The 20-year-old Katidis gave a Nazi salute after scoring the go-ahead goal Saturday in AEK’s 2-1 victory over Veria in the Greek league. He pleaded ignorance of the meaning of his gesture – right arm extended and hand straightened. He claimed on his Twitter account that he detests fascism.

This looks like a game of “shirts” vs. “skins” but that is because the exuberant soccer player ripped his shirt off just before doing the stiff-arm gesture. Here’s the video:

Ο χαιρετισμ?ς του Γι?ργου Κατ?δη! by kokoretsi

The most current info I have seen indicates that Katidis is now banned from his team for life. Other sanctions may be imposed as well. Yet, he claims that he did not know what he was doing, and his coach claims he was very upset and crying in the locker room after finding out people’s reactions.

As you know, the whole Nazi thing is Greece has been an issue lately. It is hard to believe that a guy living in Greece would not know anything about this, and that anyone growing up in western society, especially in Europe, would not know about Nazis and Nazi salutes. Personally, I have no opinion on whether or not he knew what he was doing. If you look at the picture, it is “clearly” a Nazi salute, but if you look at the film, it may be a bit more ambiguous. He was in a state of high emotion. He ripped his shirt off and was flailing around and getting jumped on and stuff. The still picture looks very different from the video, but either one could be interpreted rather negatively. Having said that, I’m reminded of this picture of me:

In this picture, I’m standing in South Africa looking north towards Namibia. I’m explaining the geology to very interested onlookers, and at this particular moment I’m indicating the high ridge we see in the distance that forms the southern edge of the broad plateaux on which the Kalahari Sands rests. Here’s the plateaux, and you can see that it is far away and flat, thus the particular hand gesture I’m using:

Since this is a picture of me in the field I used it for a while on the site 10,000 Birds where I write a monthly column. I thought it appropriate because it was me outside explaining stuff.

I’m not sure why anyone would legitimately think that I was giving a Nazi salute in this picture, or that I, an anti-racist anti-Nazi anthropologist who shares many salient features with Indian Jones (notice that in the picture I’ve got a sack like his, also, I often say “Nazis … I hate those guys” but I am not afraid of snakes to the extent he is) would ever do so. In fact, the Greek Nazi Party itself identified me as “The Antichrist” last year, and posted a whole blog page just on that. Nazis don’t like me any more than I like them. Also, why would I put a picture of myself making a Nazi salute on a web site about birds? Anyway, people who hate me on the Internet (bad people, I assure you) saw this picture and spread around that I was a Nazi, and that this was the proof. The picture sucks anyway, so I took it off. I suppose that makes me a crypto-Nazi to some.

One possible test of Giorgos Katidis intention, though it would be indirect, might be an examination of his tattoos. If he’s got a few swastikas permanently engraved on his body, then it is more likely that he was flashing the Nazi salute, right?

I’m glad the Greeks, and the sport, are alarmed and concerned about Nazi symbols. I’m not sure what the right thing to do in this case, though.

Anyway, now we have further evidence of the Nazis being just plain bad. Several hours ago, on morning TV ANT1, Golden Dawn/Nazi MP Ilias Kasidiaris punched out MP Liana Lanelli. Watch:

The action starts following a bout of name calling just after 1:10 when the Nazi throws a glass of water at Rena Douru, and gets heavy around 1:25.

Off screen, Kasidiaris also punched out the editor of the TV show. People at ANT1 TV tried to retain Kasidiaris in a studio room, but he broke the door and escaped. Kasidiaris is said (unconfirmed) to have threatened to sue his victim, Liana Kanelli, who for her part indicated that she would not file a suit as this would do no good.

Also:

– Journalist Delatolas who was also present and stood up to get Kasidiaris under control, told Real FM that Kasidiaris threatened leaving studio, that he’ll be back with more of his kind…

Kasidiaris’s arrest for this act of violence has been ordered by the Athens prosecutor. He is currently a fugitive from the law.

By the way, the Golden Dawn/Nazi Party has a new web site. It is here. If you like, you could contact the provider and remind them that by operating this web site they are abetting a fugitive from the law. This is the email address of the provider.

