The racism of the German, political class

After the war, the political class successfully suppressed its anti-Semitism as a specific form of racism, yet racism is still being expressed, now against the Arabs in particular against the Palestinians; this shift is obscured by support for the fascist Israeli government. It was not without reason that after the war the most ardent supporters of Israel could be found in right-wing circles that had already supported the Nazis: Globke, Filbinger, Kiesinger, “Hessian Legacies”. And the media, above all the Springer press, incessantly repeated the assertion that support for Israel was part of the founding myth of the FRG, elevated it to a dogma with constitutional status. And Ms. Merkel docilely persisted.

Even the neo-liberal narrative of the political class of the FRG does not do without the commitment to the present, Israeli state. The inherent racism of neoliberalism can be so elegantly obscured. That the regional superpower Israel incessantly perpetrates murder, manslaughter and oppression of the Palestinians, is played down playfully.

The ideological alignment not only includes the media mainstream: Now the artistic direction of the Triennale has also been put under pressure with the aim of unloading a Scottish band. This supports the BDS, an international, political movement in support of the rights of the Palestinians. And of course CDU Prime Minister Laschet excels with the extremely regrettable refusal to take part in the opening of the festival.

The impression arises that the occupation of the political class and the media with the wars in the Middle East and the East-West conflict should distract from the class contradictions in their own country.