Two days ago a car drove into the Pride crowd in my city. A woman is...

Two days ago a car drove into the Pride crowd in my city. A woman is dead 💔 I live in Berlin. And since that day I keep coming back to something a blogger said: "Poisonous believe of having to tolerate the intolerant." That's the spot queer people end up in, again and again. My first reaction was: enough. Stop tolerating. But the more I sit with it, the more I think tolerance was never the problem. Tolerance toward people, toward faith, toward difference - that's exactly what queer people are asking for themselves. You can't demand it and refuse it at the same time. To be clear: this is not about Muslims. Not about Christians. Not about any group of people. Most people in this city, whatever they believe, just want to live their life in peace. The problem is naivety toward ideologies. Islamism. Christian fundamentalism. Right-wing extremism. Whatever flavor it comes in - every ideology that wants queer people gone. Being "open" toward that isn't tolerance. It's negotiating your own existence. Because here's the part I can't get past: I don't know a single queer person who attacks anyone for what they believe or how they live. It only ever runs the other way. And that woman didn't die because queer people were too tolerant. She died because a known extremist was walking free. It's not the job of a minority to get harder. Holding that line is the state's job. That's what it's for. I don't have this sorted. I'm not sure anyone does right now. So I'm asking: Where does tolerance end for you - and who's supposed to hold that line? No pressure. But the uncomfortable answers are welcome too.

dnlwlls

Like with personal boundaries, living a free life means establishing and defending them — the same holds true at a societal level. The paradox of tolerance, first articulated by Karl Popper, gives us license to do that. But I believe a society can also judged by how it treats its minority groups. The suspect was known to German intelligence, and the fact he could get anywhere near CSD is a colossal failure of state security. The double standard is astonishing: left-wing activists face near-constant surveillance during events happening in the city like certain football matches that draw a certain type of hooligan… all the while a man literally convicted of planning “an act of violence endangering the state” walked freely near a Pride event with hundreds of thousands of participants. That’s inexcusable ineptitude. I hope you’re processing things well and finding some joy amongst the heaviness… I know it’s tough! From a fellow Berlin-resident, who was also there 🫂

3 weeks

akai

@dnlwlls Thank you Daniel, I'm glad you're okay. Being there makes it a different kind of heavy 🥺 The boundaries comparison is exactly how I see it: boundaries only mean something if you're willing to defend them. And the double standard you describe is the part I can't let go of either. He was known, and he was free. That's the failure, right there. Take care of yourself. Sending you a big hug back 🫂

lav

I wanted to post something about this, after reading another genetics headline of “love is here to stay” it filled me with so much rage, I keep asking my self when the fuck did we become so spineless and docile? Where are the angry faggots? Where are the people who voice their rage and not cushion it with oh but you’re free to practice your religion. Fuck your religion, just because millions of people choose to live blindly with some make believe god does not mean we should sit around and respect their “believes” let’s be blunt, organize religion is a way to control the weak, broken and twisted so they can get in line. Wake up people, Bring back the bricks, bring back queer rage! 🔥 🧱

@lav I don’t think religion is the problem, ideology is — it attaches to whichever institution is available, and extremists cherry-pick whatever interpretation backs their existing beliefs. Before European colonisation, much of Asia and Africa had long histories of tolerance, even celebration, of queerness. It was Britain’s Section 377 — exported to stop “innocent British soldiers being led astray by the exotic orient” — that became the foundation for anti-LGBTQ laws now framed as “traditional values” across many Muslim-majority countries. Religion itself is diverse. There are queer-affirming interpretations of Islam, LGBTQ-inclusive evangelical churches, and a gay imam here in Germany. Berlin’s council of imams was quick to condemn the violence, saying verbal, physical, and psychological violence has no place in society. They’re right. Religion isn’t inherently the enemy. I’d rather aim anger at the state’s failures — there’s plenty of evidence for outrage there, and real room to improve. And if we want to understand radicalisation, look at material conditions: poverty, oppression, alienation from institutionalised racism. That’s where anger can actually lift people up, not just burn.

@lav I get the rage. A woman is dead and a lot of people got hurt, some of them badly. I'm not calm about any of it. I just want my anger to hit the right target. The man who did it, the ideology behind him, a state that knew him and still let him walk. At least that's where it sits for me. And what really gets me right now: politicians calling this an attack on "all of us". The same people who cut funding for queer projects. A chancellor who didn't want the rainbow flag on the Bundestag because it's "not a circus tent". Now it's suddenly solidarity, without saying the word queer even once, and the whole thing gets used for right-wing talking points. That's what actually makes me furious. On religion I'm partly with you. I'm not a fan either, at least not of any religion that plants hate in people's heads, tells its followers they're better than everyone else, splits people apart instead of bringing them together. Service to self instead of service to others. I don't respect that, and I don't have to. But people and what they were taught are two different things, I judge what someone does. The bricks, Stonewall threw them at a state that was raiding queer bars. Today I want that state to actually protect people at a Pride. So yes to the rage. I just want it aimed ✊

juvenlee_surrealart

@akai love and light to your city, friend 🫶🏽 🫶🏽 🫶🏽

@juvenlee_surrealart thank you ❤️