Here is how you can help:

• If you know where Kasidiaris is, call your local authorities!
• Sign this Petition!
• Don’t be a Nazi!

Sources:

• Ilias Kasidiaris, Greek Golden Dawn Politician, Assaults Two Female MPs On Live TV
• Chrysi Avgi MP Punches Communist MP On Live TV Studio

You’ll remember that a few days ago I encouraged people to complain to WordPress about the website hosted there run by the Greek Nazis (Golden Dawn). The idea was to poke the Nazis in the eye, using the fact that they had violated the WordPress terms of use. Some of you didn’t get that and were all “boo hoo” about the Nazis and wanted me to leave the poor babies alone. But what no one realized at the time is a darker, much darker truth: I do not oppose the Nazis because they promote violence against “races” and classes of people they abhor. No, my dearies, that is not it at all. I oppose the Nazis because I am a faithful member of the Masonic Order of the Illuminati, Harvard Branch, and I carry Antichrist credentials. Long before I was born, the soul that would later be implanted in my body made a pact with the Devil…or Flip Wilson, I can’t remember…to lay in wait until the rise of the Nazis in Greece in 2012. Then, to poke them in the eye.

I was not going to tell you about this but, alas, my true identity has been exposed by a shrewdly managed web site run by Nationalist Orthodox Antisemitic Christians in Greece. The site is written in Greek, but my friend Google was able to translate it. Sort of. And, I’ve gone over the gist of the site with my man in Greece. Sort of. And I can give you the lowdown, in pictures and words:

Go visit my new Greek friends.

Often, people jump into any discussion where it looks like speech is being questioned, silenced, affected in any way, dare I say ‘repressed,’ with strong admonitions that at all costs one must not interfere with anyone’s freedom of expression. Those who jump in first and hardest are often lost causes. No amount of discussion, no slew of examples, no pile of evidence, no plethora of historical facts will talk them down from the position that all speech must be protected at all times no matter what the speech is, who is saying it, the context in which it is said, its consequences, how it is being “said,” or anything. Not only that, but that which damages or represses speech is generally over-defined to include any call for putting a lid of any kind on any thing.

Those people, with their blind rage against repression, need to do one thing: Shut up.

Why? Because I’d rather have a tiny bit of speech (theirs maybe?) repressed and otherwise engage in thoughtful conversation that is not only free but rich, than to have a quiver of rules always at hand and to have only one purpose in life: to enforce those rules at all costs, even the cost of sanity.

The truth is that speech is repressed all the time in many different contexts, including places that exist mainly for the purpose of doing things like protecting speech. Speech is not “free” in the “I CAN SAY WHATEVER I WANT ANY TIME I WANT TO ANYONE I WANT NO MATTER WHAT” sense in the very halls of Congress or State Houses around the United States, where activities governed by the very constitutions that guarantee expression are carried out daily. And that only relates to American Protected Speech, not Speech as it may or may not be protected in other countries, or across borders. (Again, we’ll come back to that, with the Greek Nazis, in a moment.)

Rachel Maddow, or rather Rachel Maddow’s Blog with Laura Conway as Blogero, provides an interesting example of recent events in the New Hampshire House that serve as a vehicle for pointing out a few realities regarding speech, its freedom, and why freedom of speech does not mean what a lot of people think it means. It also serves as a fun example of Republicans being dysfunctional, which is always amusing. But before we get to that, since Rachel Maddow was mentioned, I want to step into the Way Back machine for a moment and remind you of a conversation she had on her show a couple of years ago that is stuck in my head and that is very relevant.

Watch this video about the activities in the House of Representative Alan Grayson, and Rachel Maddow’s interview of him. I’ve provided crib notes below.

0:00 – 1:40 Grayson snarking on the Republican Health Care Plan
1:40 – 2:27 Maddow speaking of Republican demands for apologies, Grayson’s non-apology
2:27 The mention of the Holocaust
2:27- 5:51 Discussion comparing the rhetoric of Republicans vs. Democrats on the House Floor.
5:51 Interview with Grayson starts
6:43 Maddow asks about the Holocaust reference
7:31 Maddow asks about the Holocaust reference
8:00 Maddow asks about the Holocaust reference
8:00 Remainder of discussion about what people want to see in Congress

That was a great example of several things. First, we have the contrast between what Republicans generally do (speech-wise) vs what Democrats generally do. Then we have the double standard applied by Republicans with respect to what is considered acceptable speech. Mainly, we have examples of institutionally regulated speech irrespective of party. Congress can, technically, make a member apologize, take words back, or shut up and, though not exemplified here, Congress has rules about what you can say and do on the floor or even with what is done on the floor. For example, using footage of floor speeches is not allowed in campaign ads. So, in the very place we have speech being protected by all these people who have sworn oaths to protect the Constitution, we have run of the mill (and also disputed and debated but widely accepted) regulation of speech.

The reason I picked this video instead of any of the others available that cover the same issue is because of Rachel Maddow’s three-times a charm questioning of Grayson on his reference to the Holocaust. Rachel Maddow clearly believes that one should not Godwin the conversation, as it were, by using a reference to The Holocaust when referring to other things, even if those things are themselves really bad things in their own way. The reason for that is because we do not want to reduce that particular term (“The Holocaust”) to a trite aphorism, or in fact, anything less than it is: a reference to one of the most spectacular examples of human horror we know of, one that we as a culture (many cultures included) have quite purposefully decided to Never Forget. Rachel is right, Grayson learned something, and a tiny piece of the world improved at about 8:02 in this discussion, even though it involved, in a sense, a suppression of speech. Someone was told that he should not say something. There are a number of reasons I chose this example, but one of them is that it was one progressive “repressing” another. Makes the conversation simpler.

And now, on to New Hampshire.

Republican State Representative Steve Vailancourt became annoyed at his fellow Republicans during a debate on Voter ID, which is, of course, a law that will limit expression through voting. The House Speaker (a Republican) placed restrictions on what could be addressed during a floor debate, and the irked Vailancourt may or may not have risen his hand in a Fascist Salute and shouted “Sieg Heil.” Here’s the video of that:

Vailancourt was asked to apologize, so he provided a very snarky and insincere apology. A committee was formed (we learn from Twitter) to shape the apology for the hapless Representative, and he tried it again. He bunted, that didn’t work, so he did it again-again. Here’s the video of that last at-bat

Personally, I think it is mildly entertaining that this was Republicans, who are the Party of Lockstep, sniping at each other.

This is obviously another example of institutionalized restriction of speech that every one accepts (more or less) and works with and feels important in order to allow other free speech to happen (in floor debate) and be protected (as in protecting and defending the Constitution of the State and/or Nation). But it is also another example of this whole Nazi thing.

Nazis really did exist, and their handiwork is still a scar upon our culture. Just the other day I attended a play based on a book written by Sabina Zimering, a woman in Amanda’s school district. The woman’s granddaughter was in Amanda’s biology class two years ago. The students put on this play, based on Zimering’s life as a young Jewish girl who, with her sister, “Hid in plain sight” as Catholics, in Germany, during World War II. They ended up working as maids in a hotel in Germany that catered to Gestapo officers. Sabina Zimering is still alive (and attended the opening of the play), and of course her offspring and grand offspring feel a link to her history. At the moment, with this play and with grandma having spoken to school groups many times, the entire Wayzata School District feels an affinity and a link to her and her experience. And thus, everyone feels something for … or about … the Nazis as well.

And that’s just a school district in the Upper Midwest. Families across the country have parts decimated by the Holocaust, others have old veterans or memories of them who fought in the war. And so on.

Hogans Heros and Mighty Mouse aside, Nazi things, references to Nazis and Nazi things, and The Holocaust and references to it are all special. Pure free speech disregards these meanings and disregards the power in these symbols, and advocates for anyone to say anything any time they want to anybody about anything, arbitrarily and without regard to the pain and without regard to the dangers. Pure free speech is a dick.

