Since 2016, various left-wing and Palestine-solidarity parties, organizations, and publishing houses have lost their bank accounts, including – on multiple occasions – the Jewish Voice for a Just Peace. Individuals, too, have repeatedly been affected in recent years.
One particularly extreme case is that of Hüseyin Doğru. He was the founder of Red Media, a small but influential left-wing outlet published primarily in English, run from Germany, and known for regularly reporting on Germany’s domestic anti-Palestinian repression. Germany placed Red Media and Doğru on the EU sanctions list. Since then, according to German repression authorities, Doğru is no longer allowed to work or receive benefits. Anyone – including his own wife – who provides the father of several children with money or material support is liable to prosecution.
Anyone able to fill me in on what the sort of “steelman” argument would be for such a punishment?
I’m having a hard time understanding the expected outcome - I guess just hoping he leaves the country, without actually kicking him out? Why not just kick him out?
“No one may help you meet your material needs in any way, by law” is such a weird punishment. Very heavy handed, cruel if that person has nowhere else to go, but also like, grossly indirect. “We won’t punish you directly, we’ll just punish anyone else who ever tries to help you at all”. Yuck!
These are two entirely different cases. One is a private company not wishing to deal with a private group due to fundraising for Cuba. While that’s a legal thing to do, it’s also perfectly legal for a bank not to want you as a customer. If the DKP thinks they’re being discriminated against, they should sue the bank. The government is totally not involved here.
The second example is a dude who is literally a paid Russian propagandist. Putting them on the sanctions list is much more effective, since they’re not actually in Germany most of the time, but base a lot of their work out of Turkey. Kicking them out would do nothing.
Quite a few Russian propagandists are using the antifa label and Palestine support to get away with their propaganda work. In the case of Dogru is not even well hidden, he went straight from openly paid Russian propagandist to barely-covered propagandist without even bothering to change the name much, or the media channels at all.
I definitely need to read closer, thanks.
That is exactly what the they are trying to do. The authoritarian EU is trying to intimidate all journalists who speak out against the genocide they are complicit in. Their previous attempts of intimidating journalists and protesters by raiding and arresting them illegally have not been working so they are turning up the heat. Everything to protect Israel.