SPRACHGEWALT – Review & Interviews

Inge Klöpfers Besprechung von SPRACHGEWALT im Hauptstadtbrief.

 

Kurzes Interview im „Scala“ Programm vom WDR

 

Nächstes Interview: Freitag, 23.7 im „Sozusagen!“ Programm des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Military Industrial Complex

Israel recruits some of its brightest kids into the military cyber, signal and electronic intelligence and warfare units. There, these 18-year-olds are given the most sought after toys any geek might wish for: sophisticated computer systems, which only states have at their disposal with almost limitless computing power and a license to break in and enter whatever seems interesting. Some are encouraged to investigate the unknown. Illegal is no hindrance.

 

Without going into the ethics of some of the “work” these soldiers carry out “for their country”, the next stage is much more troublesome. After several years of military service, some take their expertise to the market, setting up companies, in which the digital breaking and entering software is offered by them to those who are willing to pay.

 

Much money is involved, very much money. Dictators will pay as much as is required to get rid of their opponents. According to Amnesty International, one Israeli company alone has sold its systems to a long list of dictatorships. Under the mantle of combatting crime and terrorism, critics and opponents of the regime are targeted with these powerful digital tools.

 

Sadly, Israel, one of the biggest players in the world’s arms trade, finds it useful to agree arms, weapon systems, and electronic weaponry deals with some of the darkest regimes worldwide.

 

The term “military-industrial-complex”, I always thought, was a slogan conceived by American socialists. Not so: It was no less than a Republican, the retired General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in his final speech (1961) as 34^th President of the USA, had warned:

 

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

 

We have not heeded Eisenhower’s warning and the military-industrial-complex is growing daily. It has gotten out of hand and democracies should start winding this down. A good start would be to cut the mercenary lure of killing and instruments of subjugation.  

Palestine’s right to exist

Netanyahu, Israel’s former prime minister, is a master propaganda artist. One of the ideas that he successfully managed to instil is that anti-Zionism is tantamount to Antisemitism. This, of course, is total nonsense and yet, like parrots, Jewish organisations world-wide as well as many Western politicians repeat the demand that “Israel’s right to exist” be recognized, even by Palestinians, who were made homeless refugees because of Zionism.

 

Here’s a link to a short text of mine IN GERMAN on the subject of Palestine’s right to exist. It was broadcast on German radio a few days ago.

 

And here’s an English translation:

 

Palestine's Right to Exist is Non-Negotiable

 

"Israel's right to exist is non-negotiable" is a principle of German foreign policy. But what about Palestine's right to exist on the other side?  The question is less far-fetched than it might at first seem. In 1947, the United Nations decided not only that a Jewish state should be established in the British Mandate territory of Palestine, but also that an Arab state should be founded. Likewise, the holy city of Jerusalem was to be administered neutrally under international control. 

However, only the Jewish side accepted the UN proposal. The Arab side rejected it, not least because it would not accept that a people who lived in Palestine over 2,000 years ago should, based on a religious text, now claim rights to land on which Arabs have been living for over 1,000 years. 

In practice, the only thing that came of the UN plan was the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Moreover, war with its Arab neighbours enabled Israel to expand the territories allotted to it in the partition plan. Jerusalem ended up as a city divided between Jordan and Israel. Much of the non-Jewish population was displaced from their ancestral lands. 

Israel's conquest and systematic settlement of the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War have resulted in a continuing meltdown of the potential Palestinian territory. What the UN resolution originally called for never came to pass: the establishment of an independent Palestine. 

At least on paper, however, this state does exist. The Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, had proclaimed it in 1988. In the UN, 138 countries now recognize this Palestine. Significant exceptions, however, are the United States and a large part of the European Union. Chancellor Merkel has even confirmed that Germany would not recognize Palestine without Israel's consent.

What should have become Palestine remains under the control of the Israeli military and intelligence services to this day. The declaration of the Palestinian state remained only a symbolic act.

Israel, on the other hand, is recognized by almost all members of the UN. Although its right to exist is not questioned by any serious party, Germany insists on the mantra that Israel's right to exist is not negotiable. 

In practical terms, Germany's unconditional pro-Israel position means that it repeatedly acts against Palestinian interests. The bottom line is that Germany remains an enabler of Israel's occupation and illegal settlement of the West Bank, with its unfortunate serious consequences for the people in the Israeli-occupied territories: Palestinians are subjugated and dispossessed by means of Israel's military power. 

Does Germany have the moral right to act this way? Is it not high time that we remember the historic decision of the United Nations and add a second mantra to that of Israel's right to exist? Namely, one that reads, "Palestine's right to exist is non-negotiable."

Boris Johnson’s gamble

With almost 70% of over-18-year-olds fully vaccinated, the UK is now dramatically relaxing its Covid restrictions.

Ethically, Johnson is on fairly safe ground, as everyone who wants to, can get vaccinated, and those who feel uncomfortable about the relaxation of regulations, can always decide to continue wearing masks and maintaining social distancing and other safety precautions. Other countries, if they so wish, can declare the UK as high-risk and restrict travel from and to it.

Will it work? Johnson has a long track record of reckless and deceitful performance. The UK does not really have a reliable person running the country. And this is a gamble. In this case, Johnson’s gamble depends on the ability of the country’s hospitals to cope with the to be expected increased number of Corona-caused hospitalisations.

The payoff – normalisation - would be huge. One must but hope that it does work.