a psyop par
excellence! According to this, the lockdown is a cleansing plan by
wealthy elites, first and foremost by the then still incumbent US
President Donald Trump. The shutdown, according to the core of the
narrative, is to dry out the swamp of evil elites. All
the sinister figures would now be arrested, the Clintons, the
impenetrable paedophile networks and, of course, the Pope. “Stay at
home,” people were sworn in, “get your popcorn and enjoy the show. Trust
the plan.” Decoded, this was nothing more than the “Stay at home”
tailored to “Schwurbler”. The
effect on people's behavior is obvious: “Stay passive!” In an interview
with Robert Stein in April 2020, the Viennese economist Franz Hörmann
confidently announced that elites well-disposed towards humanity had
devised all this and that the whole thing would only last another three
weeks – then we would wake up in a new and better world. These three weeks have now become over two hundred, and the realization of this prognosis is still a long way off.
In
Germany, this ludicrous redemption narrative culminated in the firm
belief that on the day of the second major demonstration in the summer
of 2020, Donald Trump would come to Germany and lead it to sovereignty.
The number of redemption narratives has not decreased significantly
since then. In a modified form, some also see Vladimir Putin as a
redeemer who will free humanity from the burden of the Anglo-Saxon
elite.
In my view, one of the most important lessons of this time is not
only to turn our backs on the pandemic cult, but also on all the fairy
tales of hope that someone will come to save us and relieve us of our
own responsibility. This someone will not come, it is up to us, each and
every one of us, to take responsibility for our own lives.
What
applies on a large scale, in the case of the Q-type stories, also
applies on a small scale, in the case of the personality cult at
demonstrations. Lawyers and doctors have become rock stars, sometimes
quite rightly so. It is easy to understand that a certain amount of fame
and respect is given to those who have distinguished themselves by
courageously standing up for truth and justice. The
problem arises when these people are idolized and responsibility is
transferred to them. This was often observed on the streets, which leads
us to the next lesson.
On the streets! But how?
“Join
us! Join us!” was the rallying cry that echoed through the streets from
2020 onwards, directed at residents and police officers. The street as a
place of political will-forming and opinion-making was a hard-fought
terrain due to the windily justified ban on gatherings. The
streets were fought for meter by meter, under the most absurd
conditions, in cat-and-mouse chases with uniformed thugs, in police
kettles, risking beatings and imprisonment, and in nerve-wracking and
bureaucratic paper wars with courts and municipal authorities for the
purpose of obtaining a demonstration permit. Sometimes
the battles ended with beautiful images of people carrying candles,
sometimes with horrific images showing how robot-like thugs in heavy
riot gear with police insignia beat down even the weakest members of
society without mercy – sometimes almost to death.
At
some point, the question arises: what is the point of it all? During
the two major demonstrations in the summer of 2020, many people were
inspired by the hope that after these marches, the government would be
unable to continue the madness. And yet they did. And in a way that most
people in the summer of 2020 were unable to imagine.
So what was the point of it all?
Some
argue that the protest on the streets is part of the elite plan and is
therefore firmly priced in. A valid objection, especially in view of
self-proclaimed do-gooders like George Soros, who makes no secret of the
fact that he always finances the opposition at the same time. True to
the motto: “If you can't beat them, join them.”
The
argument goes that taking to the streets would give the whole system
even more energy, which it feeds on and on which it is naturally
dependent. Some people also talk in this context about systemic
narcissism, a system that represents a kind of collective narcissism of
the elites. The
latter are dependent on the attention of the oppressed, who “bestow”
the system with the attention it needs when they take to the streets
against it.
So
far, so plausible. But what would be the conclusion of all this? To
stay at home and allow the totalitarian activities to continue
unhindered? That is also not an option. As the psychoanalyst Mattias
Desmet has shown in “The Psychology of Totalitarianism”, one of the
crucial barriers that prevents rulers from ruling unhindered is the
visibility of the opposition in the form of the media and street
presence. If
dissent is no longer visible, neither in the media nor as a
counter-protest on the streets, then the ruling classes no longer see
any reason to restrain themselves in any way, because then their
narrative as the only true interpretation without alternative is
apparently undisputed.
