News Agency on Conservative Europe Report 2021, No. 8. Report on conservative and right wing Europe 20th April, 2021 GERMANY 1. jungefreiheit.de (translated, original by jungefreiheit.de, 19.04.2021) "Blackfacing" Bayerischer Rundfunk deletes satirical figure: "Artistic freedom has limits" media MUNICH. Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) has defended its decision not to show the fictional character “Maxwell Strauss” in the future. “Freedom of art and freedom of expression are undoubtedly very valuable goods, and that is what Bayerischer Rundfunk stands for. However, artistic freedom has limits - namely when people are discriminated or degraded, ”said a BR spokesman on Monday of YOUNG FREEDOM. 2 Both the director of the public broadcasting corporation, Katja Wildermuth, presented both in the Broadcasting Council on Friday. The BR also decided to "initiate a discussion of values in the house". A BR spokesman said on Friday after the Broadcasting Council of the German Press Agency: "We have agreed that Maxwell Strauss will no longer perform." Cabaret artist with black make-up The background was an issue of the program “SchleichFernsehen” from the beginning of April . In it, the cabaret artist Helmut Schleich played the fictional dark-skinned son of the former Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) and made fun of current politics. Schleich was made up in black, which caused criticism, especially in social media, and the accusation that Schleich had operated "blackfacing". This means that a white person puts on black make-up to imitate a person with dark skin. Because it was associated with derogatory stereotypes in the past, it is now considered racist for some. However, the BR initially defended the section. “In a satirical format, however, the artist must also be given a certain amount of freedom for satirical exaggerations. Artistic freedom is a valuable asset, but sometimes it also explores limits. ”The artist also emphasized:“ It is precisely through an invented son Maxwell Strauss that I show the import of neo-colonial structures from the global north to Africa. ” WDR also comes under fire However, some employees were not satisfied with this. The representative of the Foreigners, Migrants and Integration Advisory Councils in the Broadcasting Council, Hamado Dipama, criticized "Blackfacing" as a racist practice, according to the editorial network Germany. He did not understand the editorial decision. “Artistic freedom has limits.” According to this, individual broadcasting councils supported him with requests to speak in the digital meeting of the supervisory board. Other broadcasters were recently confronted with "blackfacing" allegations. The WDR apologized for broadcasting a carnival program in which two men painted black could be seen. He also censored the scene in the media library. (ls) 3 2. jungefreiheit.de (translated, original by jungefreiheit.de, 19.04.2021) Toy museum removes exhibits after allegations of racism society NUREMBERG. The toy museum in Nuremberg removed several toys from its exhibition after allegations of racism. It is about a total of ten pieces that are "clearly racist or at least complicated," said museum director Karin Falkenberg to the portal in Franconia . In addition, there are about 70 other exhibits in the museum depot that are worthy of criticism. The toy museum reacted to the criticism of a visitor from the USA with Afro-American roots. The stumbling block was a dancing sheet metal wind-up figure with the imprint "Alabama Coon Jigger" on it. “Coon” is a dirty word for black people in the USA, “Jigger” is a parasite from the sand flea family. Falkenberg explained that this portrayed black people in a degrading way as subordinates of the white population. Illustration of a "jigger" According to Falkenberg, this complaint was received in the summer of 2017. “That is pure racism that you are showing! This object hurts me and all people with Afro-American roots! ”Said the visitor. Main exhibition is revised The toy company Ernst-Paul Lehmann produced the criticized exhibit "Alabama Coon Jigger" around 1912. "The toy manufacturers weren't all racists," Falkenberg told the news portal, but they also reflected the views of their time in children's toys. In response, those responsible for the toy museum led so-called diversity-sensitive visitors with experiences of discrimination through the entire toy museum in 2017 and 2018. Then it was decided to revise the main exhibition in the Nuremberg Toy Museum. Everyone carries everyday racism From July 15, visitors can now view the exhibits on a “racism-sensitive path with five stations”. They are provided with comments or actions on the toy. The museum is convinced 4 that one should show the figures in order to talk about them. After all, everyone carries everyday racism. "I also have divisive thoughts in me, that's normal," said Falkenberg. At the beginning of March 2020, the museum's employees also took part in an anti-racism workshop. According to Falkenberg, it was important to become aware of the “racism within us”. One should not take the erroneous opinion