Which brings us, finally, to the actual Nazis, the ones in Greece, who call themselves Golden Dawn. A few days ago I posted a petition started by a friend to have them knocked off WordPress’s servers because Nazis violate the terms WordPress requires. These Nazis in particular have made and continue to make threats of violence, and have carried out violent acts. WordPress, a private company, can legally and ethically restrict such things on their servers. Pure free speech insists that this is repression. But if a private company following ethics-driven guidelines is repression, than that means I can use stencils and spray paint to write “I drink my own pee” on your forehead, right? No? You don’t want that? I AM BEING REPRESSED!

It is true that more people came around here to defend the Greek Nazis against me than said they would sign the petition to help defend The World against the damn Nazis. At moments like that, I want to stop blogging. By the way, I reserve the right to delete comments that defend Nazis on this post. Anyone who makes such comments and gets them deleted has the right to tell the world that I am repressing them. But not here. Get your own blog. That is how free speech works.

And now, as promised, the latest on the Nazis. They now have a web site claiming that they are being repressed! My Greek is kind of rusty. As in, I can’t read a word of it, but there is always Google Translator. I am in regular contact with Nazi Fighters (really, more like Nazi Annoyers at this point) connected to this Greek Struggle, and I’m told that the web site asks people to complain about the repression of the Nazis’ free speech to the organization (Change.org) that has put up the Anti-Golden Dawn petitions. With that as context, here’s what the website may or may not say according to Goolge Translate:

We were to report the website Blogger!!!
Shame, it’s obscene. The anti-Greek waste trying to shed our website with complaints left and right. Here you will see

Maybe not to prevent contact you again. Remember our address. Never miss this: [URL removed .. I ain’t given out no Nazi URL!]

NOR try, the fascist pigs of SYRIZA of New Democracy and PASOK, WE THE they wash ashore. THIS TIME TO SPEAK NEW WEBSITE ALREADY PREPARED IN OUR SERVER AND THEN LET’S TRY!!

Those who can battle against this AISCHOUS TO JOIN, SEND MESSAGES EVERYWHERE.

Those who can, go to this page to report the objector sought to erase all of the Golden Dawn blogs from Blogger on the pretext that they are terrorist, etc. and explain that the Golden Dawn is a legitimate party elected by the people. Those who can help. …

Sincerely,

[The Nazis]

It doesn’t really say “The Nazis” at the end, but I translated this:

The MANAGER, GREEK, PATRIOTIS, ETHNIKISTIS!!

to mean that.

And, moments ago, I found this out. Golden Dawn has started it’s very own Change.org petition complaining that they are being repressed! How cute!

Freedom of speech is not what a lot of people think it is. It does not operate at the place and time of the words spoken, but rather, across the experience of an individual as that individual’s life intersects with an idea or other thing that can be expressed. An artist might want to make a big giant red shapy thing with blue dots. But the moment the artist thinks of this, she does not grab the paint out of a neighbor’s garage and paint the big shapy thing on the nearest bus. Or at least, not without fully expecting to get busted and forced to make amends. But society must ensure that the artist can make the big red shapy thing somewhere, sometime, within reason, and if it is meant to be seen, society must ensure that it can be seen. Freedom of speech applies to people and ideas and other things that can be expressed as they exist in the multidimensional space of society, not to every single fiber of that society’s fabric. Yes, we must be aware that as one or another strand of the weft and warp of society becomes a no-speech zone, then another and another, there may emerge an unacceptable patchwork of repressive places and policies, or a bias against one type of speech or one type of person.¹ But as we’ve seen in these examples, it is considered normal in a free society to limit what is said, how it is said, and when and to whom, reasonably, and most of the time nobody thinks of it as repression. A person who sees repression in every restriction is probably being naive.

Feel free to say almost anything in the comments below … 🙂

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¹And yes, we must consider the possibility of a slippery slope down which our dominos may slide, smashing right into our hackneyed, overdone mixed metaphors.

This is a response to earlier petitions. See these posts:

Take Action against the Greek Nazi Party
More Greek Nazi Related Action
The Nazis have been Repressed!