In
conclusion, street protests should not primarily aim to change
political conditions by courting the attention of parliamentarians. If
they were to do so, they would quickly meet the same fate as Robert
Fico. The primary goal should be to make dissent visible. Any fantasies
of overthrow should remain what they are – fantasies. In reality, real and sustainable “revolutions” look like this, as Buckminster Fuller once put it:
“You never create change by fighting the existing. To change something, you build models that make the old obsolete.”
Quite
apart from the fact that the parliamentary storms from 2020 onwards
were staged anyway and, on top of that, delegitimize any movement due to
the violence used, such ventures are devoid of any meaningfulness from
the outset:
Parliaments are no longer the places where decisions are made or
where power is exercised – if they ever were. So instead of overthrowing
and overturning anything, movements on the streets would be well
advised to focus primarily on showing that there are those who think
differently.
If
demonstrations increasingly focus on what we are for rather than what
we are against, then this can create the fertile ground for change.
Let's take a look at the various forms of protest on the streets. These observations do not claim to be exhaustive.
Decentralized walks instead of central festivals
According
to Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the walk has lost its innocence. And the
government has lost its “vaccination” obligation in the process. It was
not the central, festival-like demonstrations à la “we will all be
there” that prevented the mandatory vaccination, but the countless small
and decentralized walks that popped up even in the smallest provinces
of the republic. Instead
of being jabbed, the citizens pierced the corona regime with this form
of protest like a swarm of mosquitoes. In the end, the big pharma
lackeys disguised as representatives of the people had to give in and
make the compulsory injection with the highly toxic modmRNA syringes
disappear into the parliamentary poison cabinets.
This
is not to deny the legitimacy of the large demonstrations. These have
an important function, especially for people who feel isolated among the
many people who seem to be in lockstep and wonder whether they are
crazy or the others. At the same time, such central demonstrations are
needed to send the message to the world that there is still a crack in
the matrix that is difficult to close.
Meditations
Do
you remember the meditations for the Basic Law, which were initiated by
Kai Stuht? Unfortunately, they were forgotten after only a year. Yet
this form of protest was a more than effective way to peacefully express
resistance and to make the state's “power” visible – with the emphasis
on the last word. How
else, if not with obvious violence, can such a deeply peaceful protest
be broken up? Meditating people in lotus position being transported
away? Nothing exposes the violent character of a regime more than that.
Silent protest
In
a way, we should not be under any illusions. The coronavirus regimes of
the respective countries have learned from the coronavirus that this
could have been just a test balloon, just as the swine flu of 2009 was
only a test balloon for the coronavirus. The nerdy billionaire creep
Bill Gates has already smugly promised mankind that we would take the
next pandemic seriously. And
if what the physician Heiko Schöning has been predicting for some time
now comes true, namely that the next (bacterial) pandemic will attack
the microbiome, then no repression will be needed to keep even the most
critical citizens at home in fear. The
real risk of infection would then no longer require any persuasion,
because even the most critical citizens would stay at home in the face
of this obvious and unmistakable transmission and disease dynamics.
In short, it must be assumed that demonstrations will not even be
possible during the “next” pandemic, that is, this time a real one –
either because the repressive apparatus will then be technically
advanced enough to use drones, robots and smart dust – or because a real
risk of infection will make it impossible for people to come together.
The
last form of dissent that would remain visible would be silent protest
in the form of messages on T-shirts, flags in the window or stickers
that can be attached to the street scene – possibly leading to helpful
pages via QR code – provided that the exit for shopping is still
granted.
A bleak scenario, but it is one that must be considered.
Information filters – a brain full of rubbish cannot think outside the box.
The
same applies to information as to rubbish: both must be separated.
During the first lockdowns in particular, the exact opposite happened on
the part of both the cultists and the critics. There was no filtering,
but everything was absorbed like a sponge. Some stared hypnotized at
case numbers and newly announced virus variants, while others scanned
Telegram for hours for new excitements.
The
information glut in the corona era was understandable, especially on
the part of the critics. They had the understandable, but in retrospect
naive hope that the corona believers could be brought to their senses by
numbers, data, facts, logical causal relationships and by pointing out
conflicts of interest in politics and pharmaceuticals. In
a few isolated cases, this may have worked, but on the whole, the
corona train could not be derailed by any absurdity, however outrageous.
Instead, it overran every obstacle, however massive, and the hope of
the lateral and lateral thinkers that the one decisive fact had now come
to light that would awaken the masses faded. Nothing happened. Even
the RKI protocols, which were blackened to show that the lateral
thinkers were right, were drowned out in 2024 by the doep-doep-doep. The
philosopher Matthias Burchardt gave the systematic failure to produce
the expected consequences the name “new inconsequence”.
Back
to the meaningful management of information acquisition. Accumulating
knowledge for the purpose of convincing the other side is a waste of
time. The word “convince” contains the word “zeugen” (to procreate). An
“indoctrinated brain”, as molecular geneticist Michael Nehls outlined in
his book of the same name, is insensitive to world-shattering thoughts;
no new view can arise in it.
The
next time we are hit by a major shock, we need certain filter
categories – not least to avoid going crazy. These would be to divide
the information into
those that are relevant to our own lives and immediate environment,
the knowledge that helps us to understand the big picture, and then the
information that is flying around like wildfire, which is only relevant
to the irrelevance of some side issues.
Being
able to divide the flood of information according to these criteria is
an art that requires a certain level of media competence. This includes
curbing the endless addiction to scrolling through Telegram, X and Co.
and setting yourself media consumption limits. The side shows, whose
content is neither relevant to the big picture nor to the future, are
easy to spot. Just
think of the countless livestreams and online discussions that revolved
solely around the questions of why a particular demonstration went
wrong, for what reason, or who might be a V-man. When
you realize what it was originally all about – the restoration of
suspended civil and civil rights – and what petty squabbles people waste
hours of their precious time on livestreams and comment battles, you
can really tear your hair out.
The
information overload is, by the way, a proven instrument from the
propaganda toolbox. Anyone who thinks that they are on the path to
enlightenment by bombarding themselves with information for hours on end
is mistaken. Rather, they have fallen for the trap set by those in
power, who rub their hands with glee as the truthers exhaust themselves
over every piece of information.
Keeping networks intact
One
of the best investments for the time of the “next big current thing” is
what economist Max Otte calls “social capital”. That is, investments in
contacts, friends and networks. The larger and more diverse this
network is, the softer we fall when the public infrastructure turns
against us again or excludes us.
Such
networks have formed, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, and
some of them still exist today. Some have fallen out with each other
over internal disputes and, as a result, have drifted apart again. Here,
too, decentralization is called for, the formation of extensive
networks with many small, rather than a few large, hubs that can easily
be destroyed from the outside by V-people and agents provocateurs.
Investing in such a firewall, if you will, is an advantage that the Corona opposition did not have in March 2020.
In the meantime, the right people have found each other and formed
networks, associations, cooperatives and other groups. This time, the
opposition does not have the element of surprise on its side, because
the swarm-intelligent detectors of the critical mass are scanning all
conceivable directions of origin of the next shock attack.
It
is therefore worthwhile to reactivate and strengthen existing networks
if they are in danger of falling asleep again. However, one thing should
not be forgotten: just as the opposition movements were able to form,
so too has the opposition learned and refined its technical, economic
and psychological methods of disintegration.
Covert resistance
Not
everyone can openly defy the corporatists and their henchmen. The
opposition movements also rely on the fact that there are people in
their ranks – some of them influential – who have to remain under the
radar in order to be able to act effectively and with protection.
Accordingly, the names and faces must be protected. Not
everyone who stands out in the service of humanity in times of rampant
global elite fascism needs to be celebrated as a hero in public. Naming
these undercover heroes does them more harm than good. Accordingly,
opponents and dissidents are well advised to refrain from such tributes,
as – as explained above – a personality cult also prevents the
emancipation of the individual.
Inner peace
All
of the above lessons can be boiled down to one final lesson: to
maintain inner peace despite all the turmoil in the outside world. This
is truly easier said and written than done, but the effort to achieve
real implementation is immensely powerful. Because that is exactly what
all the psyops, agendas and fear stories are aimed at – to rob us of
this inner peace. A
person who is at peace with themselves, at rest within, is neither
manipulable nor obedient and thus exactly what the ruling caste fears.