that one would sufficiently deal with topics such as sustainability, diversity sensitivity or "queer" life. “As a rule, we cannot deal with these issues, especially not as white Germans of the majority society,” she said. (hl) 3. tichyseinblick.de (translated, original by tichyseinblick.de, 19.04.2021) VOLUNTARY SELF-CENSORSHIP Hessian Ministry of Culture warns teachers against showing Mohammed cartoons After several attacks on school staff who showed caricatures of Mohammed, the Hessian Ministry of Education is now drawing a questionable conclusion. Teachers are advised to voluntarily self-censor. "The fear is there" reports the President of the Bavarian Teachers' Association, Simone Fleischmann, in relation to the threatening consequences for teachers if they show caricatures of Mohammed in class. Since the murder of the Paris geography and history teacher Samuel Paty, who showed his students caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, teachers have been under increasing pressure to simply refrain from addressing them. The Ministry of Culture in Hesse has now provided further evidence of this dubious development. In an email from the Hessian Ministry of Culture to the 1,800 school principals in Hesse, which WamS first reported on, it says: “Showing the Mohammed caricatures or any graphic representation of the Prophet Mohammed can be interpreted as behavior critical of Islam, which can be emotional and under certain circumstances also mobilizing how radicalizing can have an effect on the group of recipients, including schoolchildren. " 5 In addition to hostility and nasty remarks, in individual cases there could also be “police- relevant assaults up to and including serious acts of violence”, according to the mail to the school principal. At the request of Welt am Sonntag, the LKA also advised to deal with the topic complex in the educational process in a de-escalating manner, due to the radicalizing effects simply by showing such caricatures. A British teacher was recently suspended because he had shown cartoons of Mohammed (to demonstrate against racism) and the Muslim community took massive public action against the school. Something similar happened in Belgium ( TE reported in each case). Apparently, more and more school authorities are coming to the conclusion that it is easier to censor your own teachers than to deal with the problem substantially. That should be entirely in the spirit of the violent perpetrators. 4. magyarhirlap.hu (translated, original by Mariann Őry, 17.04.2021) Back to common sense A new Austrian news portal, Exxpress, recently wrote about the return of political conservatism According to Anna Dobler, journalist of news portal Exxpress, while Angela Merkel treated her conservative values in the party she led, Sebastian Kurz, at the head of the Austrian People's Party, took the party's original line and was more successful than the German sister party. Although it is not very welcome from a conservative point of view that Kurz is co- governing with the Greens, Dobler said he had strengthened his own stance to counterbalance the Austrian chancellor's balliberal partner. In Germany, on the other hand, we see that, realistically assessing the possibilities for coalition after the autumn federal parliamentary elections, they are seeking the graces of the left instead of their own image. Many of the views of the Austrian People's Party are also reflected in the documents of the German CDU's conservative platform, Werteunion. There is a conservative-liberal struggle in the party, one manifestation of which is that - quoting Dobler - the “Berlin bubble” opposes the candidacy of Hans-Georg Maaßen, the former head of constitutional defense, for a 6 parliamentary term, some say that politician criticizing Merkel’s migration policy into the image as they want to see or show the CDU. Merging with liberals, losing an independent image, is not a good idea in either German or EU politics. The European People's Party is no longer the political home of the Conservatives, no matter how much some politicians in the party family ask themselves that they are the true Christian Democrats. Donald Tusk, the president of the People's Party, has not really been distinguished from balliberal politicians in Brussels in recent days. His Twitter posts could have been written either by Liberal leader Dacian Ciolos, or by essentially anyone on the left. Tusk has long been unable to say anything new, there are times when he borrows accusations one by one from his liberal friends, and most recently he also drew inspiration from the death campaign of the Hungarian balliberal side. He wrote on Twitter these days that tragic records are being broken in Hungary and Poland - where his political opponents are in power - lo and behold, such are these “illiberal” governments. Katalin Novák aptly put on the same community page what the problem was with Tusk's post: "You did nothing to stop the virus, yet now you are politicizing deaths while pretending to be a Christian Democrat." And really! Since the beginning of the epidemic, he has heard nothing from Tusk but an attack.