25 June 2019 No 14 ISSN 1664-7963

Current Concerns PO Box CH-8044 Zurich Current Concerns Switzerland The international journal for independent thought, ethical standards, moral responsibility, Phone: +41 44 350 65 50 Fax: +41 44 350 65 51 and for the promotion and respect of public international law, human rights and humanitarian law

E-Mail: [email protected] Website: www.currentconcerns.ch English Edition of Zeit-Fragen

Why are the teachers in turmoil? by Claude Meunier-Berthelot, French author, lawyer and teacher

CC. The following olution is characterised by the disappear- also to leave the impression that the ed- article from France ance of the knowledge imparted through ucational system is being improved, al- makes it clear that teaching and its replacement by activities though the opposite is the case. the same pedagogi- in which the pupils have to acquire their cally nonsensical re- own knowledge. In other words, school is Renewing existing educational forms are being car- no longer a school. institutions by new designations ried out there as in Since the needs in a teaching-centred J.-M. Blanquer claims to be refounding Switzerland, Germa- school are obviously not the same as in the Institut nationaux supérieurs du pro- Claude Meunier- ny and other Euro- a living space school, it follows that the fessorat (INSP). One could laugh oneself Bertholet pean countries. There, institutions, the organisational form and to death if it were not for crying if one (picture ma) too, the responsible pol- the personnel recruitment must be adapt- took the appropriate law at hand. There it iticians seem immune to ed: This is the aim of the measures taken. says: “The term ‘colleges of teaching and all pedagogically justified objections and The activities of Education Minister education’ is replaced by ‘higher schools concerns, to any didactic experience, to Blanquer, are ,therefore, part of the imple- of education’ […]”. Otherwise, nothing is developmental psychological facts and mentation of this Charter, which is grad- changed in the text of the law! anthropological conditions. And there, ually being implemented “methodically, The “new” INSP are, therefore, nothing too, the reforms are presented under progressively and without conflict” by the other than the former Ecoles supérieures partly superficially melodious, partly various ministers who followed one an- du professorat et de l’éducation (ESPE), unspeakably meaningless terms. Whom other at the head of the Ministry of Edu- which themselves were previously called should it serve? cation, as Jack Lang, as Claude Allègre’s IUFM (Institut universitaires de formation successor, recommended in the early des maîtres). These were allegedly abol- In view of the sparseness of the comments 2000’s. ished in 2005 because of massive criti- on the draft law of the French Minister cism. Within the universities, however, of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, on Misleading language they continued to exist until they were res- the so-called “school of trust” (!), one Since this school revolution complete- urrected in 2013 by Vincent Peillon [Min- is perplexed by the inability of journal- ly contradicts the will of the parents and ister of Education 2012–2014] under the ists to understand the essence of the sub- the interests of the French nation, the ac- name ESPE. ject and to communicate it to the public. tivities (e.g. ball games, roller skating, Jean-Michel Blanquer now immortal- There are also those who understand the swimming …) are never described with ises the IUFM under the new name INSP. system best and use their usual malice to the normal terms, but packed into an am- So he does not invent anything new at all conceal reality in order to serve the state. poule-like, esoteric and varied language. – which is the best proof that he follows Those who do not understand this course This language is incomprehensible to lay- the same policy as his predecessors. of action would do well to press the re- people and suggests that the decisions play button, at least until the reforms of taken serve to improve the quality of the Changes in teacher training? Claude Allègre [Minister of Education educational system – in reality however, It is also claimed that Blanquer is plan- 1997-2000, transl.] This review would at everything is done to destroy it. ning to change teacher training as well. least make it possible to understand the So, at the level of principles, it is about However, this change has already been logic of the system, even if in reality the “multi-disciplinarity” (J.-M. Blanquer implemented with Vincent Peillon’s “fu- dismantling of the French education sys- has clearly stated that the pedagogical ture employment of teachers” [“emplois tem began much earlier. approach must always be multi-discipli- d’avenir professeur” (EAP)],* which Bl- nary), “inter-disciplinarity”, “transversal- anquer is now taking over under the new A reform that is none… ity”, “trans-disciplinarity”, “inter-disci- name of “pedagogical assistants”. For this If we analyse Blanquer’s approach, it plinary practical exceptional teaching”, in purpose, unqualified personnel are going quickly becomes clear that this project is order not to use the simple word “activi- to be employed, regardless of nationali- by no means a fundamentally new reform, ty”. As far as activities are concerned in ty or any social criteria. University edu- quite the contrary! detail, it is about “project pedagogy”, in- cation disappears and this short training It is only a continuation of the policy dividual project work, “cross work”, “ex- for all employees only takes place in the of its predecessors, based on the “Charter peditions”, “art and cultural pedagogy”, IUFM-INSP, from kindergarten to univer- for the Construction of the School of the “personalised support”, “personal project sity. 21st Century” published by Claude Allègre for educational success”, “tutorials” and Najat Vallaud-Belkacem [Minister of in 1999, which consisted in transforming even “homework assistance” etc. All these Education 2014-2017] had stated that this the school system into a place of life for terms are completely exaggerated word had become the “normal way of recruit- our children – as Jack Lang, Minister of clichés for simple activities. Education from 2000–2002, put it: “The Everything is done to deceive the pub- school must be a living-space! This rev- lic and not only to appear credible, but continued on page 2 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 2

”Why are the teachers in …” be combined in comprehensive schools, teachers are annoyed; they can hardly continued from page 1 which are called “Ecoles inclusives” by bear the situation they have to cope with Education Minister Blanquer. on a daily basis. He knows very well that ing” “teachers who are no longer teach- As far as basic knowledge is concerned, the explosion is imminent, reason enough ing”. you can always come back to it later to ac- to oblige them to keep silent. A living-space school no longer needs quire it! Silence! We are killing the intelligence qualified personnel with diplomas. This of your children! This is the “school of also largely explains last year’s intro- The teachers are dissatisfied – trust”, keep silent! duction of the “Parcoursup” system. In but that is nothing new! So, we know why the teachers are in this online application of the Ministry of The teachers are dissatisfied – but this turmoil: Abused by the state, which claims Higher Education, all high school gradu- is nothing new. 20 per cent of the staff to be working to restore the educational ates who are interested in higher teacher have quit in the last few years: That has system, they know very well that this is training have to provide detailed informa- never happened before! However, noth- not the case and that, on the contrary, their tion about themselves and their interests, ing is said about that. The Cerberus of the situation and that of the children entrusted which makes access to universities diffi- system (mostly a dog with several heads, to them, will only deteriorate in the future. cult for many. which in Greek mythology, guards the en- Blanquer continues this policy under a trance to the underworld so that no liv- Strikes? A washout … different name while claiming to be inno- ing person penetrates and no dead person The strikes, called by the unions, only vative. comes out) – in other words, the trade un- serve to curb dissatisfaction. It is obvi- ions have looked on and done nothing, al- ous that they will bring nothing but a few Creation of public comprehensive though they know exactly what has been meagre consolation prizes, with no effect schools for the acquisition going on for decades. They are pushing on Mr Blanquer’s policy, because it is far of basic knowledge? for demonstrations when it is too late. The too late. Everything is planned in detail This has been in preparation for quite teachers have been silenced, despite the and prepared so that he can continue his some time! If there are no longer lessons commotion caused by the real nonsense of policy. at school, if neither knowledge or intellec- the system. They mistakenly believe, how- Strikes, at the wrong time and without tual education is imparted, if there are no ever, that it is still a school, since many putting the finger on the sore spot, are, as teaching goals to be achieved, but only ac- have not yet realised where they and our usual, nothing more than a washout! • tivities to be carried out, class teaching is children are heading. * Law from 26 June 2012, Decree in CE n°2013- no longer justified and no distinction be- 50 from 15 January 2013 tween primary and secondary school is Blanquer’s slogan: “Keep silent!” Source: www.libertepolitique.com/Actualite/De- needed. Thus, there is no longer any rea- Blanquer has supplemented the whole cryptage/Pourquoi-les-professeurs-sont-ils-en- son why the different school levels – in- thing with a “duty of exemplary and re- colere, from 7 June cluding grammar school – should not straint”! This is no coincidence! The (Translation Current Concerns)

Test tasks in German 2017 for the examination of the basic competences (ÜGK) by the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) mw. It took two respectively three years because they don’t like cheaper clothes Comment: Dad does this barely a few for the Swiss Conference of Canton- / because they want to belong to a cer- months before or even after Christmas. al Ministers of Education (EDK) to pro- tain group / because they want to save The rest of the story can be skipped by duce the results of its “standardised, their money. the reasonably alphabetised sixth-for- computer-based competence tests” (3rd Comment: Two out of four answers mer. high school, mathematics / 6th prima- are to be cancelled because every sixth- ry class, school language and 1st foreign former realises that they can’t be right; “Task example for an informative language). the right solution is given practically lit- text with explicit performance of The sixth-formers were only tested in erally in the text: “[…] only because you comprehension” reading / text comprehension and spell- want to belong to a certain group […]”). (ÜGK 2019, p. 24) ing. Title: “The Flamingo.” Text from an en- Reading area: Short texts (max. 1,000 “Task example for a narrative text cyclopedia. characters), three text types: narrative, with implicit performance of compre- Question: What kind of toes does the factual text, argumentation. In addition hension” (ÜGK 2019, p. 23) Flamingo have? each with a sample question with four Title: “Noah’s Christmas”. “Noah tells a Multiple-choice answers: Toes with multiple-choice answers. story about Christmas.” special lamellas / Toes with webs / White Question: When is the story set? and red ones / About 40 centimetres “Task example for an long. Multiple-choice answers: A few argumentative text with explicit Comment: Sixth-formers who are months before Christmas / A few days be- performance of comprehension” trimmed for such tests look for the word fore Christmas / At Christmas itself / After (ÜGK 2019, p. 22) “toes” in the text and find it in the sec- Christmas. Title: “Brand-name clothes”. Tina, 12 ond sentence: “His neck and legs are years old, expresses her opinion on Comment: The answer is provided very long, his toes are connected with brand-name clothes. by the first sentence of the story: “No webs, ...”. The rest of the story […] (see Question: Why do certain young people doubt, it will be Christmas soon!” con- 2nd task). buy branded dresses according to Tina? firmed by the statement in the second Multiple-choice answers: Because sentence that dad “is bringing out the (Examples chosen by Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education EDK) brand-name clothes are very expensive / garlands and the Christmas baubles”. No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 3 How EU and NATO generate crises and pave the way for wars Interview with Ullrich Mies* by Nicolas Riedl (rubikon)

cc. Ullrich Mies, entrepreneur and “That Russia intends to attack any country is the evil propaganda of author, has pub- lished his new the Western intelligence and communication complex. It is not Rus- book “Der Tiefe sia that has conquered the US continent or the EU with its military Staat schlägt zu. Wie die westliche power, but NATO that is constricting Russia. A glance at the map is Welt Krisen er- all it takes to expose the propaganda as a lie.” zeugt und Kriege Ullrich Mies vorbereitet (The (picture youtube.com) Deep State strikes. elites eroded the international order in a the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now their hair How the West- process lasting 25 years. stands on end facing the Federal Govern- ern World generates crises and paves the ment’s current policy on Russia. I do not way for wars)”. It resumes the themes of Which authors were you able to attract to deny that there were and still are honour- his book “Fassadendemokratie und Tiefer contribute to the new book? able politicians. As a rule, however, you Staat. Auf dem Weg in ein autoritäres Zei- The following authors contributed to will not find these politicians in the lead- talter (Façade Democracy and the Deep the volume in the same order as the table ing committees today, rather mostly op- State. On the way to an authoritarian of contents: Rainer Rupp, Eugen Drewer- portunists and corrupt apparatchiks who age)”, edited 2017 together with Jens Wer- mann, Jochen Scholz, Hannes Hofbauer, have joined forces with the financial and nicke. In his new book writers have the say Tilo Gräser, Annette Groth, Kees van der commercial powers. They do not care who deal above all with the dangers of war Pijl, Chris Hedges, Nicolas J.S. Davies, about the large population, the environ- emanating from the Deep State. John Pilger, Ullrich Mies, Vladimir Kozin, ment or world peace. One of these stages Wolfgang Jung, Aktham Suliman, Mohs- for Western conflict and war drivers to act Nicolas Riedl: What was it that motivat- sen Massarrat and Ernst Wolff. As you is the Munich Security Conference. The ed you after “Façade Democracy and the can see from the names, I was able to at- writer Tilo Gräser focuses in his contri- Deep State. On the way to an authoritar- tract a number of foreign authors, espe- bution on the conference of the year 2018. ian age” to publish a new book? cially from the USA. And with Vladimir Let us come back to the historically Ullrich Mies: At the book launches in P. Kozin there is also an important Russian unique opportunity after 1989. The de- 2017, I noticed that we hit a crucial point expert who has been dealing with ques- struction of the so-called peace dividend with the title “Façade Democracy and the tions of armament and armament control after 1990/91 followed a script written by Deep State”. The audience consistently for many decades. neoconservative cadres of the Deep State agreed with the statement that we are liv- in the USA. After the system competition ing in a façade democracy. The forces be- What coherences would you like to convey disappeared when the USSR collapsed, hind the deep state, however, were by no to the readers of the book? the neoconservatives in the USA had free means clear to most people. The first book By analysing international political trends, rein, especially under President Bush jun- delivered an answer to this. the book aims to contribute to a better un- ior. After an orientation phase they saw The new book “The Deep State strikes” derstanding of the current rejections in their chance to revitalise the total world is about explaining how the ruling elites international politics. After reading the domination of the USA, a concept that had managed to run the peace dividend of book, readers can better understand some existed for about 100 years. 1990 aground and how they managed to political developments, especially the lead the world into a new pre-war level. I West’s relations with Russia. Above all, After the experiences of the Cold War, also take a much more comprehensive ap- the propagandistic assertion of the West how could the Western world once again proach concerning the Deep State that is that the Crimean crisis was an arbitrary fall back into a spiral of mistrust, arma- common. I refer to the Deep State as the act of Russia is not correct. It was noth- ments race and mutual deterrence? How hidden domain of the rulers. Some parts ing else but the result of a 25-year process likely is an escalation between West and are visible, the essential parts are not. In in which the NATO and the EU enlarged East? this domain, the class struggle is organised towards the East. The so-called foreign The very basis of the upheavals on the top down. The actors of the Deep State are policy establishment of the West and its international stage is the USA’s claim to neither electable nor are they able to be opinion forming industries deliberately dominate the world. The USA is defin- voted out of office. They are the repre- embezzle the historical events that led to ing the whole world, especially the Eur- sentatives of the market-radical model of the quarrel with Russia. asian region, as area of its security inter- Western capitalism. Here, the neoconserv- But anyone who does not understand est. But it goes far beyond that. The US ative ideologues play a decisive role. Deep contemporary history as a chain of deci- claim to dominate the world is under- state and neoconservativeplayerscannot be sions and events and instead always takes pinned by the ideology of “full-spectrum separated from each other. only the end link of a long chain into ac- dominance” and now includes the three The book “Facade Democracy and the count – such as the Crimean secession – traditional branches of the armed forc- Deep State” lacked the international per- will not understand anything at all. The es, i.e. Army, Air Force and Navy, as well spective of the Deep State. In “The Deep ruling elites of the West are the decisive as other branches of weaponry, “space”, State strikes. How the Western World Gen- drivers of conflict and war in this world. “cyberspace”, “information warfare” and erates Crises and Paves the Way for Wars” Many honourable politicians played a total surveillance. I present a collection of contributions, the decisive role as architects in the common 16 authors show how the ruling western house of a peaceful, united Europe, after continued on page 4 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 4

”How the EU and the NATO generate …” Franklin D. Roosevelt, US President from states that, from Russia’s point of view, it continued from page 3 1933 to 1945, has already said: “In politics, would be totally suicidal to attack one of nothing happens by accident. If it happens, these countries or even to absorb? The admission of ever new countries you can bet it was planned that way.” That Russia intends to attack any coun- into the NATO alliance also serves to ex- In plain words: everything is on pur- try is the evil propaganda of the West- pand the ideological and power sphere of pose. Norway, Sweden and Finland are of ern intelligence and communication com- the USA into the depths of the Eurasian great importance for Nato strategists and plex. It is not Russia that has conquered region. From 1990 until today the trans- for a potential war against Russia. The fact the US continent or the EU with its mili- atlantic imperialists proceeded in several that two Nato general secretaries in a row tary power, but NATO that is constricting phases. are Scandinavians, Jens Stoltenberg and Russia. A glance at the map is all it takes First there was an orientation phase of his predecessor Fogh Rasmussen, is also to expose the propaganda as a lie. the alliance and a search for new assign- no coincidence. This serves to bind these ments from 1990 to 1993, followed by the countries to NATO. Until 1977 there were plans to raze the revitalisation of the US claim to world The russophobic climate was and is al- USSR to the ground with 10,000 nuclear leadership, the preservation and strength- ways generated using all available prop- weapons. Does this spirit of insanity still ening of this dominance, and the consol- aganda techniques. Very important is the exist today? idation of NATO expansion plans from cultural and militaristic infiltration of the Of course, this insane spirit continues 1994 to 1998. From 1999 to 2001, the audience by films, TV series, advertise- and the insane ones, to stay in the picture, first phase of aggression followed, specif- ments, large posters and the like. These have the power to turn their ideas into re- ically the Yugoslavian war, 9/11 and the are the subtle techniques that do not fail ality. Or do you think the peoples would “war on terror”, the war against Afghani- to have an effect in the subconscious of be so crazy to threaten each other or the stan, the first NATO expansion round with the people. Thus the evil Russian is sub- planet with nuclear extinction? Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. liminally anchored in the consciousness This evil spirit continues to exist. The I call the period from 2002 to 2010 a sec- of the people. Most people do not realise USA wants to spend over 1,200 billion US ond phase of aggression, the consolidation the perfidious techniques of power at all, dollars in the coming 30 years to establish of the US claim to dominate the world, the because they cannot think as maliciously a full-scale the nuclear terror capability. So- termination of the ABM treaty, the wars as the elites do. The russophobic climate ciopaths and psychopaths who get lost in against Iraq, Libya, Georgia, the two Nato is part of the establishment of the “Cold eradication strategy games are a great dan- enlargement rounds with Estonia, Lat- War 2.0”. ger for mankind. The population should via, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slove- never forget: The politically responsible nia, Slovakia and then Albania and Croa- People in northern and eastern Germa- for all this insanity are sitting in the gov- tia. I call the period from 2011 to 2013 a ny experience the rearmament and re- ernments. They squeeze out the people’s third phase of aggression, with the begin- location of heavy military equipment money through scaremongering and enemy ning of the Syrian war and the open hos- towards the east in everyday life, for ex- stereotypes in order to invest into develop- tility towards Russia. During these years, ample army trucks on the roads. The wag- ing further these apparatuses of mass de- military manoeuvres and the deployment gons loaded with tanks have now got pri- struction. Vladimir P. Kozin informs about of heavy weapons close to the Russian ority over passenger traffic at “Deutsche these coherences in his contribution “The border are taking place. In my view, the Bahn” (German Railways). The EU New Cold War and the Planned Escalation fourth phase of aggression begins in 2014 wants to invest 6.5 billion euros to make of the Conflict USA/Europe versus Rus- with the coup d’état in Ukraine, the es- the roads and rails to the east compatible sia”. In order to understand the whole mad- calation of the Syrian war, the propagan- to transport heavy tanks. Can you under- ness, I myself provided some aspects in my da, sanctions and economic war, the open stand that former Eastern Bloc countries contribution “How the Western communi- hostility against Russia, the excessive mil- welcome these developments? ty of values established the Cold War 2.0”. itary manoeuvres, the armament, the with- Certainly, there is still an aversion to eve- drawal from the Iranian nuclear treaty and rything Russian in the minds of people in the INF treaty. The fourth round of NATO the former Eastern Bloc countries. What continued on page 5 enlargement to Montenegro in 2017 is also is more decisive, however, in my view, is part of this. that the political elites in Eastern Europe In his contribution Nicolas S. Davies have been mentally brought into line with shows what trail of blood the US has left an US-transatlantic view through long- in its wars since 9/11. His result is: The term investments and various funding wars waged by the USA since 2001 have programmes, scholarships, research stays, caused the death of 5 to 7 million people. connections and networks. In my view, neoconservative US for- Germany plays a special role as a transit eign policy elites together with their trans- country for heavy weapons. It is also a nu- atlantically oriented vassals in Germany clear weapons depot, logistics hub, location and important EU states have led people in for roughly 40,000 US military personnel, countless countries - even in Europe - into control centre for the murderous drones de- this tragedy. Kees van der Pijl has made an ployed worldwide, location of Africom and interesting contribution about these coher- Eucom. In the new book, Wolfgang Jung ences with the title: “The axis of evil – the explains that Germany is above all becom- US/Israel Neo Con-Connection”. ing a theater of war. I find it extremely dis- turbing, if not insidious, that Germany’s so- Sweden recently published a television se- called foreign policy establishment does ries about an invasion of Norway by Rus- not take these aspects into account. sia. Is this all a coincidence or do you think that the people are being culturally Should it not be clear to every logically aligned to a russophobic climate? thinking citizen in the former Eastern bloc ISBN 978-3-85371-449-2 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 5 By proceeding against Julian Assange, America will dig its own grave by Karen Kwiatkowski*

There is great evil the other party facilitate the agenda of ple’s governments, beholden or paid by being perpetrat- death. the US. ed by Washing- The criminal pursuit and indictment of But in the world that exists today, we ton D.C. here and Wikileak founder, Julian Assange is the see these overblown aggressive tactics around the world. proof in the pudding. The 40 page crimi- and we can feel the excitement, the goose- A persistent terri- nal complaint contains a lot of detail but bumps and the hot necks of the FBI and ble hate for life, lib- not much crime.1 In fact, the “crimes” are CIA suits as they make their bones. erty and humanity more like descriptions of how journalism Chelsea Manning is back in prison, or- 2 Karen Kwiatkowski arrived on little cat is done in the information age, if it is true dered back into solitary. She is not the (picture ma) feet and has taken that the job of journalism is to tell the sto- person she was after years of torture, iso- over our country. ries, name the names, and state the facts lation and chemical interrogation. Ironi- This did not begin with Trump, but sadly that governments don’t want told, named cally, her cognitive function as a result of it also is not going to end with him either. or stated. her previous treatment is likely to render Trump promised to drain the swamp, In a normal world, none of this is worth any future interrogation useless in court, implying change, transparency and ac- much energy or attention. There is very legally and practically. She received the countability. little legally here to work with, and suc- “José Padilla treatment”3, albeit refined Instead he brought in neoconserva- cess so far on the part of the US Govern- by some years of USG practice. Her re- tive king-makers and warmongers, and ment has been solely via a reliable judge sultant mental malleability may have pro- allowed their influence to grow dispro- in the Eastern District Court of Virginia, duced the ideal Soviet Amerikan Woman portionately, while his co-dependents in and other people’s money and other peo- [sic]. The US appears to be a nation of laws, * Karen U. Kwiatkowski (born 24 September There she witnessed how, under the influence of and yet, we absolutely are not. One of 1960) is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant the Neocons, the Office for Special Plans with- many lessons and perspectives we gain Colonel. She received an MA in Government in NESA worked to produce the justifications from the study of Julian Assange is just for the Iraq war by twisting and censoring infor- from Harvard University and an MS in Science that. US political influence and debt- Management from the University of Alaska. She mation. Since she did not want to support this, has a PhD in World Politics from The Catholic she resigned in 2003. Her disclosures have been funded largesse resulted in Assange’s University of America in Washington DC; confirmed by other intelligence officials. This ejection from the Ecuadorian Embassy She began her military career in 1982 in Alaska, is because, as she told journalists of „Die Zeit“, into the UK prison for terrorists in Bel- she also served in Spain and Italy. Kwiatkows- she „wants as many people as possible to under- ki was then assigned to the National Security stand how vulnerable democracy is“. marsh. US domestic corruption and mis- Agency (NSA), eventually becoming a speech- Karen Kwiatkowski is a founding member of reading of the Constitution produced his writer for the agency’s director. In 1998 she be- the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for San- ity (VIPS). Today she lives with her family on a indictment. came an analyst for the Pentagon, first on sub- Furthermore, US government employ- Saharan Africa policy, from 2002 to 2003 she farm in Virginia. In addition to her work on the served in the Pentagon’s Near East and South farm, she also works as an author and part-time ees, from the DoD, FBI and the CIA have Asia directorate (NESA). professor. been interviewing Assange in Belmarsh Prison, prior to any extradition decision. Interviewing is the wrong word. I’d ”How the EU and the NATO generate …” gime. I am sure of that. In my view, a war like to say doctoring him, because it continued from page 4 against Russia is only possible at the cost would be more accurate, except that word of a civil war. But who knows what de- implies some care for a positive outcome. velopments will actually occur in such a Chemical Gina4 has her hands in this one, If the US empire, or rather the transatlan- case? The war of aggression against Rus- and we are being told that Assange is tic elites, are interested in forcibly open- sia is only to be waged at the cost of the being “treated” with 3-quinuclidinyl ben- ing up Russia as a new market, is it com- complete peremtion of civil rights through zilate, known as BZ.5 What BZ does, from pletely irrational to make the desired land the implementation of the state of emer- the New Yorker: area uninhabitable for the next centuries gency and thus at the cost of a possible “Exposed soldiers exhibited bi- through nuclear bombardment? Can you civil and/or partisan war in one’s own zarre symptoms: rapid mumbling, explain that? country. • or picking obsessively at bedclothes Yes, these diabolical genocide drivers in References: and other objects, real or imagi- the US military apparatuses and transat- Mies, Ullrich; Wernicke, Jens (ed.). Fassadende- nary. ‘…The drug’s effect lasted for lantic think tanks believe that a limited mokratie und Tiefer Staat. Auf dem Weg in ein au- days. At its peak, volunteers were nuclear war is indeed manageable, indeed toritäres Zeitalter (Facade Democracy and Deep State. On the way to an authoritarian age). Vien- totally cut off in their own minds, even desirable under certain conditions, na 2017 jolting from one fragmented exist- in order to pre-empt the enemy, to whom Mies, Ullrich (Ed.). Der Tiefe Staat schlägt zu: ence to the next. They saw visions: they always insinuate the worst intentions, Wie die westliche Welt Krisen erzeugt und Kriege Lilliputian baseball players com- with a preventive strike. vorbereitet (The Deep State strikes. How the West- ern world generates crises and paves the way for peting on a tabletop diamond; an- The maximum scandal is that even the imals or people or objects that ma- ruling caste of Germany is now preparing wars). Vienna 2019 * terialized and vanished. …. or involved in the third attempt against The original version of this interview was pub- lished on 14 March 2019 on the rubikon website in Soldiers on BZ could remem- Russia in the space of about 100 years. If German (www.rubikon.news/artikel/die-schatten- ber only fragments of the experi- the Berlin ruling cliques actually entered macht). Ullrich Mies shortened and revised the text ence afterward. As the drug wore the war against Russia, many Germans for Current Concerns. would refuse to follow the attacking re- (Translation Current Concerns) continued on page 6 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 6

”By proceeding against Julien …” may indicate it is the latter. Torture, isola- ening also benzyl acid ester) is a chemical warfare continued from page 5 agent. It belongs to the group of psycho warfare tion, brutality, and the use of psychotrop- agents and since 1997 – like other chemical weap- ic drugs during interrogations and hiding ons – has been officially banned internationally by off, and the subjects had trouble this from the defendant’s own lawyers by the Chemical Weapons Convention; development, discerning what was real, many denying them access – this is Lubyanka10 production and storage are also prohibited. At first headaches, confusion, hallucinations, then experienced anxiety, aggression, in the 1950s, not London and DC in 2019. anxiety, concentration disorders, general restless- even terror. Ketchum [Dr. James Allow me to get to the point. The lat- ness alternate with apathetic phases. After a short Ketchum, DoD Edgewood Arse- est word I have received from England is time the affected person is in a state of complete loss of reality. He no longer has conscious contact nal, MD] built padded cells to pre- as follows: with his environment. On average, the effect lasts vent injuries, but at times the sub- “[Julian Assange] is presently under three days, sometimes up to six weeks. In individ- jects couldn’t be contained. One close observation in prison hospital be- ual cases there are said to have been permanent escaped, running from imagined cause he has suffered ‘severe transient changes in his nature. 6 Khatchandourian, Raffi. Operation Delirium. In: murderers. Another, on a drug psychotic episodes.’ My source(s) indicate The New Yorker from 9 December 2012. www. similar to BZ, saw ‘bugs, worms, these episodes occurred after two sessions newyorker.com/magazine/2012/12/17/operation- one snake, a monkey and numer- of coercive interrogation at the hands of delirium. ous rats,’ and thought his skin was UK and US officials. The source(s) stated 7 https://www.revolvy.com/page/3-Quinuclidinyl-be covered in blood. ‘Subject broke nzilate?stype=topics&cmd=list) the HUMINT interrogators used psycho- 8 https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/ [A secret a wooden chair and smashed a tropic drugs in the course of the sessions.” US military video published by Wikileaks in 2010 hole in the wall after tearing down [HUMINT: Human Intelligence, intelli- documenting the arbitrary murder of over a dozen a 4-by-7-ft panel of padding,’ his gence gathered by means of interperson- people, including two Reuters employees, in the suburb of New Baghdad. Reuters unsuccessfully at- chart noted. Ketchum and three as- al contact] tempted to obtain the video under the Freedom for sistants piled on top of the soldier There are no words. Nothing can be Information Act. Filmed by an Apache Helkopter, to subdue him. ‘He was clearly ter- said. 2 plus 2 does equal 5. The FBI is it shows the murder of an injured Reuters employee rified and convinced we were in- and his rescuer. Two children involved in the res- our own special Cheka. The CIA Direc- cue were also seriously injured.] tending to kill him,’ his chart said. tor’s hands are wet and her organisation 9 Orwellian Cloud Hovers Over Russia-gate. By Ray One night, Ketchum rushed into a does not serve American values. Rather McGovern. consortiumnews.com, 6 May 2019. padded room to reassure a young Af- than choosing to stay secretive for national (Ray McGovern is also a former CIA analyst). rican-American volunteer wrestling 10 The Lubyanka was the infamous prison of the So- security, the modern CIA must stay secre- viet KGB in the Stalin era. https://www.latimes. with the ebbing effects of BZ. The tive in order to survive, because it has be- com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-07-mn-1571-story. soldier, agitated, found the air-con- come functionally illegal. Our president, html ditioner gravely threatening. After who puts America first, is putting Ameri- 11 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta- calming him down, Ketchum sat can values last, even as he tweets his con- tus/302530722453921793 beside him. Attempting to see if he cern for freedom of speech.11 could hold a conversation, Ketchum The agenda is to destroy Assange as asked, ‘Why do they have taxes, in- a human being, and they may well suc- come taxes, things like that?’ ceed. In doing this evil deed, in all of our The soldier thought for a minute. names, America herself – whether we put Current Concerns ‘You see, that would be difficult for her first, last, or somewhere in the middle The international journal for independent me to answer, because I don’t like – will have dug her own grave. thought, ethical standards, moral responsibility, 6 • rice,’ he said.” and for the promotion and respect Copyright © 2019 Karen Kwiatkowski, 7 May of public international law, human rights and humanitarian law BZ is an interesting drug7, certainly not 2019 the only one used by the US government, Source: www.lewrockwell.com/2019/05/karen- Publisher: Zeit-Fragen Cooperative kwiatkowski/pray-and-weep/ but one of them. Editor: Erika Vögel, Eva-Maria Föllmer-Müller Why give it to Assange? What do they 1 http://cryptome.org/2019/04/assange-001-002. Address: Current Concerns, want from him? Is it truth they seek, or pdf P.O. Box, CH-8044 Zurich more information, or is this whole farce 2 https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/interna- Phone: +41 (0)44 350 65 50 something more like obsessive retaliato- tional-news/rule-of-law/federal-judge-orders-the- Fax: +41 (0)44 350 65 51 torture-of-chelsea-manning/ E-Mail: [email protected] ry rage at feeling powerless, as the world 3 José Padilla was a terrorism suspect in solitary con- laughed at US State department memoran- finement. According to “Der Spiegel”, US President Subscription details: dums and became angry at the idiocy and Obama had secret CIA memos on the admission of published regularly electronically as PDF file controversial interrogation techniques published. Annual subscription rate of hate demonstrated by US soldiers 15 years “The memos document the use of sleep deprivation, 8 SFr. 40,-, € 30,-, £ 25,-, $ 40,- ago. Or maybe something more sinister – painful postures, exposure and blows to the face and for the following countries: that they need Julian Assange psychologi- abdomen. The technique of waterboarding, in which Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, cally and physically drawn and quartered the interrogated person thinks he is drowning, will Cyprus, , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, also be performed. Human rights organisations clas- Greece, Hongkong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, because he revealed state corruption and sify such interrogation methods as torture.“ Further Japan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Nether- weakness? Is it because to the state this methods were the use of drugs during interrogations lands, New Zealand, Norway, Qatar, Singapore, is the war, the real war it always fights, a and sensory deprivation, i.e. the deprivation of all Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab ­Emirates, audible sounds and vision. United Kingdom, USA war with the rest of the population for its 4 Since May 2018, Gina Haspel has been director of Annual subscription rate of very survival? Or is Ray McGovern on to the CIA, for which she has worked since 1985, for SFr. 20,-, € 15,-, £ 12,50, $ 20,- many years as a secret agent. She has received var- the real reason the deep state wants to de- for all other countries. 9 ious awards, for example for her fight against ter- stroy him? rorism. What worries critics and former ambassa- Account: Postscheck-Konto: PC 87-644472-4 It is difficult to know if the state is dors is her monitoring of various brutal tortures of The editors reserve the right to shorten letters to terrorism suspects, which were also reported in the more sociopathic or more psychopath- the editor. Letters to the editor do not necessarily New York Times in 2017. Because of her involve- ic. What US government employees and/ reflect the views and opinions of Current Concerns. ment in torture, she was transferred away as head or contractors are currently doing to Ju- of the CIA’s secret police department. © 2013. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or lian Assange, and those who may have 5 Wikipedia writes about this substance: 3-quinu- transmission of this publication may be made without written used Wikileaks as a journalistic avenue, clidinylbenzilate (BZ, QNB, misleadingly short- permission. No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 7 What exactly is the “Mittelstand”? Its importance for society and economy by Professor Dr Eberhard Hamer, Hanover (Germany)

The “Mittelstands- the 19th century and has remained popular sociological upper class of “rich capital institut Nieder- to this day, although we have long since owners”. sachsen e.V.” (SME turned from the corporative state into a According to the aforementioned crite- Institute Lower Sax- functional society. ria, we have an upper class of about 5 %, ony) has been con- “The decisive function of the “Mittel- a middle class of about 47 % and a lower ducting independent stand” in society is to bear responsibili- class of about 43 % in our society. The lat- research into small ty. Either self-responsibility i.e. personal ter, however, is tending to grow as a result and medium-sized responsibility for their own existence in of immigration. businesses as well their own company or practice as ‘self- as the middle tier employed person’ or externally responsi- The “independent Mittelstand” Eberhard Hamer of our society (the ble in their exercise of responsibility in the According to our laws, anyone who acts (picture ma) “Mittelstand”) for public sector or in the private economy or independently in his own name (§§ 1 and almost 50 years. In this institute, “Mittel- society (“salaried Mittelstand”). This own 17 HGB), on his own account (§ 2 para. stand” economics was created – today a or external responsibility usually requires 1 EstG) and at his own risk (§ 145 et seq. discipline of the study of economics, con- higher qualifications and training than that BGB) (§ 1 GewO) for the purpose of mak- cerned with the independent companies of the lower class, but remains decentral- ing a profit in business life (§ 1 GewO) and family enterprises in our economy. ised responsibility, while the upper class is deemed to be independent, i.e. self-em- demands central responsibility for itself.”1 ployed.2 For five years now, this institute has also Accordingly, SME research distin- Self-employed persons include not developed a previously non-existent “Mit- guishes between economic SMEs and so- only entrepreneurs in manufacturing oc- telstand” sociology concerned with “Mit- cietal SMEs under the generic term “Mit- cupations (1.25 million) or in service en- telstand” employees. telstand”. terprises (3.3 million), but also farmers The “economic Mittelstand” includes and foresters (0.21 million) and inde- The “Mittelstand” in society not only the self-employed (entrepre- pendent asset managers (0.24 million). Since Karl Marx, society as a whole has neurs) as individuals, but also the per- In total, the 5 million self-employed ac- been divided into three strata: sonnel companies of the self-employed, count for 11.6 % of the working popula- 1. a small upper class of about 5 % (Marx entrepreneurs, freelancers, farmers and tion (44 million).3 called this the capitalists). foresters, artists and others. Characteristic Compared to the 88% of employed 2. the “Mittelstand”, formerly 20%, now of the members of this independent “Mit- persons in our society, the self-employed about 50% (which Marx mistakenly telstand” is that they want to lead their life have a completely different function and called the vanishing “bourgeoisie”). with independent responsibility and to ac- life situation: 3. a lower class that used to make up the quire their income according to their own – The self-employed always act in their majority of the population, but today goals. In this aspect, they are connected own name and on their own account comprises less then half (which Marx with the upper class, which also leads its because they themselves are the com- called the proletariat). life self-responsibly and lives from its own pany. All employees, on the other These three strata live from different capital property or participation. hand, act in someone else’s name and sources of income: The “salaried Mittelstand” exercis- at someone else’s risk. – The upper class lives from capital as- es its leadership and responsibility func- – The self-employed person always has sets, i.e. not from its own work, but tion and its freedom of decision not in its total responsibility, the highest compe- from that of others. This source of in- own name but in the name of others, ei- tence and the final decision in his com- come has always been privileged, i.e. ther from a position of responsibility or pany. Employees, including managers, not taxed at all or taxed least of all, in because of its higher qualifications. This are always under the control of a supe- history and even today. includes senior employees and civil serv- rior or supervisory body. – The “Mittelstand” lives from its own ants, but also persons who exercise re- – Self-employed persons can determine work, either from self-employed or sponsibility for other external tasks as their own goals and purposes in their from qualified salaried work. Since this researchers, specialists in industry, gov- activities and in their business (e.g. factor is the main tax feature, the “Mit- ernment or as teachers or artists or with family goals). Employees, on the other telstand” is also the main payer of all other special qualifications. hand, serve the purpose of the compa- public taxes. Employees of the middle and lower ny, the authority or the organisation – The lower class consists of poorly paid, classes do not work on their own but which pays them. unskilled workers, but also receives under external responsibility. They work – An entrepreneur has a profit in the many state and semi-state transfers. for others, and their wages are paid by oth- event of success, but a total loss or loss Probably not least because Marx, among ers – persons, companies or organisations. of livelihood in the event of loss. Em- others, saw the middle class as dying and However, the “employed Mittelstand” dis- ployees receive a fixed wage or salary therefore pictured only two classes – cap- tinguishes itself from the lower class by (possibly even bonuses), but do not par- italists and proletarians – engaged in a having more responsibility, higher qual- ticipate existentially in the losses. It is class struggle, the “Mittelstand” has so ifications, a higher position and thus an above all this risk in self-employment far been neglected scientifically, socially above-average income. that discourages most dependent em- and politically. However, SME research no longer in- ployees – including managers – from The term “middle class” (or “Mittel- cludes employed top managers from busi- self-employment. stand”) for the middle stratum of soci- ness and administration, such as Friedrich ety developed in the corporative state of Merz, as these are seen as belonging to the continued on page 8 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 8

”What exactly is the …” perative and the moral self-responsibility of B. “Mittelstand” and culture continued from page 7 each individual, with political self-respon- Luther’s Reformation brought not only sibility in the French Revolution, and even- freedom from the dictatorship of faith, The “employed Mittelstand” tually with freedom of trade. The “Mittel- but also a decisive leap forward in edu- As a non-self-employed person, you be- stand” was always the driving force behind cation. Luther demanded from the princ- long to the “Mittelstand” if you earn a sal- these demands for freedom and self-re- es that every child should have to learn to ary above the median income. This in turn sponsibility. In the long run, the citizens read and write in order to read the Bible presupposes a position of responsibility, did not want to be dictated to theological- itself. This was the beginning of compul- which again can only be achieved through ly, morally, politically or economically, but sory schooling in the protestant countries. appropriate qualification. The only way to wanted to take over responsibility and de- So, starting from the parsonages as the get into a function or position of the “em- cide for themselves. cultural nucleus, more than half a million ployed Mittelstand” is through education.4 So only the “Mittelstand” wants a de- places were created for teachers – one of A total sum of about 8.1 employees centralised system of self-responsibility. the largest groups of the employed “Mit- work in such qualified and therefore high- The upper class wants to dominate oth- telstand” – and the education system be- er paid positions, especially in the econo- ers centrally and hierarchically, demands came a core area of our bourgeois life. my (about 5 million), but also in the pub- power for itself, for the king, the dictator, Without one of the world’s best education lic sector (about 2.8 million) and in other the Politburo or the EU Central Commis- systems Germany would not have been a organisations (0.3 million).5 sion. The lower class wants security, and leading research country and world ex- If we add the self-employed (5 million) is in this quest also controlled hierarchi- port champion in the last century, and the and the persons of the employed “Mittel- cally and dictatorially by its functionaries. education-based “Mittelstand” would not stand” (8.1 million) together, this results Only the “Mittelstand” has therefore al- have become so dominant in Germany. in a total sum of 13.1 million persons. ways been the bearer of democracy vis-à- “However, the importance of educa- If to these middle-class working persons vis dictatorships of the upper and lower tion for the employed “Mittelstand” is not we also add their spouses (4+5 million = 9 classes. Self-responsibility in all areas has only apparent from the outside, but also million), their children (3+6 = 9 million) always been fought for, supported and de- applies internally. Education plays a cen- and their pensioners (1+8 = 9 million), a fended by the bourgeoisie. But where-ev- tral role in “Mittelstand” families – even total number of more than 40 million per- er the “Mittelstand” melted down or be- more so than in the upper tier of society – sons belonging to the “Mittelstand” can be came too weak, the decentralised system in contrast to the lower tier. The families calculated for 2017; this is about 47% of of democracy based on the sovereignty of of the “employed Mittelstand” speak dif- the total population and almost as much as the individual was never strong enough to ferently, think differently and talk about the local lower class population share up to hold its own. different topics than the lower class, and today (before immigration). A strong “Mittelstand” is, therefore, an the education of their children is of cen- important prerequisite both for the emer- tral importance.”6 The reason is that the The role of the “Mittelstand” in society gence and the continued existence of all “Mittelstand” can only qualify its chil- A. Self-determination as the foundation of decentralised regulatory systems as well dren for higher tasks and achievements in bourgeois society as for democracy. a free functional society through educa- According to their higher education, qual- Nobody profits as much from democ- tion. This also makes clear why education ification, position or level of independ- racy as the bourgeoisie, whose whole ex- has remained, for decades, to be politicly ence, the people belonging to the “Mittel- istence arises from self-determination one of the most important social issues for stand” want to live in a self-determined and and self-responsibility. The upper class the “Mittelstand”, more so than for mar- self-responsible way. In 1517, the religious and the functionaries of the lower class, ginalised groups. uprising against the guardianship of the on the other hand, want power concentra- Church began with the Reformation, when tion instead of self-determination. If they C. The middle acquires our prosperity people wanted to read God’s Word in the gain power in a state, power no longer More than 80% of our gross national prod- Bible for themselves and face divine grace springs from the people, but from above, uct is created by or through work. Official directly. This development continued with from the power elites of the upper or statistics show a total population of about the ethical sequel of Kant’s categorical im- lower classes. 82 million in 2018. However, only half of them (43.5 million) are economically ac- tive. These working persons not only fi- nancially support 20 million (24%) rela- Mittelstand (small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs) tives with their earned income, but also 19 million (22.8%) pensioners and 6 million recipients of social benefits – a total ma- Economic SME’s Societal SMEs jority of 54.7%.

The picture becomes more dramatic when one differentiates the type of em- small & medium sized independent SMEs with external ployment according to the different sourc- enterprises SMEs responsability es of income, the market on the one hand and public transfers on the other. Only one small enterprises producing SMEs Positions“mittelstand“ from 1 employee – self-employed tradesmen – executive employees third of the population works directly for up to 9 employees – freelancer – senior officials the market, namely the self-employed and – farmers and foresters – compliance officer employees of private enterprises (33.9%). medium-sized enterprises – self-empl. artists, etc. – professional politicians from 10 employees These market providers provide not only up to 300 employees administrativ SMEs qualifying SMEs for their relatives (28.4%), but also for all – house and property owners – researchers/professors recipients of transfer income living from – investor/shareholder – experts – self-empl. artists, etc. taxes and social security contributions – journalists and the like. continued on page 9 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 9

”What exactly is the …” tal also gives capital owners the opportu- ments of the “Mittelstand”. Even today, continued from page 8 nity to flee to foreign tax havens, so that many left-wing politicians dream of great- in relation the richest pay the least taxes, er prosperity through more redistribution, (37.7%). The latter group also includes as they can evade taxes being imposed on right up to a transfer income for the un- those employed in the public service who, them by the German tax administration. employed. although they also work and pay taxes, do The same applies to corporations, most of With the turn of the millennium, not receive their income from the market which belong to foreigners,9 whose prof- however, the political power structure but from the taxes and social security con- its are thus passed on, away from German changed, the representatives of the lower tributions of the market providers, so that tax law. By contrast, large companies re- class play only a minor role, and the rep- on balance one third of the population on ceive more than 90% of all subsidies, so resentatives of capital set the tone nation- the market has to earn the national prod- that the total net financial contribution of ally and internationally. The battle order in uct for two thirds of the population, i.e. the upper stratum group is only 13.73% – the parliaments is therefore no longer left dependents and transfer recipients. or only 17%, if we include corporations.10 against right, but rather national against Therefore only a strong and capable Social benefits received by this subgroup global. The global Anglo-Saxon financial “Mittelstand” has so far been able to create are even 7.83% higher than its own finan- syndicate with its four freedoms (freedom that prosperity from which even the upper cial contribution, i.e. instead of contribu- of capital movement, freedom of products, class has profited and which, through re- tor it is net recipient of public finances. freedom to provide services, free labour distribution, has up to now also managed As a result, the middle tier finances our mobility) has blown up national borders to finance the lower class so abundantly. society, our state and our social system to and structures, eliminated national taxa- So if our “Mittelstand” as driving a gross value degree of two thirds and to tion by transferring capital and profits to force of our prosperity were to lose out in a net value degree of 80% (one third of tax havens, relocated production world- a crash or crisis, this would not only af- GDP).11 wide to low-cost locations, monopolised fect them, but also the capital gains of the “Our public financial system takes and services globally (IT companies) and ex- upper class and the social benefits of the gives. It takes mainly from the “Mittel- empted them from taxes.13 It has also glo- lower class. stand” and gives to the other groups – most- balised international labour for its labour ly to the lower one. Therefore the standard market with its demand for free borders D. The “Mittelstand” as the payer of so- of living of the entire population is crucial- for workers from all countries, so that now ciety ly dependent on the performance, taxes only national medium-sized companies So far, only our “Mittelstandsinstitut and levies of the “Mittelstand”. Above all, are fully taxed nationally, burdened with Niedersachsen” has calculated who is fi- it is the source of blithely flowing state rev- social security contributions and subject to nancing our state, on the basis of official enues, healthy finances, lush social sys- all bureaucratic state constraints. statistics.7 tems, a high standard of living and po- Now the global financial elite – a small – Concerning direct tax burden of the litical stability. If the “Mittelstand” or its group of persons – extraterritorially dom- three tier groups, the “Mittelstand” performance is reduced, this inevitably also inates not only central and private banks, bears the main burden of direct taxes, means a loss of prosperity for all.”12 but also the 500 largest companies in the namely 63.1%, while the lower tier world. It apparently exerts so much glob- group bears 22% and the upper tier Political importance al pressure on the national governments group 14.9%. In other words, almost of the “Mittelstand” that they even disadvantage their nation- two thirds of direct taxes paid to the If a social class not only makes up half of al voters in favour of global capital, such state by all households are contributed the population, but even bears four fifths as shown by Angela Merkel’s assumption by the medium tier, i.e. “Mittelstand” of the net financing of state and society, of debt within the monetary union, the en- households. should it not effectually be the decisive ergy turnaround or the mass immigration – Also in the case of indirect taxes, 52% political force in the state? demanded by the financial syndicate at the come from the “Mittelstand”, 47% In fact, however, middle-class policy expense of the German population. from the lower class and not even 1% and consciousness only take place rhetor- The Global Financial Syndicate con- from the upper class.8 ically – if at all. trols, finances and corrupts policies such – The case is not different concerning In 1992, I had to close my SME in- as those in the US deep state by its financ- social security contributions. Medium- stitute in Magdeburg because the CDU ing the substitution of national politicians tier households bear 56% of the total state government told me that SME and with employees of the Financial Syndi- social security contributions, the lower- SME research were not needed for “Auf- cate, such as Draghi, Juncker, Macron, tier group 44%. The upper-tier group is bau Ost”, the rebuilding of East Germa- Merz or Poroschenko. practically not subject to social security ny. Also the injustice in the redistribution Globalisation is meant to establish the contributions (less than 1%). of subsidies to the upper class and trans- global financial syndicate’s upper class rule – In the case of corporate taxes, small fers to the lower class at the expense of everywhere, hierarchically from top to bot- and medium-sized enterprises pay 70 the “Mittelstand” shows that the exploit- tom, in contrast to the democratic right of % and large enterprises only 30 %. ed “Mittelstand” apparently has no power citizens to self-determination and the re- Overall, the “Mittelstand” is therefore the and no political advocates. sponsibility of governments towards their gross main payer in all tax burden areas In the 20th century socialism became the citizens. Thus globalisation always means by about two thirds. political power of the lower class, which the abolition of nations, the drying up of de- If, on the other hand, we compare the at that time not only represented the ma- mocracy and the centralisation of citizens’ above-mentioned burdens with state re- jority of the population, but also emerged rights of control over their government. liefs such as subsidies, transfers and social from the collapse of the corporative state International financial capital is now benefits and calculate the net contribution as the ideological leading force. The con- claiming power all over the world and of the three population stratum groups, the sequence was the greatest historical redis- therefore also in Germany. As a result, the burden injustice becomes even greater: the tribution in favour of the lower class (one “Mittelstand” is globally even more ex- capital income of the upper stratum is not third of GDP). We have experienced this ploited than it would be through nation- only taxed less than the work of the other in the time since then, and it was exclu- two strata; the free movement of capi- sively made possible with the accomplish- continued on page 10 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 10

”What exactly is the …” continued from page 9 SMEs al redistribution in favour of the lower contributes class. World finance demands not only to over 80 % levies from “Mittelstand” performance Social security yield, but even total dispossession through state and both contributions money explosion and currency reform, by groups on the opening the national social systems to the peripherie world’s poor, by global sanctions against Subsidies competitors or by relocations of national own contribution productions or services. The international redistribution is reflected in the European liability, debt and financial union. own contribution Today, the “Mittelstand” is threatened by the greater danger posed by the glob- al upper class of the World Financial Syn- 1. Group 2. Group 3. Group dicate with not less but more exploitation Corporations SMEs working-class households and political incapacitation. 2 If our bourgeois central group is to Source: Hamer, E. “Wer finanziert den Staat?” Munich, 1982, p. 146 remain the source of our society’s per- The “Mittelstand” could mobilise voter – and the potential wielder of the main formance and prosperity, then not only majorities on its own and thus force a political power in our democracy, if it national but above all additional inter- different government and different pol- were only awakened and mobilised. national plunder must be prevented. The itics. If even the 5 million entrepreneurs Since democracy is the self-responsible “Mittelstand” must become more politi- with their family partners (10 million) “Mittelstand” system of government, all cally active in resistance, because at pre- alone mobilised their 23 million em- democrats should fight for political power sent the greatest danger for the “Mittel- ployees for genuine “Mittelstand” poli- of the “Mittelstand”. Democracy lives stand” no longer comes only from below, tics, this would already result in 33 mil- from the middle. If the centre becomes but even more so from above. lion voters out of 61 million, i.e. already weak, so will our democracy. If global centralisation continues – in- a majority. And as long as we can still assert na- cluding centralisation of the EU – the The “Mittelstand” groups allow them- tional democracy against global financial “Mittelstand” would no longer stand a selves to be exploited only because they dictatorship, we need parties that redis- chance against the power of the upper have not yet recognised the power wielded cover the central function of the middle class. So as long as we still have remnants by the international financial capital and tier for our economy and society and take of national sovereignty and democratic the personal danger this spells to them- it more seriously than before. • structures, we must use them to fight the selves, so they are not yet afraid and do dictatorship of capital by political means: not mobilise. 1 Hamer, E./Jörgens, O. “Mittelstandssoziologie The old parties have betrayed or ne- It should therefore be our task to mo- des selbst. und angest. “Mittelstandes” (Soci- glected the “Mittelstand”: bilise our people, our media and our pol- ology of the “independent” and the “employed – The former “Mittelstand” party FDP itics and to make them realise that it is Mittelstand”), Hannover 2019 2 Hamer, E./Jörgens, O. loc. cit. Section 3.2 (Free Democrats) has sold itself to big to their own advantage to maintain a 3 Federal Statistical Office. Erwerbstätigenübersi- business and is following its instructions. strong central force for our people! We cht. (Mikrozensus Overview of gainfully employed – The CDU (Christian Democrats) is no will then be able to use the majority of persons). Microcensus 2017 longer a party of the middle, but a party “Mittelstand” votes to impose a “Mittel- 4 Jörgens, O. “Der angestellte Mittelstand” (The “salaried Mittelstand”). Hanover 2015, Chap. 8, pp. of international redistribution. stand” policy. 115. – The SPD (Social Democrats) has al- To sum up, our bourgeois middle-class 5 Jörgens, O. loc. cit. p. 136/137f. ways been a party of the lower class is 6 Jörgens, O. loc. cit. p. 152 and in favour of national redistribution. – the social core of our society, on which 7 Hamer, E. “Wer finanziert den Staat?” (Who is – The Greens dream of an income free the life of our entire society depends, funding the state?) Hannover 1982; id. In: “Mit- telstand unter lauter Räubern (“Mittelstand” of work, of a world without produc- – the core force for the development of amongst the robbers)”, loc. cit., pp. 17. tion, without cars and of a dictatorship our prosperity for all our people, 8 Hamer, E., loc. cit., p. 166 of functionaries instead of market free- – the promoter of our education and cul- 9 70 % of DAX companies are in foreign hands. dom, i.e. the opposite of everything the ture, 10 Hamer, E. loc. cit. p. 168 “Mittelstand” lives for. – the source of 80 % net of tax of the fi- 11 Hamer, E. loc. cit. – The AfD (Alternative for Germany) did nances for government, social security 12 Hamer, E./Jörgens, O. loc. cit., chapter 6.5 emerge from the protest of the bour- systems and subsidies to the upper class 13 Due to relocations to tax havens, Amazon paid only 1 % taxes in 2017 instead of 34 billion. geois “Mittelstand”, but it has not con- as well as social benefits to the lower tinued to distinguish itself as a “Mittel- classes (Translation Current Concerns) stand” party. No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 11 Should Switzerland automatically have to adopt EU law in future? In a big PR campaign on 7 June, Swiss Tel- through by the Council and Parliament. The “Monnet Method” was conspirato- evision announced in the evening news that The trilogy procedure is not regulated by rial and directed against the people. As the Federal Council had agreed in principle law anywhere. It is used by lobbyists and president of the Committee for the United to the framework agreement with the EU. representatives of associations to assert States of Europe, Monnet received “secret their interests – in case of doubt for the payments through the ‘Ford Foundation’ ds. It is well known that the EU has a se- “big money”. EU laws prevent individu- from ‘CIA circles’ and through an account rious democratic deficit. This applies in al member states from protecting their do- at the Chase Manhattan Bank.” particular to the legislative procedure. mestic economies or public services and The European Community was not a goal After a proper legislative procedure, the from promoting local and regional busi- in itself for him. It was important to him elected European Parliament has no right nesses. “that the old nations of the past with their of initiative, which means that the parlia- Anyone who has so far been of the opin- respective sovereignty should no longer be mentarians elected by the people cannot ion that today’s EU is a misguided develop- the framework in which the current prob- bring forward any legislative proposals, ment of a project based on peace, freedom lems are solved”. In the community as such but only submit proposals to the Commis- and democracy will be disappointed after he only saw a “stage on the way to organi- sion, which then decides autonomously reading the interview with Philip de Villiers sational forms of the world of tomorrow”. whether it wants to accept them. The citi- and the review of his book1 by Rita Mül- If the Federal Council agrees in princi- zens of the member states are thus practi- ler-Hill in Current Concerns No. 10 from ple to the adoption of EU law, present and cally incapacitated, because the EU Com- 30 April. future, and demands only a few changes of mission is appointed by the governments According to Villiers, it is obvious detail, and if we contrast this concentration of the member states without direct elec- “that the ‘founding fathers’ did not cor- of power in Brussels with the fine web of tions and it has the sole right of initiative. respond to the sacred image of the myth- direct democracy, which is intended to pre- In addition, contrary to the ordinary ological narrative”. It was done by peo- vent abuse of power, does this not raise the legislative procedure with one or two pub- ple who were weakened and dependent in question of whether this does not fulfill the lic readings in the EU Council and Parlia- the hands of the Americans. “The Amer- condition of treason? • ment, depending on the source, 80 to 90 icans wanted an additional market with 1 de Villiers, Philippe. J’ai ´tiré sur le fil du men- per cent of the laws are negotiated behind an executive commission, that is, a tech- songe et tout est venu. Paris Fayard, 2019. (I pulled closed doors in so-called “informal trilo- nical, post-political authority, led by of- on a thread of the web of lies, and it all came to gy procedures” and then are only nodded ficials and independent of state control.” light).” A more direct democracy in Germany (Part 3) Federalism by Christian Fischer This article is the third part of the series Reality al property rights, weapons and explosives on A more direct democracy in Germa- Germany is a federation of different coun- law, use of nuclear energy, to name the ny. Part 1 and 2 were published in Cur- tries (Länder: german plural of land). The most important ones. Article 74 of the rent Concerns No. 8 of March 26 and No. Länder are individual states! Each of them Basic Law defines a “competing legisla- 12 of May 21. In this part, the focus is has a constitution, a legislature, an exec- tion” for a number of topics which can be not on the concrete abuse of democracy utive, and a judiciary. This is more visi- regulated by both the Federation and by the in Germany, but primarily on the existing ble in the US, where they are also called states. Up to date, the Federal Government institutions available to the sovereign, the states. In Switzerland as well, the canton has taken over the lead on many things.1 citizenry, as well as on the opportunities is seen as a state. The Confederation is a Currently, education policy, a classic state of developing those institutions towards federation of states. In a mutual associa- task, is the subject of increased federal in- more direct democracy. tion each member has equal weight. fluence. The states are to relinquish some The states of the Federal Republic of of their competences in exchange for fi- This article focuses on federalism, which Germany were founded after the Second nancial assistance from the federal govern- many people today hardly understand World War, partly even before the Feder- ment, which has met with resistance from as a core element of democracy, even al Republic was established, partly they some state governments, but was approved though it is. Democracy works basical- were incorporated afterwards and partly by a majority in the “Bundesrat” (German ly decentralised and subsidiary. What also reformed by referendums! The rela- Federal Council) in March 2019. can be decided at lower levels should be tionship between the Federal Government There are numerous committees with- decided there. For further decisions, de- and the Federal States is today regulated in the executive bodies of the Federation cision-making authority is transferred in a complicated manner and has gradual- and the states where joint tasks are negoti- from the lower levels to the higher lev- ly changed over the decades in favour of ated and decided. The legislative bodies of els – but without any loss of sovereign- the Federal Government. This trend con- the states work practically only as final ap- ty! The lower level can revoke this trans- tinues to this day. proval bodies, not as noteworthy actors. In fer at any time. So much for the ideal. Article 70 of the Basic Law (German fact, the financial sovereignty of the states You would therefore always have to start constitution) defines that legislative au- has been continuously undermined by the with the community when talking about thority lies with the Länder, with the ex- increasingly centralised distribution of tax democracy, but here we consider the na- ception of the issues described in Article revenues. No wonder with a German Bun- tional level. We will look at the com- 73 of the Basic Law, namely foreign policy, destag that in the early 1990s disempow- munal level in another part of the arti- foreign trade, customs and border manage- cle series. ment, aviation, federal railways, industri- continued on page 12 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 12

”A more direct democracy …” Switzerland, exemplary in this respect: here desrat” should be elected directly. This continued from page 11 the state representatives at federal level are would strengthen the citizens’ awareness directly elected and the same number is of the importance of their own country as ered itself with the new Article 23 of the elected from each state. In the second Con- part of the Confederation. A different elec- Basic Law in favour of the “superordi- gress Chamber, the Senate, two senators sit toral law could come into play than in the nate” Brussels executive-legislative.2 The in Washington for Vermont with 700,000 elections to the “Bundestag” and “Land- same anti-democratic spirit was at work. inhabitants and for California with 39 mil- tag”. The “Bundesrat” does not represent For someone who even surrenders nation- lion inhabitants. The same applies to the 299 constituencies, but 16 states. At pre- al sovereignty, Länder sovereignty has Swiss Council of States. sent, the “Bundesrat” has 69 members with been worth nothing. Is this unfair? No, because at the federal 3-6 votes per state. One could, for exam- At the federal level, there is the “Bun- level the Länder are units with equal rights, ple, give it 64 members, 4 for each feder- desrat” as a Länder chamber, which has a hence also the units have to be weighted al state. There is no need for a double vote say in the laws passed by the Bundestag, equally. Is not every state equally weight- for person and party, if one wants to realise as far as Länder interests are concerned. ed in the UN? The citizens of the individ- personality choice and minority protection. This affects about 40 % of all federal laws. ual states could only have the same weight A proposal: Every citizen has one vote, However, the “Bundesrat” is not a demo- in this context if the states happened to he votes for one person, but the first 4 can- cratically elected Länder chamber. Here, have the same number of inhabitants. But didates are elected. They can be party mem- pre-democratic traditions were continued. they are political entities that have emerged bers, but do not have to be if they have a cer- Since the 17th century, under the emperors, from history, sometimes democratically le- tain number of supporters in their country. the chamber existed as “Bundesrat” and gitimised by decisions taken in advance, It may be unfair that the candidate with the adhered to this function in the Prussian sometimes afterwards – but have now most votes is elected in the same way as the Empire until 1918.3 In 1949, this tradition grown into units that in some cases have fourth-placed candidate. This would certain- was continued by creating a chamber of even been confirmed by referenda in Ger- ly privilege small parties or non-party rep- state governments as ““Bundesrat””. Al- many! As a member of a federation, no resentatives. At the same time this can be though today’s “Bundesrat” has a legisla- country may stand above or below anoth- a compensation for the overemphasis espe- tive function, it consists of executive bod- er. This is a fundamentally democratic prin- cially on the large parties in the Bundestag ies, i.e. the representatives of the Länder ciple of a cooperative. Otherwise it would which can still exist according to the pro- governments. This is unique in the world not be a cooperative but a kind of public posal in part 2 of this article. It may also be of democracies – apart from the European limited company with greater weight for an incentive to form new electoral alliances Union, which does not deserve the name the larger participants. At the federal level, specifically for the interest of the state. democracy anyway. “one state, one vote” applies by analogy, Granted: This proposal can be further op- Depending on the population, the Länder just like “one man, one vote” applies in the timised. A direct election of the Bundesrat have 3–6 votes in the “Bundesrat”, which is case of elections within each unit. and the implied right to vote is only one of actually a conference of governors. But not The principle that every citizen has an the ways to strengthen the good intent of the every citizen or every state is equally weight- equal vote applies, by the way, to the pro- Basic Law for a federal state. At least as im- ed. The number of inhabitants of the federal fessor of economics as well as to the citi- portant is the more consistent implementa- states vary between less than 1 million and zen without a diploma. Should this also be tion of practical state sovereignty in view about 17 million. In addition, each state may called into question? It would not be coop- of the creeping erosion of state competenc- only vote unanimously, even if the state gov- erative-democratic if the weight of the coun- es. The Länder must be more consistent in ernment is governed by a coalition of parties tries were to be measured according to their keeping their constitutionally desired tasks and opposition is in place. This dictates a uni- internal strength and not according to the in their national parliaments or in bringing formity that cannot nearly reflect the electoral fact that each country forms an equal unit them back there. What is decisive here is an will of the state. Minorities have no say here. next to the other. By the way, “one man, one appropriate distribution structure and deci- Remoteness from citizens is thus forced on vote” is not really precise in citizen elec- sion-making authority for tax revenue. This this executive legislature almost institutional- tions, too: every citizen votes in his con- must also take place from the bottom up, not ly. With “success”, because many citizens see stituency. On average, the electoral constit- top-down. Switzerland is an instructive ex- the “Bundesrat” as nothing more than anoth- uencies comprise 200,000 citizens – but in ample for this. If the citizens can also de- er, rather dispensable power body of the par- fact the electoral constituencies differ con- cide directly on their tax revenues (Part 1) ties, but hardly a chamber for Länder inter- siderably in their number of inhabitants so and free themselves more from party repre- ests at the federal level. that unfortunately the individual citizens sentation (Part 2), this can also be an incen- are weighted differently. Should a census be tive for strengthening the Länder and thus Outlook carried out before each election and the con- for decentralised democracy. The states must fully exercise their sover- stituency rules changed in a new and “fair” The basic idea remains: institutional struc- eignty as intended by the Basic Law and re- way? No, one must live with these “injustic- tures facilitating the participation of citizens claim competences that have been trans- es” as long as they do not take blatant forms. in political life will also promote this partic- ferred to the federal or even European level. In the case of the federal state cham- ipation. And a more direct participation of This is a major project which cannot be elab- ber, however, there would be no injustice citizens in political life will impede tenden- orated on here. Nevertheless, it is a demo- if every state represented in the federal cies among political actors who are not ori- cratic necessity in the sense of sovereignty state chamber had the same right to vote. ented towards the common good and the hon- that must act from the bottom up. The re- The only alternative would be different di- est mediation of various interests. That is the verse direction is a hallmark of dictatorships visions of the states which would have to perspective for a sustainable democracy. • or central states, which the Federal Republic be wanted from below. In France such a is not according to the Basic Law. thing has been ordered centrally with the 1 Rudzio, Wolfgang. Das politische System der The “Bundesrat” should be constructed Departements, certainly very “fair”, but Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Wiesbaden 2019, as a genuine legislative body of the Länder, not for the benefit of a democratic culture. pp. 304 2 which would be possible within the frame- Fischer, Christian. https://zeitgeist-online.de /exklu- For the promotion of a federal and thus sivonline/nachdenkliches-und-schoengeistiges/1040- work of permissible amendments to the democratic consciousness, the follow- demokratie-braucht-nation.html Basic Law. This is the case in the USA and ing is particularly important: The “Bun- 3 Rudzio, Wolfgang. loc. cit., pp. 255 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 13 A valuable cultural bridge To the newly published art book “Julius von Klever - Maler am Mare Balticum” by Alfried Nehring by Urs Knoblauch, cultural journalist, Switzerland

With the beautiful art volume “Abendg- locken an der Wolga – Russische Kün- stlerkolonien um 1900” (“Evening Bells on the Volga – Russian Artist Colonies around 1900”), the theatre and art schol- ar Alfried Nehring not only impressively depicted the life and work of the world- famous Russian landscape painter Isaak Levitan (1860–1900), but also contrib- uted to the tradition of good neighbour- ly relations between Germany, Russia and other European countries. (Current Concerns introduced the book in No. 11, 2017.) In his new art volume, the impor- tant Baltic-German-Russian landscape painter Julius von Klever (1850–1924) can now be discovered.

Also with this artist the close relationship between Russia and Germany becomes apparent, as well as his openness towards Europe. In his life’s work his strong con- Julius von Klever “On the beach of Ahlbeck», 1904, Oil on Canvas nection to the Baltic States, Germany and © Auktionshaus Neumeister München Russia are evident. He was one of the great Russian artists of Realism of the 19th cen- The 56-page treatise mainly dealt with the To the ruling Tsar family and the Ro- tury. He developed a style that was related use of phosphorus as a fertilizer and was manov dynasty “the scientific and cultur- to late Romanticism and in particular to based on the research of the famous Ger- al potential of the German-Baltic fami- Caspar David Friedrich. The study of na- man agricultural scientist and chemist Jus- lies in Dorpat is worth quite a bit, and so ture was always in the centre: “The study tus von Liebig. Although the Klevers, like [they] pour out ample medals and decora- is the artist’s most intimate dialogue with many German-Baltic families, have a title tions. The pharmacist Klever is also “ap- nature”, says Julius von Klever. The paint- of nobility, he refrained from naming them pointed State Councillor and Knight”, but er lived in Germany for many years and in his master’s thesis. After passing the nevertheless remains at the lowest level of took part in major international art exhi- exam, the young scientist marries Maria the Veterinary Institute in his 40 years of bitions. He was the best-known Russian Magdalena Gradek, who also comes from work. In the last decade of the 19th centu- painter in his lifetime in Germany and a German family. His hopes for a brilliant ry a “russification campaign of the tsarist France and he was the darling of the Pe- career at Dorpat University are not fulfilled. government” was carried out in the gov- tersburg salons. In 1880 Julius von Klever He only finds employment as a pharmacist ernorate of Livonia. “In 1893 Dorpat was was one of the first to exhibit at the then at the Veterinary Institute. Four children are renamed Yuriev and had to use this name famous Paris Salon. He became famous born in marriage” (Catalogue, p. 13), Julius until the Estonian independence in 1918. with his Russian landscape motifs, which with the second name Sergius is the eld- Russian becomes the sole official lan- influenced his entire life’s work. Today his est son along with two daughters and the guage. A ukase of the Tsar thus ends the paintings are in great demand in numer- youngest son. Family life is turbulent and liberal ‘Baltic relations’.” (p. 14) ous museums and on the art market, not full of joie de vivre. From the “hunting trips These insights are intended to demon- only among Russian art collectors. to which friends of his father like to take strate how influential the family and cul- the nature-loving boy Julius Sergius, he tural-political factors were for the further Biography as key to an artist’s life often brings along drawings of woodland development of the young artist. Julius Julius von Klever is born on 31 January animals” (p. 13). von Klever’s early interest in nature and 1850 in the tradition-rich university town The author refers to the complex ge- in drawing and painting was vital for his of Dorpat, today Tartu in Estonia, as the ographical and political conditions. For life as an artist. Although, at the age of son of a chemist and grows up multilin- example, the “Livonian Government of 17 in 1867, he intended to study art at gual. After graduating from grammar Russia” is “of course administered from St. Petersburg University, personal con- school, he studies at the Academy of Fine Riga, by a Russian governor appointed tact with his drawing teacher at grammar Arts in St. Petersburg. Following the fam- by the Tsar,” and the “judicial authorities, school, the well-known artist Konstan- ily tradition, he bears the same first name the military command and the police and tin von Kügelgen, was crucial. He was a as his father and passes it on to one of his county administrations are filled with Rus- friend of the family and court painter of sons. sian officials. Neither the Estonian nor the the Romanovs and became his role model Alfried Nehring vividly introduces the Latvian population is represented in the and promoter of his talent. As early as interesting family history: two years before social upper class. Nonetheless, the vari- 1874 Julius von Klever became a found- the birth of Julius, “his father had earned ous population groups live together peace- ing member of the Petersburg Art Exhibi- a master’s degree after studying pharma- fully and without conflict to a large ex- cy. He wrote the required work in German. tent.” (p. 13) continued on page 14 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 14

”A valuable cultural bridge ” ences from his own conception and the est work”. He “leaves St. Petersburg, trav- continued from page 13 first drawing experiences in the mysteri- els to Finland, lives for several years in ous forests are evident. According to Al- Riga and Belarus, until he finally finds his tion Society and received the first prize at exander Benois, director of the Russian way back to himself in Germany”. (p. 58) the exhibition. Without graduation he fi- Museum in St. Petersburg, the paintings In 1990, in the “Petersburger Newspaper”, nally advanced to become a member of “seemed to exude such strong illusions the artist impressively describes his “bad, the academy and professor in St. Peters- that real scandals occurred at the exhibi- lost years” in an open and honest way. “I burg. Nehring stresses the importance of tions; visitors climbed over the partition stopped exploring nature, exploring it for this human relationship: “How important wall to find out whether there was any de- new motifs.” “I had to decide whether I he was as an almost paternal mentor for ception behind this ‘miracle’ and wheth- would surrender to the strong current, [...] Julius von Klever” is shown by the fact er the paintings were illuminated from as long as it was not too late already ...” that Konstantin von Kügelgen also culti- behind with a transparent model. Some The artist dies on 24 December 1924 vated family ties from St. Petersburg. Ju- of them poked their fingers into the can- surrounded by his family and is buried lius von Klever himself then became a vas, caressed them, looking for any kind next to his famous painting colleagues “at good fatherly mentor for the artistic edu- of tricks. These daredevils had to be ex- the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg, cation of his son Julius Juljewitsch Klever pelled with the help of the police.’” (p. 11) the traditional burial site for professors of II. From 1908, he studied at the Academy the Imperial Academy of Arts and St. Pe- of Arts in Munich and became a success- Seductions of luxurious life tersburg University” (p. 79). ful still life artist. He accompanied his fa- and return to the meaning of life The beautiful art volume, the first Ger- ther on his numerous journeys and nature The artist paints many pleasing paint- man-language work on Julius von Klever, studies. Unfortunately, he died “during the ings, sells well and in 1889 is invited by should be widely distributed. The author Leningrad blockade by the fascist Wehr- the Moscow multibillionaire Kuznets- writes: “My wife and I have visited St. Pe- macht” (p. 42). ov to paint a mural for the gallery in his tersburg and Moscow several times in re- Against the background of these in- summer palace in Foros (in Crimea), the search for this book. We also followed the sights into the biography of the young “place of longing “of many artists in its biographical traces of Julius von Klever painter, it is also understandable that the Mediterranean beauty. Alfried Nehrung in Estonia and Latvia. We will never for- young artist Julius von Klever did not turn writes: “The luxurious life in the sum- get the friendliness we experienced on to the group and tradition of the Pered- mer palace of Foros has something se- these educational travels. To us, Europe wischniki and their social revolutionary ductive about it and does not remain with- does not end at the external border of the concerns around Ilya Repin. The travelling out influence on the further development EU in the East. May this book be a small painters travelled from the cities to the of the painter”. (p. 53) The artist’s great contribution to a better understanding and countryside and paid tribute to the peas- success, his increasing wealth and pros- peaceful partnership”. (p. 84) • ants and their environment in impressive perity, his restless travel and exhibition pictures. Klever’s path to becoming an art- activities and the world of big money, se- The canvas hardcover book (Selbstverlag, ISBN ist and to achieving his goals was formed duce the painter to a dangerous lifestyle 978-3-941-064-75-1) can be ordered for 24 Euro early in his family, especially in the inspir- of passionate gambling, which leads him (without shipping costs) from the author Alfried Nehrig, Weg zum Hohen Ufer 21, D 18347 Ahren- ing family relationships, in particular in astray and into debt. He can free himself shoop, Tel. 0049-38220-66189, e-mail: nehring. the circles of the upper classes and under from these dangerous entanglements “and [email protected] and [email protected] as the influence of his teachers and support- find his way back to his artistry and hon- well as via internet at www.julius-klever.com ers: “The sensational career that the young Klever had at the Academy in St. Peters- burg was attributed by many of his fel- low painters to the protection of Tsar Al- exander II and the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna. Nehring continues: “The Tsar’s sister was president of the Acade- my of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. (p. 11) Famous art collector and patron Pavel Tretyakov also contributed to the artist’s success by purchasing a painting. Landscapes of Realism in a magical atmosphere of light Julius von Klever’s paintings are char- acterized by an extremely precise and at the same time poetic realism. His land- scapes and his numerous sea paintings ra- diate a magical atmosphere of light. One is transported into romantically transfig- ured nature experiences and worlds of na- ture. In his beautiful woodland pictures, strong inner pictures and nature experi- No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 15

About the pedagogical value of confidence by Carl Bossard

“Especially pupils with learning difficulties do need teachers who encourage them and thus build a bridge to their suc- cess and thus to confidence and understanding.” (picture caro)

The world as a gigantic pile of problems! what quaint Swiss writer Gottfried Kel- They do not experience enough of how This impression is given to those who read ler, is “not a beautiful place”.1 This also learning can be successful and enjoyable current publications and school curricula. applies to school. It must not cultivate a and that it can make sense. However, that That’s why confidence is needed. positive anthropology on the one hand and is exactly what young people need; that is Those who are on the way with chil- on the other hand sound the pessimistic what strengthens them and conveys confi- dren, those who accompany young peo- trumpets. “Resignation” means poison for dence.3 Nothing is more stimulating than ple on their path of learning and life, must the children. It would be a climate crisis (learning) success. have a couple of siblings by their side: of a different kind. The school must resist Of course, being able to solve prob- confidence on the one hand and optimism and educate to confidence. lems is part of human existence. That is on the other. Not the blind optimism and imperative. However, is this why the en- not the naive, illusionary confidence with The world is more tire school education must be reduced to the easily quoted positive thinking. Not than just a pile of problems ability and handled technically? But that even the kitschy look through rose-col- Curriculum 21, a reflection of our time? happens. “All goals in Curriculum 21 are oured glasses. No, it is the confidence in The question arises to those covering the formulated with the verb ‘can’,” the Zug the Enlightenment, confidence as a basic 470 pages and studying the 363 compe- Education Directorate recently announced human attitude – for young people a kind tences with their 2,300 competence lev- to the public.4 This sounds as follows: of mental life insurance and thus the basic els. Here, the human enigma tends to be “Male and female pupils can perceive fuel of life. Mental resources live from downgraded to the concept of compe- their bodies senso-motorically differenti- this fuel of confidence. tence and the world essentially appears ated, use them and react in a music-relat- to be a gigantic, monotonous pile of prob- ed way. And furthermore: “[They] can ori- “Resignatio” is not a beautiful place lems, where primarily the thing to do is: ent themselves to music in the room and Those who consult the current list of to solve problems and acquire controlla- in the group”. books and study the titles will find food ble competences. Highly complex world heavy to digest with oppressive findings: problems are formulated here, combined There is an education “the collapse of democracy”, “how de- with a lot of answers that can be retrieved beyond verifiable ability mocracies die”, “mankind abolishes it- anywhere.2 They are to be dealt with in When everything is turned into a prob- self”, “empty hearts”. The list is long and a competence-oriented and self-directed lem, music and poetry, communication the tenor often rather gloomy, the social manner. In this way, each pupil will be- and aesthetics, the school forgets that the swan song audible and resignation percep- come his own learning manager and thus world still invites us to marvel and to be tible. Here and there it is even a dalliance learning will be left to self-experience. carefree, receptive to beauty and mys- with apocalyptic fears, at least with pessi- Many children cannot cope with this com- tery, to passion, to devotion to a task, to mistic words. But “resignatio”, according plexity, especially those with learning dif- to the sharp political thinker and some- ficulties and pupils with medium levels. continued on page 16 No 14 25 June 2019 Current Concerns Page 16 Hilal starts to speak by Ursula Felber Hilal, a Turkish girl, came to me in first one-two-one situation did she sometimes at school had to do with her being very grade. She had barely spoken at kinder- hesitantly say a few words. She was often ambitious,that she did not want to make garten. Her parents, living in Switzerland taken by surprise by her loud, fast, pushing mistakes and be the best. With this hy- for some time already, told me that Hilal classmates. I often wondered how she spent pothesis it was possible to demand more could express herself very well in her the breaks. But she never stood apart. from Hilal at school. After only a few mother tongue and communicated nor- After a year I had to consider how to go weeks the wall of silence was broken and mally with them and her two brothers. on with Hilal. If she did not start to speak, Hilal spoke as a matter of course. Not qui- Hilal is a small, petite girl who works she would not be able to keep up and de- etly and hesitantly. No, as it fit her tem- very accurately and reliably. Except, she velop her linguistic abilities. perament, lively and loudly. Even if Hi- didn‘t want to talk. You could tell from her Again, I invited the parents for a talk. lal’s vocabulary was still small and she eyes and all her expression that she was This time, the mother came with a Turkish made mistakes in the sentence structures, interested and highly attentive. Within half translator. She was very surprised at what I one always understood what she meant. a year she learned all the letters and how told her about her daughter’ level of school So she could develop her language skills. to read. After a few months at school she achievements. She was not aware of the If I had adhered to the picture of the petite, made friends with Emire, a girl from Bos- difficulties and their consequences for the small, shy Hilal, she might perhaps not yet nia. The two also arranged to meet outside future in school. It turned out that the older speak today. Perhaps she would have been school. Emire didn‘t speak Turkish, so brother had not translated correctly out of given the status of a student with special they inevitably had to talk in German. A consideration for his little sister. The moth- needs. We can only guess at how much few words were enough for them to com- er told me that Hilal could be very stub- this would have affected her school career municate. Much was clarified by hand sig- born at home and could produce temper and her development at all. nals and non-verbally. tantrums if her wishes were not fulfilled. This example shows how much every In some meetings with the parents I I encouraged the mother to demand of her child wants to participate in the commu- tried to find out the reason why Hilal was daughter to stop her fervour and to express nity and fill his or her place from an equal so reserved. Her older brother translated her needs and desires like everyone else. footing. With the acquisition of the Ger- the conversations. Hilal was already known She also had to accept what her mother de- man language an important element in the everywhere as the girl who does not speak. manded of her. integration into our society is gained. • At the teacher’s request to take part in the In the conversation with her moth- lessons, she remained silent. Only in the er it became clear that Hilal’s restraint (Translation Current Concerns)

”About the peadagogical value …” pectations, their confidence and their pas- Thus, physically and emotionally. Encour- 5 continued from page 15 sion for the world. From this grows the agement and the living example of confi- passion for pedagogy and teaching. dence too. The pedagogical duty of confi- Not without purpose did political phi- dence is today at the top. confidence. Also to wilful behaviour, losopher, Hannah Arendt, said: “Educa- The world needs people who venture to thinking out of the box and to resist. tion decides whether we love the world out into the world and make their con- Competence is not just what you can do enough to take responsibility for it.”6 Love tributions, people who, like Faust, confi- and know. Both can be acquired and im- the world to take care of it responsibly. dently say: “I feel courage to venture into plemented; both can be kept under con- Perhaps the French poet Romain Rolland, the world, to endure earthly weal, earthly trol and tested and certified. But beyond with his sentence from the Michelangelo woe”. • that there is something else: the human novel, hits the nail on the head: “There is being, the basic human attitude. Am I my no heroism other than to see the world as 1 Pestalozzi, Karl. Gottfried Keller. Kursorische own competence? Am I curious and reli- it is and to love it nevertheless”. How triv- Lektüren und Interpretationen. Basel 2018, p. able, sensitive and committed, respectful ial is that! And yet so difficult. 237 2 cf. Kaube, Jürgen. Illusionen der Pädagogik, in: of others and the environment, confident? Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung from Children need 19 May, p. 33 Loving the world and caring for it human bridgeheads 3 see Schnabel, Ulrich. Zuversicht. Die Kraft der in- neren Freiheit und warum sie heute wichtiger ist There is a duty to confidence, wrote Im- Especially pupils with learning difficul- denn je. München 2018 manuel Kant. Especially in precarious ties do need teachers who encourage them 4 Endspurt für den Lehrplan 21 in den Zuger Ge- times. Children must be given examples and thus build a bridge to their success meinden. In: Zuger Zeitung from 22 April 2019, p. set by adults. Also at school. According to and thus to confidence and understand- 21 5 Hattie, John & Zierer, Klaus. Visible Learning. Auf effectiveness research, teaching is an en- ing: “I can do it!” Often these bridge- den Punkt gebracht. Hohengehren 2018, p. 146f. counter from person to person, a dialogi- heads are not the heads, but the hearts. 6 Arendt, Hanna. Die Krise der Erziehung. In: Dies., cal occurrence. Every Socratic pedagogue What happens at school between teacher Zwischen Vergangenheit und Zukunft. Übungen im politischen Denken I. München 1994, p. 276 knows this. The competence and attitude and pupil, between pupil and teacher, does of the teacher are decisive; their trust and not happen foremost from brain to brain, confidence, their role model and their ex- but from eye to eye, from mind to mind. (Translation Current Concerns)