Re: The Employee updates | The Employee by Joshua Schwebel

Josh Schwebel <privatejosh@gmail.com> To: Marina Vishmidt <████████████████>

Fri, Nov 3, 2023 at 6:03 AM

Thank you so much Marina, for all of these forms of support.

I am finding these resurgences of contradictions between fascist history, “antifascims” performed by the german left, and the resurgence of banned demos, deportations, censorship, right-wing power, genocide, and, lest we forget, trauma, are erupting alarmingly quickly. I keep trying to work, but reading and writing feel like escapism.

I am not sure if I am more upset by the inaction or the censorship (of course the violence) but the inaction and censorship are how our privileged, “white”, supposedly left-wing world is responding. Not exclusively. I am involved in some letter-writing and some demos. But also just crying at the internet and infuriated by the inherent bias and misinformation in the news.

I wish you luck in Vienna with leading a class in these discussions.

x

Marina Vishmidt <████████████████>

Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 6:44 AM

Hi Josh,

Very much in accord with everything you say here. We went to a solidarity demo on Saturday, there might have been 300 people there tops. Apparently the one Danny attended a couple of weeks ago, which had been organised by the Palestinian Solidarity group, was about 2k, and it was predominantly attended by people from Vienna's middle-eastern migrant community, and much less internally policed. This one was more organised by left activist groups, themselves a tiny minority within the otherwise hateful, Netyanahu-adjacent Viennese 'radical left' (whose mailinglist I had to quit out of sheer disgust at the anti-anti-semitism posturing) and though there were a fair few young people of color, they were a minority. There was also a lot more control on the slogans and flags that could be used, lest the whole thing attract unwelcome cop attention, because some things are officially or semi-officially banned, some for good reason (Grey Wolves flags) and some really not, e.g. from the river to the sea chants. The latter was chanted in Arabic however, and if a friend was right in her translation, became more nationalist thereby ('from the river to the sea palestine will be Arabic').

A group of us at the Angewandte will be meeting this afternoon, students and staff, to try and plan some actions/discussions. There is already internal turmoil between e.g. Palestinian folks and well-meaning liberal Austrians (one of each, I should add), so hopefully something will still be achievable. A colleague who was involved with supporting the Akademie students in drafting this will be there, am hoping for more joint efforts.

all my best,

Marina

On 03/11/2023 11:03, Josh Schwebel wrote:

Josh Schwebel <privatejosh@gmail.com>

Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 7:14 AM

Yes. That’s very similar to my experience here.

My partner is on the FLINTA list-serves. I have been having tearful highest-stakes conversations with him about all of the issues. He is SO committed to anti-semitism, and the German media are playing this to the max. ALL of the Zionist talking-points. That the IDF is bombing the ambulances and hospitals because they were being used by Hamas and human shields (wtaf), for example, or the homo and trans-phobia of Hamas. Or that the pro-Palestinian demos were being led by Querdenkers. This is what is being peddled as truth, not just in everyday German media, but in the supposedly left-wing, queer German discussion groups. I am wondering if the time has come for me to leave Germany. I am not being dramatic here, just feeling like the investment in avoiding historical guilt and the outright racism that this avoidance is expressing is making me feel constant and furious cognitive dissonance.

The demos are nearly entirely non-German. It is very very difficult to interact with Germany right now. Although, to be fair, my boyfriend ultimately came with me to the demo on Saturday to see with his own eyes that the messaging and marchers are not calling to lynch the jews, as he has been led to believe. There were many limitations on what could be said, which flags could be waved, or what could be written on placards (similar to what you describe in Austria). If German put half as much energy into policing its own right wing as its immigrant and non-white populations, this would have a modicum of credibility, but as it is, this is just a clear expression of cultural racism.

Sorry for my unhinged tone. The urgency, scale, and censorship are boiling over,

Josh

Josh Schwebel <privatejosh@gmail.com> To: Marina Vishmidt <████████████████>

Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 7:34 AM

Whoops Freudian slip: I meant to say, my boyfriend is so committed to being against antisemitism !!

But the underlying problem with that commitment is in how it prioritizes one group of victims, thus justifying the forms of ethno-nationalism and white supremacy that we are seeing currently, which is somehow totally invisible to the German left.