[Marxism] prisoners of the past

[David Thorstad <binesi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Germany's past overrules the present.
David


 http://www.thelocal .de/politics/ 20090225- 17663.html
 <http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20090225-17663.html>


 Duisburg candidate for mayor: boycott Israel

Published: 25 Feb 09 17:23 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal .de/politics/ 20090225- 17663.html 
<http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20090225-17663.html>
Hermann Dierkes, a leftist candidate for mayor in the Ruhr Valley city 
Duisburg, on Wednesday defended his call for a boycott of Israel for its 
treatment of the Palestinians,  despite widespread criticism he was 
stoking anti-Jewish sentiments in Germany.

âWhen all the protests and UN resolutions donât help stop continual 
human rights abuses then such methods are legitimate,â  he said in a 
statement released by the North Rhine-Westphalian regional chapter of 
his hard-line socialist party The Left. 

âTo compare it to the racist Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses is highly 
disingenuous.â

Dierkes unleashed a storm of criticism this week,  after saying the 
Holocaust could not be used as an excuse for Israelâs recent military 
campaign in the Gaza Strip.

âThis is a piece of pure anti-Semitism,â Dieter Graumann, vice president 
of the German Jewish Council, told the /Bild/ newspaper.   âItâs morally 
depraved and unscrupulous.â 

Even The Leftâs party leadership felt compelled to distance itself from 
Dierkes on Wednesday, saying his call for a boycott was âabsurdâ and an 
ineffective way to help promote peace in the Middle East.

And Petra Pau, a high-ranking MP for The Left,  said Dierkesâ language 
was unacceptable.

âIn light of Germanyâs history, such comments awaken unspeakable 
associations and serve the darkest clichÃs,â Pau told Berlin daily /Der 
Tagesspeigel/

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