Bunny Trails

[Szdfan]

MaxPC,
did you know that there is someone named Lisa Schirch who has "taught in the graduate programme on peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University for 23 years"?
She also "has facilitated and participated in the design of national peace processes in Fiji and Afghanistan" - can't speak about Fiji, but in Afghanistan she seems not to have been very successful.
That's what I call hubris: every year there are some students graduated and sent into the world as trained "peacebuilders" with the promise that now they can "build peace" (a promise to them personally, about their abilities, and at the same time a promise to others, about their usefulness).

This strikes a sensitive nerve in me because I am in a clinch with my "home organization" (FOR Germany) over a similar question. I confronted the ideas about international "peacebuilding" by negotiations with the fact that a lot of those people are completely intransigent, if not fanatical, about the conflicts in their own homelands - and why should the public trust peacebuilders who cannot apply their supposed abilities on the spot (hic Rhodus , hic salta)? Like, we had a member who part-time persuaded the NATO soldiers in Afghanistan that they must speak with the Taliban - and part-time he toured Germany in order to tell people that they never must speak with the AfD (let's call them the "German Trumpists"). A kind of double standards which is unfortunately not uncommon in peace circles.

Petr, are you member or supporter of the AfD?

For context, the AfD is a far right, extremist German nationalist party that has increasingly come under scrutiny for its ties to neo-Nazi groups.

[PetrChelcicky]

Petr, are you member or supporter of the AfD?
For context, the AfD is a far right, extremist German nationalist party that has increasingly come under scrutiny for its ties to neo-Nazi groups.

I am not a member.
Being old, I can remember real neo-Nazi groups, none of which has survived the time. So, "ties to neo-Nazi groups" are practically impossible today (you perhaps think about people who have been former members of neo-Nazi groups). But the AfD is certainly "under scrutiny". The conflicting point nowadays is rather if there can be something like a German ethnic group (or, with other words, if such a group can be allowed to exist). On this issue I support the principle that everyone has the right to form a group according to his own wishes. (The later questions would be how far such groups can be entitled to an administration or even a territory of their own - that's a problem of "more or less", I think.) I suppose that there are a lot of other interesting political questions which i have not really considered.
On the whole the AfD is just as "far right" and "extremist" as the Trumpists in the U.S.
But my point here is: If we seriously speak about "peacebuilding", "negotiations", "reconciliation" etc., this would not only include the so-called Nazis like the AfD or the Trumpists, but even the real Nazis (and in fact all this is not completely impossible, much of it happened indeed after WW2). As it would include the Taliban and other Islamists.
I am more and more aghast at blown-up ideas about "(building) peace all over the world", because I have so often learned that they are accompanied by a tacit qualification "but no (keeping) peace with my personal pet enemy".

[MaxPC]

Petr, are you member or supporter of the AfD?
For context, the AfD is a far right, extremist German nationalist party that has increasingly come under scrutiny for its ties to neo-Nazi groups.

I am not a member.
...
I am more and more aghast at blown-up ideas about "(building) peace all over the world", because I have so often learned that they are accompanied by a tacit qualification "but no (keeping) peace with my personal pet enemy".

Good points, Petr.

Kindly reminder:
This is a non-political thread topic in a non-political section of the forum. The topic of non-resistance in praxis in every day encounters such as the face-punching incident that I witnessed is the topic.

[Szdfan]

Petr, are you member or supporter of the AfD?
For context, the AfD is a far right, extremist German nationalist party that has increasingly come under scrutiny for its ties to neo-Nazi groups.

I am not a member.
Being old, I can remember real neo-Nazi groups, none of which has survived the time. So, "ties to neo-Nazi groups" are practically impossible today (you perhaps think about people who have been former members of neo-Nazi groups). But the AfD is certainly "under scrutiny". The conflicting point nowadays is rather if there can be something like a German ethnic group (or, with other words, if such a group can be allowed to exist). On this issue I support the principle that everyone has the right to form a group according to his own wishes. (The later questions would be how far such groups can be entitled to an administration or even a territory of their own - that's a problem of "more or less", I think.) I suppose that there are a lot of other interesting political questions which i have not really considered.
On the whole the AfD is just as "far right" and "extremist" as the Trumpists in the U.S.
But my point here is: If we seriously speak about "peacebuilding", "negotiations", "reconciliation" etc., this would not only include the so-called Nazis like the AfD or the Trumpists, but even the real Nazis (and in fact all this is not completely impossible, much of it happened indeed after WW2). As it would include the Taliban and other Islamists.
I am more and more aghast at blown-up ideas about "(building) peace all over the world", because I have so often learned that they are accompanied by a tacit qualification "but no (keeping) peace with my personal pet enemy".

Thanks for the clarification.

I also remember neo-Nazi groups the second time I lived in Berlin during the post-reunifcation era. I dispute the idea that it is impossible for Neo-Nazi groups to exist in Germany today. They certainly do exist.

When high ranking party members like Frauke Petry tries to reclaim a term like "volkish" (A German nationalist term that led to the concept of German "blood and soil" and was frequently used by Nazis) or Björn Höcke, who talks about the German "Volk" and "Vaterland" and calls for Germans to make a "180 degree change" in how they remember their history in a speech at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, it does raise eyebrows.

The AfD are the "Trumpists" of Germany, but there is also context here that's being glossed over about why the German extreme far-right is under scrutinity.

And yes, I'll let this go because of Steve's respect. However, a thread that invokes the "unfairness" of how the extreme far-right is being treated in Germany is inherently political.

[MaxPC]

I also remember neo-Nazi groups the second time I lived in Berlin during the post-reunifcation era. I dispute the idea that it is impossible for Neo-Nazi groups to exist in Germany today. They certainly do exist.

When high ranking party members like Frauke Petry tries to reclaim a term like "volkish" (A German nationalist term that led to the concept of German "blood and soil" and was frequently used by Nazis) or Björn Höcke, who talks about the German "Volk" and "Vaterland" and calls for Germans to make a "180 degree change" in how they remember their history in a speech at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, it does raise eyebrows.

The AfD are the "Trumpists" of Germany, but there is also context here that's being glossed over about why the German extreme far-right is under scrutinity.

And yes, I'll let this go because of Steve's respect. However, a thread that invokes the "unfairness" of how the extreme far-right is being treated in Germany is inherently political.

Second PSA: this is not a political thread. It is in the Anabaptist category discussing non-resistance: NOT politics.

[Szdfan]

I also remember neo-Nazi groups the second time I lived in Berlin during the post-reunifcation era. I dispute the idea that it is impossible for Neo-Nazi groups to exist in Germany today. They certainly do exist.

When high ranking party members like Frauke Petry tries to reclaim a term like "volkish" (A German nationalist term that led to the concept of German "blood and soil" and was frequently used by Nazis) or Björn Höcke, who talks about the German "Volk" and "Vaterland" and calls for Germans to make a "180 degree change" in how they remember their history in a speech at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, it does raise eyebrows.

The AfD are the "Trumpists" of Germany, but there is also context here that's being glossed over about why the German extreme far-right is under scrutinity.

And yes, I'll let this go because of Steve's respect. However, a thread that invokes the "unfairness" of how the extreme far-right is being treated in Germany is inherently political.

Second PSA: this is not a political thread. It is in the Anabaptist category discussing non-resistance: NOT politics.

Right. Which is why Petr mentioned a German political party.

I’m done bringing up the topic.

[temporal1]

.. ..
i have NEVER been a fan of KG. a vile woman on her very best days.

[Szdfan]

.. ..
i have NEVER been a fan of KG. a vile woman on her very best days.

This is an example of the highly tribal, inflammatory, highly emotional arguments that Boot is talking about. I can also post memes —



Posting memes is easy. Asking questions about whether these kinds of comparisons are fair or accurate is harder.

[temporal1]

Congress: Trillions. Righhht. i’m sure ya’ll know just what you’re doing.

I hope you're aware the trillions proposed for the infrastructure bill are much less than the trillions that go to the military. With any moral sense, the funds could just be transferred from where they are harmful to something helpful.

1. i did not specify use, my emphasis was on numbers so vast, i do not believe Congress is competent for the job.

2. i don’t buy “a moral sense” that pirates funds from one entity to another; i also doubt such transfers are legal.
i understand the temptation for fantasies. if military spending is reduced, those monies should be immediately refunded to taxpayers. if taxpayers choose to support some other entity, so be it.

but, piracy is not a moral choice. taxpayer funds should not be “up for grabs” to the squeakiest wheel.
who comes up with such nonsense? that gov budgets are just a big petty cash drawer for “whatever.”

3. infrastructure? i’m not sure there is adequate need for conventional infrastructure in the U.S.
while great infrastructure is nice! its core value is to serve militaries and business. Roman roads were not built for welfare recipients. does anyone see tremendous business growth in the U.S. future? so much business has been relocated overseas.

what is the justification for greatly improved infrastructure? in Illinois, i’m not seeing it. i drive by closed businesses and factories. turkey buzzards and crows coming+going.

i see highways with semis carrying loads of Chinese junk everywhere. is that justification?
travel to Illinois’ premiere abortion clinics? gambling casinos? marijuana stores?

4. i’m not a military expert, by any means. i doubt you are, either. i would not expect that on this forum.
i have to admit, DJT had admirable peace keeping results in his brief+tortured 4 years. i would have to thoughtfully consider this.

[JimFoxvog]

Perhaps "social distancing" is why Biden's approval rating is so low now. No one wants to be around a pedophile that sniffs the hair of little girls.

This sort of repeating calumny in violation of the ninth commandment is uncalled for.