Germany has recently taken a chilling new step, signalling its willingness to use political views as grounds to curb migration. Authorities are now moving to deport foreign nationals for participating in pro-Palestine actions. As I reported this week in the Intercept, four people in Berlin – three EU citizens and one US citizen – are set to be deported over their involvement in demonstrations against Israel’s war on Gaza. None of the four have been convicted of a crime, and yet the authorities are seeking to simply throw them out of the country.
The accusations against them include aggravated breach of the peace and obstruction of a police arrest. Reports from last year suggest that one of the actions they were alleged to have been involved in included breaking into a university building and threatening people with objects that could have been used as potential weapons.
But the deportation orders go further. They cite a broader list of alleged behaviours: chanting slogans such as “Free Gaza” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, joining road blockades (a tactic frequently used by climate activists), and calling a police officer a “fascist”. Read closely, the real charge appears to be something more basic: protest itself.
So arrest them and charge them with a crime?
Seeking asylum is not a ticket to wreak havoc at no risk
We’re talking about citizens here, Chungus. Citizenship imparts a set of rights and responsibilities. It’s not an easy thing to get. And we’re not supposed to have different tiers of citizenship, where some citizens are more equal than others. Legally speaking, a naturalized citizen is supposed to be indistinguishable from a native born one.
But with actions like this, you are saying that isn’t true. You can immigrate to a country, leave your whole family and life behind, and dedicate yourself fully and passionately to your new home. But it doesn’t matter. You’ll always be a second-class citizen. You will be treated differently by the legal system than a native born citizen. A native citizen won’t be punished with exile for an act of petty vandalism, but you will be.
This shows that Germany has truly abandoned, at a fundamental level, the idea of equal justice under the law. It is once again going down the path of Fascism, where citizens receive different rights based on their ethnicity, religion, and immigration history. Once you start having different tiers of citizenship, with different levels of protection, things get dark very quickly.
And while the injustice starts with immigrants, once you’ve established the precedent that the protections of citizenship can be arbitrarily stripped from people based on political convenience and pressure? It’s a short ride to the gas chambers. This is literally the legal foundation of the Holocaust.
You learned nothing from history, and you are doomed to repeat it.
If you can’t even stay out of severe trouble and be grateful for the asylum you don’t deserve your asylum spot. Many people are waiting to replace you.