© AFP
Berlin Palestine protest 2021
On 15 May, around 3,000 students, activists and local Arabs
gathered in Berlin's Neukolln neighbourhood for a rally in support of Palestine liberation. The atmosphere was overwhelmingly peaceful for most of the afternoon, as couples wearing keffiyehs manoeuvred small children between teenagers wrapped in Palestinian flags.
Demonstrators waved signs in English, German and Arabic as they made their way down Sonnenallee, the beating heart of Berlin's
Arab quarter, where there's a family-owned cafe, shisha bar or falafel joint on almost every block.
By the time police violently dispersed the rally,
citing a lack of social distancing, newsrooms throughout Germany had already decided on the narrative they would push.
It was "antisemitic agitation", declared RBB, Berlin's state-funded broadcaster. An
article on the website of
Tagesschau, Germany's most-watched evening news programme, referred to
"antisemitic protests", while the right-wing
Bild announced:
"Police injured at hate demo."
It was impossible to find interviews with demonstrators during, or in the days after, this protest. Instead, there were soundbites from police and senior politicians condemning those who attended, especially those with Arab backgrounds.
Comment: As usual China is ahead of the curve and it's taking measures that will benefit its citizens; not only is it ensuring its people can produce its own food, it has been buying up US produce in bulk for at least a year now which should at least temporarily stave off inflation, lockdown related supply disruptions and shortages, and the accumulating crop losses due to extreme weather, as well as cattle and poultry disease outbreaks.
Meanwhile, in the West, governments dumped mountains of food and prevented migrant workers from harvesting crops: