Philip Oltermann: Germany slow to hear alarm bells in killing of Walter Lübcke // Peter Daou: To anyone who said it can't happen here:
If two employees of a
kebab shop had not come to the rescue of Andreas Hollstein on the night of 27
November 2017, the mayor of the town of Altena would most likely have become
the first German politician to be murdered by a rightwing extremist since the
end of the Nazi era. Instead, the 57-year-old survived
with a stab wound to his neck, inflicted with a 34cm (13in) knife by a
local man angered
by the mayor’s liberal stanceduring the refugee crisis.
To anyone who said it can't happen here:
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
MILITARY PARADES
STATE PROPAGANDA NETWORK
WOMEN'S HEALTH CRIMINALIZED
RULE OF LAW SUSPENDED
COURTS STACKED WITH EXTREMISTS
NEPOTISM ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
MEDIA ATTACKED AS "ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE"
https://twitter.com/peterdaou/status/1145881091271745538
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-live-updates-iran-democrats-2020-mexico-border-migrant-camps-china-latest-a8983861.html
Nineteen months later,
another regional politician was less lucky. Walter Lübcke, a member of Angela
Merkel’s CDU, was killed
with a gunshot to the head on the terrace of his home near Kassel, in
the state of Hesse. Neo-Nazi Stephan Ernst has confessed
to killing the regional official in an attempt to take “revenge” for
his pro-refugee stance. One month on from the
murder, Hollstein told the Guardian that politicians and authorities in Germany needed to act
urgently to protect public servants in rural areas from similar attacks – and
to ensure that young people did not avoid politics for fear of risking their
lives.
“What we are
witnessing is a massive loss of respect for people in public office – not just
politicians, but also civil servants, police officers, firefighters, ambulance
drivers,” said Hollstein, who said he had received four further death threats
since Lübcke’s murder. Hollstein refused
police protection and declined to have his contact details removed from the
town hall website, arguing that politicians in less densely populated areas had
to remain in close contact with the public. “There is no point in a local
politician who is no longer accessible to the citizens he or she represents,”
he said. But that leaves such politicians particularly vulnerable. “I think the very
first thing we should expect from politicians after the Lübcke murder is
stronger instinct to self-regulate their own speeches,” he said...
To anyone who said it can't happen here:
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
MILITARY PARADES
STATE PROPAGANDA NETWORK
WOMEN'S HEALTH CRIMINALIZED
RULE OF LAW SUSPENDED
COURTS STACKED WITH EXTREMISTS
NEPOTISM ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
MEDIA ATTACKED AS "ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE"
https://twitter.com/peterdaou/status/1145881091271745538
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-live-updates-iran-democrats-2020-mexico-border-migrant-camps-china-latest-a8983861.html