MALAIKA MAHLATSI: From academics to the government, Germany’s hypocrisy is on full display

A few days ago, the University of Bayreuth, where I am reading for my PhD, along with numerous other German higher learning and public institutions, announced their departure from X (formerly Twitter) in protest of what they claim is an erosion of democratic principles.

An excerpt of the university’s statement reads: “The changes to the X platform – from the algorithmic amplification of right-wing populist content to the restriction of organic reach – make it almost impossible for scientific organisations in Germany to continue using X”.

The statement goes on to state that: “With this step, we are underlining our commitment to fact-based communication and against forces that are harmful to democracy”.

The move follows the recent pronouncements by X owner, Elon Musk, in support of German far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has been growing support in the country.

The day before the institutions left X, Musk held a live discussion on the platform with AfD leader, Alice Weidel, whose party he has previously encouraged Germans to vote for in the upcoming elections.

The AfD, which identifies as conservative libertarian, is a far-right party that has been classified as a suspected extremist organisation by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the country’s domestic intelligence agency. It is a Eurosceptic party with a strong anti-immigrant policy.

I can appreciate why the German government is deeply concerned by Musk’s support of it. Musk, the world’s richest person, has been tasked by United States president-elect, Donald Trump, to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency which is mandated to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut wasteful expenditure and restructure federal agencies.

His influence, politically, economically and socially, makes his support for the AfD especially worrying.

What I cannot appreciate is the hypocrisy and double standards of German institutions.

Since the war on Palestine broke out in October 2023, few universities and public institutions in Germany have spoken out against the undemocratic practices of their own government in how it has dealt with pro-Palestinian supporters, including academics and students.

In May 2024, about 150 pro-Palestinian student activists occupied a courtyard at the Free University in Berlin. The university immediately called in the police, who cleared the area and went on to detail 79 of the students.

The police also instituted 80 criminal investigations and 79 misdemeanour proceedings. The silencing of pro-Palestinian supporters in Germany, many of whom are students, and the brutality of the police against them, is the norm. Equally, the norm is little support for such students.

In the case of the occupation at the Free University in Berlin, about 100 academics published an open letter in support of the students’ right to protest. Individual academics, not institutions, signed the open letter.

While all this was happening in Germany, X was also systematically silencing the voices in support of Palestinian human rights. Hundreds of accounts of pro-Palestinian supporters, including academics, were taken down or suspended by X.

The company’s chief executive officer, Linda Yaccarino, claimed that the accounts that were suspended violated policies aimed at stopping the spread of “violent and hateful” content on X.

But this was far from the truth.

The accounts that were suspended were of people sharing news from inside Gaza at a time when Israel had started its devastating destruction of infrastructure in Palestine. Furthermore, the images that were taken down were of the horrors that Palestinians were confronted with – the killings of children, some of them newborns.

Many accounts of academics across the world were also suspended. Other social media applications such as Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) were also doing the same. The latter was captured in a Human Rights Watch report titled “Meta’s Broken Promises: Systematic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook”, which found that the censorship of content related to Palestine on the said platforms was systematic and global.

And while accounts of Palestinian supporters and critical academics were being taken down on all these platforms, those of racist Zionists calling for a continuation of the genocide were not. Fake news became the order of the day – with photoshopped images, false claims and Islamophobic content being deemed to meet community standards.

While all this was happening, neither the University of Bayreuth nor any other institution deemed it necessary to stand up in defence of democratic principles.

When I was put under investigation by German police for what it claimed was “rewarding a terrorist event” by arguing that the attack on Israel by Hamas followed decades of Israeli violence and dispossession against Palestinians, and that it happened during a year that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) described as “the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank… and also the deadliest year for children” (as documented in the report titled “UNICEF in the State of Palestine – 2023 Year End Situation Report”), my own university did not deem it necessary to defend my democratic right to fact-based speech.

German institutions, by and large, were okay when democratic principles were being trampled on - as long as those on the receiving end were Palestinians.

They were willing to keep their accounts on X when Musk was spewing racist, Zionist venom, and when Israeli far-right elements were being given a platform.

Today, when the monster is knocking at their own door, they suddenly awaken to the dangers of X’s algorithm, disregard for scientific fact and promotion of regressive politics.

Recently, Trump announced his intentions to annex Greenland, stating he does not rule out the use of military force to acquire the Danish territory. He argues that the USA needs Greenland for economic security.

And while Denmark’s own claims to Greenland result from the colonialism of the Inuit people who had inhabited the land for thousands of years, the relationship has since evolved to the current state of the island as an autonomous territory. Ironically, it was the USA that, in 1916, supported Denmark’s colonial ambitions by recognising the country’s claim to Greenland, thus affirming Danish sovereignty over it.

Unsurprisingly, a few days ago, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholtz, called on European Union countries to stand together against the US’s attempts to annex Greenland, stating: “Borders must not be moved by force. This principle applies to every country, whether in the East or in the West”.

This same Scholtz and the German government have given unwavering support to Israel as it seeks to expand its own borders into Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has annexed parts of its Arab neighbours. And while it claims that some of its occupation is not permanent, Josef Federman, in his article “Israel’s borders have shifted throughout its history – action in Syria may reshape them again”, demonstrates that most of the country’s post-1948 occupations have followed war, annexations and ceasefire agreements.

The international community has always condemned the illegal occupation of Palestinian (and Syrian and Lebanese) territory by Israel. Germany, on the other hand, by omission and commission, has remained Israel’s ally and defender in this injustice.

Today, when European territory is under threat, the German government suddenly believes in the principle of not expanding and annexing territories belonging to other people.

What is clear from these Damascene conversions of German academics and the government is not the development of a moral conscience. Rather, it is an illustration that people do not take injustice seriously when it is happening to others far away.

German academics did not think X was undemocratic when it was suspending the accounts of pro-Palestinian supporters and academics and giving a platform to right-wing Zionists. They only began to see its undemocratic character when it was giving a platform to right-wing elements who threaten their own security and comfort in Germany.

The German government did not think the annexation of land in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon was a problem when it was being done by Israel because the victims were Arabs far away in the Middle East. When annexation is closer to home, in the European Union, suddenly, it is a problem.

This is hypocrisy and it must be called out. People who genuinely believe in democracy believe in democracy for all – not only when democracy benefits them.