Jan Böhmermann hit the international news by offending Turkey’s Erdogan. The Turkish leader had requested that Angela Merkel prosecute Böhmermann under an outdated German law for having dared make fun of him in public. Merkel acquiesced causing widespread indignation among the anti-establishment.
Writing on Twitter addressing the Federal Minister of the Chancellery, Böhmermann stated “I would like to live in a country where the exploration of the limits of satire is allowed, desired and the subject of a civil society debate”. He wouldn’t ask for help, but desired to plead for “considering my artistic approach and my position, even if it is contentious”, Böhmermann added. In Norway and in the Netherlands planned were announced to abolish similar laws to the German one that punished insulting foreign leaders.
A YouGov poll revealed on 12 April, that a majority of the Germans supported Böhmermann’s position. 48 percent of the pollees found the poem appropriate, 29 percent view it as undue. A great majority (66 percent) opposed the deletion of the poem on the ZDF website as well as Merkel’s criticism of the poem as “intentionally hurtful” (68 percent). Only 15 percent support a criminal investigation, 77 percent objected it. In the meantime, more than 240,000 people signed a petition for Böhmermann at Change.org. A further poll by Infratest dimap for the German ARD broadcaster published on 17 April showed that 65 percent of the Germans considered Merkel’s decision to allow criminal proceedings against Böhmermann as “wrong”, 28 percent supported it. Also Merkel’s personal popularity fell, 45 percent were satisfied with her work, while 56 percent were dissatisfied, an all-time low for her in this legislative period.
In case you had missed poem, in it Böhmermann, among other things, called Erdoğan “the man who beats girls”, and said that he loved to “fuck goats and suppress minorities, kick Kurds, hit Christians, and watch child pornography.” Much of the rest of the poem is devoted to associating Erdoğan with various less accepted forms of sexuality. Let’s just say that he might have stopped short of jellyfish and vaginal labia but one man’s trash is another man’s treasure I guess.
What were the consequences for Böhmermann? “On 12 April it was reported that Böhmermann is under police protection, because he was threatened by supporters of Erdoğan. The filming of upcoming editions of Neo Magazin Royale were suspended until May 2016 due to “massive media reporting and the focus on the programme and the presenter”. Böhmermann had also temporarily suspended his radio show Sanft & Sorgfältig on Sundays and was not present at the Grimme-Preis (Grimme Awards), where he was awarded for his Varoufakis video.” (Wikipedia)
It’s not just Glenn Bedingfield and (Super) One TV and Farsons then. So it must be ok, musn’t it? Well. Not really no. It is not ok. I still believe that Merkel was obliged to apply the law if it existed and order the prosecution of Böhmermann under that law. What happens next though is of paramount importance. The court of law of a western democracy with the set of values of a western democracy is being called upon to decide whether a satrist and public commentator of political matters can be allowed to go along with his work. The sanity of the rule of law requires that this process occurs because it defines what our society is all about – beyond the yelling of the social media. Unlike Bedingfield and One TV and Farsons, this matter would be decided in a court of law.
On the 16th of July a Hamburg regional court upheld the injunction prohibiting the reading of the offensive poem in public places however, more importantly, the court said that “Böhmermann’s “libelous poem,” was “undoubtedly” a work of satire and art, adding that due to his prominent political position, Erdogan must be prepared to put up with strong criticism.”
Yesterday Böhmermann was at it again. His target? Boris Johnson. He uploaded the speech in which the spineless blonde agitator gave up on the Tory leadership race onto Pornhub – a popular pornographic video site. He titled the video “Dumb British Blonde Fucks 15 million people again”. So much for moderation. Ironically, earlier this year, Johnson won a contest held by the Spectator (a magazine that he once edited) that had called for poems offending Erdogan in solidarity with Böhmermann.
“If somebody wants to make a joke about the love that flowers between the Turkish president and a goat, he should be able to do so, in any European country, including Turkey,” Johnson said. Talking about the prize, Spectator editor Murray said: “Finest thing possible that in the UK, in Great Britain, in 2016 you can award a prize to a political leader for insulting a despot in Ankara, while in Germany in 2016, a political leader tries to slam people up in prison,” he said, commenting on his decision to turn a blind eye to flaws in the poem for the sake of delivering a political message.
But is Germany much worse off than Britain? The Brexit vote and the reasons why Leave won leave much questions hanging around this. Which of the two embodies the most European values? Which of the two embraces the differences of the continent and the project of building a Union of strong individuals living freely ? Well who better than the very Böhmermann to give us an answer? Warning… the words of this video might not be too pleasing to the ears. Particularly, the invitation to “Read Kant you cunt” must not be taken too literally. Kant can be quite disturbing you know.
