Category: Politics

City deems flashmobs in public space illegal, says it fears harm to public property

The German city of Braunschweig has deemed flashmobs illegal. In a message to a man who had proposed a picnic on a public square, the city said that “any public flashmobs in Braunschweig are illegal and will in case of need be forbidden [...] and dissolved by the police.”

What I find especially worrying is that authorities said that “the public space in Braunschweig serves exclusively traffic, i.e. the transfer from home a to home b, from home a to business b or from business a to business b.”

I.e. authorities think there should be no public life. In the dreams of these people, citizens would either be in their homes, their cars or privately-owned businesses.

Currently reading Lawrence Lessig’s “The Future of Ideas”, I think they forget about something important. Lessig time and again cites parks as an example for commons: Public space that is meant to serve people to hang around. In times where it has become a common complaint that you have to buy a latte macchiato in order to talk to your acquaintances, I find it worrying when cities try to erase the last free facilities for public life.

In fact, Braunschweig says that you may only assemble publicly when you have something political to say. The flashmobbers could announce a demonstration, but in this case, their picnic would not be granted. A picnic is, in the words of the authorities, “a non-licensable extraordinary use”.

Officially, the city is worried that the picnic may harm public property. It’s highly probable that they fear the flashmob could get out of hand like a recent event where thousands stormed the island of Sylt and indeed caused some damages. But even if this is the case, a simple fear cannot be reason enough to crack down on public life.

I think that we actually need more public life, and we need more gatherings like said flashmob that do not serve any higher means. It is an annual event; in the years before, no more than 70 people showed up. And even if it were some more – what is so worrying about people picnicking together on a public square? The same politicians that complain at length about anti-social behavior seem to have a strange, deep-rooted fear of citizens engaging in public life.

It is a fear of the unorganized character of a flashmob. These people do not understand an event where there are no authorities, where the one who started it does not claim to have a right to command those taking up the idea, where there is no leader assuming responsability, but many citizens that are all responsable for themselves. In one word, flashmobs are just too democratic for these old authorities.

German Pirate Party MP Jörg Tauss to support imprisoned Azerbaijani activists

Jörg Tauss, a former social democrat who has recently joined Germany’s Pirate Party to become its first MP, has announced he is going to visit Azerbaijan from Juli 28 to 31 in support of two arrested activists, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada.

Global Voices Advocacy has some information on the two detainees’ case:

“In what might be the first case of a prominent blogger being assaulted and detained in the South Caucasus, two youth activists were yesterday imprisoned for two months pre-trial investigative detention in what many consider to be a travesty of justice. [...]

Ali S. Novruzov (who himself had been detained earlier this year) and Onnik Krikorian continue to cover the case for Global Voices Advocacy.

Jörg Tauss asks his peers to support Milli and Hajizada by sending mails to Azerbaijani officials and also points them to an online petition.

It’s interesting to see Tauss using both classic diplomacy and up-to-date digital activism to build up pressure on Azerbaijani authorities to release the two activists. While Jörg Tauss is in a very special position since he is not member of a big party, but rather the figurehead of a new web-based extraparliamentary opposition, this mix of two tactics is certainly interesting. And I must say I am not sure what to think of it.

On the one hand, we who always complain about politics which have distanced themselves from the people should embrace when high-ranking politicians turn to us to make politics. In a way, by sending letters to Azerbaijani officials we all become diplomats. This is some kind of a democratization of foreign politics. Not one that has been enabled by the web, but one that has been made essentially easier by its technological means.

Not that we have any real power to show off confronting the Azerbaijani authorities, but neither does Mr. Tauss as an opposition politician. And to be fair: Would our leaders do anything to Azerbaijan just to support some poor activists? I doubt it. All foreigners can do in this case is to show that they care.

So I say this is a democratization of diplomacy. Democratization is one of the big words we use to honor tiny steps we make towards a society we dream of, where we imagine to people to have more power, and the big players to have less.

And this is the point where I see a dark side of how Mr. Tauss turns to the netizens to support Milli and Hajizada. Because I know that many grassroot activists shy away from becoming related to any kind of foreign government or state-controlled organization for good reasons, I am myself skeptical about official politics and grassroot activism mingling.

When party or national politics become mixed with the efforts of grassroot activists, the latter are always in danger to suffer from this connection. This becomes even more true when it comes to foreign politics. While I appreciate the efforts of Mr. Tauss as a citizen, I find it worrying that he spearheads what should not need to be lead by any politicians.

Mr. Tauss may, as I have said, be in a special situation. He is, for certain reasons, no longer a member of the establishment. Still, when visiting Azerbaijan as a German MP, he acts as if he were (and he can do nothing about it – he is a German MP, and he will be seen as one).

Additionally, Mr. Tauss has done something I deem as a failure: He has started his own campaign to support Milli and Hajizada. It is a German campaign, started and lead by a German MP. Something I have always heard from activists in the Middle East was their urge to Westerners not to start their own campaigns, but rather to support local activists. Their argument is clear: Foreigners just do not have the insights needed to run a successful campaign. They can still make a difference, but they can only do so if they act focused. That is why they should support those familiar with the environment in which the case is set.

In this case, the mingling of said tactics may still form a fine strategy. But in general, the people should in on their own behalf instead of following the order of authorities. Everybody can stand up for human rights. That does not need a MP as crutch. Officials may join or even lead any campaign. But they should do so as citizens, not as politicians.

Interview with Esra’a Al Shafei on freedom of expression in the Middle East

I have recently interviewed Esra’a, the founder of Mideast Youth, for gulli:news. She is one of the greatest activists I know and I think this interview is a fine example of her ability to inspire people, including myself.

gulli:news: Can you tell us a bit about your projects, what you are doing and what is your motivation behind it?

Esra’a Al Shafei: I founded MideastYouth.com and its network of projects. We are a group of young digital natives reaching out across seemingly impenetrable national social, political, ethnic, and sectarian barriers, employing the freedom and responsibility created by multiple media platforms to demand and create our own civil discourse across multiple divisions in a region where ideals of free expression, political dissent and activism, universal human rights, and civil dialogue are tightly oppressed and forcefully punished. We campaign for the rights of ethnic, religious and intellectual minorities by grasping the revolutionary power of information technology in a region where information is controlled and censored by our leaders to manipulate public sentiment by illustrating the “otherness” of our neighbors and our “enemies”. A growing list of our ongoing projects can be found here.

As a child I was shocked by the inhumane treatment of immigrant workers that I witnessed, and a sense of outrage and injustice grew in my heart. Increasingly frustrated in my early college years by the prejudicial stereotypes throughout media of Middle Eastern youth – a portrayal unanswered because of censorship and state control of media in the region – I turned to my keyboard to respond with my own voice, to show not only the diversity of ethnicities, religions, and cultures in the region, but also the diversity of opinion, fervor, ideals, hopes, and politics; to portray for the first time in the global discourse Middle Eastern youth in all our depth, our feelings, and our complexity. I was joined over time by a growing number of similar voices, declaring in unison that we are Muslim and moderate, idealistic and hopeful, Jewish and peaceful; we are Christians, Baha’i, Sunni and Shia; Persians and Arabs; Turks, Berbers and Kurds, and we are all here at MideastYouth.com so that the world hears us in our own voices, and sees that we are capable of thoughtful and reasoned discussions of our differences. We want our humanity and our futures in our own hands and we use the internet and other forms of technology to fight for those rights.

The interview is available in English and German.
I can only commend you to also listen to the keynote Esra’a held at this year’s re:publica conference in Berlin.