Manufacturing Consent in Germany is a collection of freely accessible materials that provide a structural understanding of the increasingly repressive climate within Germany. Central to this is the nationalized politics of Holocaust remembrance, which has been effectively instrumentalized, as is clear from the various articles, lectures, press releases, and podcasts, by the right-wing in Germany. The extent of this form of disciplining has been particularly palpable in the days since the massacres by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023 and the ensuing collective punishment of Gaza by the Israeli army. While the majority of civilian protests against the war crimes of the Israeli army were banned in Germany with the explanation that they were anti-Semitic – a ban that was enforced with frightening police violence –, German cultural institutions largely remained silent about the human rights violations committed in Gaza. The articles linked in the Syllabus are from the last years and, while addressing these anti-democratic tendencies, are the product of inspiring and transnational discursive spaces that thrive in the face of them. We want to oppose the German press’ depiction of anti-Semitism as a phenomenon of the Arab-migrant milieu by recognizing that the so-called “denazification” project after 1945 remains unaccomplished; it is the German majority society which is saturated with anti-Semitic continuities.

With this compilation we hope to stimulate reflection and promote a discussion on how to oppose this current repression; we believe that opposing it is necessary for the struggle against racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic violence and towards a dignified life for the Palestinian people. Our hearts and thoughts are with all killed, dispossessed, abducted and displaced people and their loved ones.

Access: Manufacturing Consent in Germany

November 5, 2023
German, English