It is not for nothing that billions are being pumped into a
permanent propaganda machine that serves only to make us scared and
afraid, so that we ultimately turn on each other. If we practice more
and more to withdraw from it, then we will become ungovernable.
Many
would now object that this is not possible in view of the impending
shocks. How can you remain peacefully in a lotus position when the next
hardcore lockdown is imposed, cities are flattened by HAARP-induced
earthquakes and blackouts turn urban areas into Sodom and Gomorrah? Doesn't
everyone have completely different needs and worries that make it
impossible to be peaceful, meditate and reflect inwardly?
Without
wanting to make inappropriate historical comparisons, let us think of
exemplary personalities who felt the deepest joy and connectedness even
in the darkest phase of human existence. For example, Rosa Luxemburg,
from whose “Letters from Prison” it emerges that she felt a state of
bliss in the dark cell, despite all the anxiety. Or
Viktor Frankl, who responded to the hell he experienced in the
extermination camp with a “despite”, a “yes to life”. Or let us also
think of Esther Hillesum. Contrary
to what one would expect from a Jewish woman persecuted by the Nazis,
in the last years before her murder she developed a “general love of
humanity” that enabled her to see even the most brutal concentration
camp guards as human beings – even in the moments when they were
inflicting great suffering on her.
If
people like the ones mentioned above were able to maintain their inner
peace even under the most hostile of circumstances, then there is no
excuse for us not to at least try, even under lockdowns, outbreaks of
war or other shock scenarios.
Summary
Yes,
since 2022 we have been experiencing a small breather in direct
comparison to the two previous years. But the next tunnel is bound to
come.
When
it comes to the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel symbolism, many a cynic
likes to point out that this light only comes from the oncoming train.
With the lessons mentioned above, we can be that train, which, with its
fog lights, unerringly plows through the darkness of the tunnel and
emerges more or less unscathed at the other, very real end.
Nicolas
Riedl, born in Munich in 1993, studied media, theater and political
science in Erlangen. He documents and analyzes the increasingly absurd
zeitgeist of Western culture in critical texts. In addition, he is a
bookworm, a strict cash payer and, for his generation, an unusual
digitalization muffle. Accordingly, you will not find him on any social
media platform. From 2017 to 2023, he worked for the Rubikon youth editorial team and video editorial team.
Read more
In poor shape
23.05.2024 by Nicolas Riedl
The concentration of powers
The controlled reality
In
an exclusive interview with Manova, psychologist Pascal Heßler explains
why utopia fails and how people can find their way out of political
apathy.
Anyone
who still believes that a change in the current social and political
system is possible will quickly be argued down to the ground and labeled
as naive and ignorant. After all, for decades many people have been
working to fight poverty, injustice and wars, but nothing seems to have
improved as a result. Rather the opposite. Pascal Heßler examined the
reasons for this in his first book “Impossible Change? — Why Utopia Fails. In the video interview with Elisa Gratias, he explains his findings.
by Elisa Gratias
[This
article posted on 6/5/2024 is translated from the German on the
Internet, https://www.manova.news/artikel/die-kontrollierte-realitat.]
The
vast majority of people are trapped in political apathy. But even those
who are committed to a more life-friendly way of life for humanity seem
to achieve nothing with all their efforts.
The
emphasis here is on the word “seem”, because in fact various social
movements have already achieved a great deal, but these conditions, once
regarded as utopian, are now taken for granted. For example, the
eight-hour day and political and social equality between men and women.
Change is like aging: we only notice it when we look back at what it
used to be like from a greater distance.
At
the same time, there is a lack of awareness of the large-scale media
manipulation and the way the current social system works, so that
today's social movements can regain their strength, if there are any
left at all. Because of the achievements that enable the majority of
people in Germany to live a comfortable and well-fed life today, the
movements for peace and justice have also fallen asleep and have made
themselves comfortable in the perhaps ever-existing sluggish majority of
society.
In
the Manova interview, psychologist and author Pascal Heßler explains
what it takes to change our collective and destructive way of life to a
social system that we still consider utopian today: enlightenment and a
vision that inspires us.
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