[Depth]

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/inte...430542,00.html

ANTI-BUSH STATEMENT BACKFIRES IN GERMANY

Criticizing US President George W. Bush is fine in Germany, but doing so by displaying the Nazi swastika is a crime, and it's got film director Fatih Akin in trouble with the German authorities.

Police in the northern city of Hamburg are investigating award-winning Turkish-German film director Fatih Akin, 32, for wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt bearing the word "Bush" in which the letter "s" was replaced by the swastika.

Displaying Nazi symbols is a crime in Germany. He wore the T-shirt on a film set and an unnamed man who saw the photo of it in the newspaper filed a complaint with the police.

German-born Akin, who is of Turkish descent, told SPIEGEL: "Bush's policy is comparable with that of the Third Reich. I think that under Bush, Hollywood has been making certain films at the request of the Pentagon to normalise things like torture and Guantanamo. I'm convinced the Bush administration wants a third world war. I think they're fascists."

Asked why he was using the swastika to make a political statement in Germany of all countries, he said: "You can apply irony to something like that. You can redefine the symbol in a politically correct horizon. My T-shirt is more than mere provocation."

Akin's film "Gegen die Wand," ("Head On" in Britain and the United States), about a Turkish woman who flees her strict Muslim home, won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004.

cro/spiegel/dpa

[stevus]

Crime or not, it's still a provocative T-shirt.

[choycheese]

I'm so sick of people comparing Bush to Hitler. I hate Bush too, but come on. People need to stop trivializing the holocaust.

[kartaron]

Originally Posted by Depth

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/inte...430542,00.html

ANTI-BUSH STATEMENT BACKFIRES IN GERMANY

Criticizing US President George W. Bush is fine in Germany, but doing so by displaying the Nazi swastika is a crime, and it's got film director Fatih Akin in trouble with the German authorities.

Police in the northern city of Hamburg are investigating award-winning Turkish-German film director Fatih Akin, 32, for wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt bearing the word "Bush" in which the letter "s" was replaced by the swastika.

Displaying Nazi symbols is a crime in Germany. He wore the T-shirt on a film set and an unnamed man who saw the photo of it in the newspaper filed a complaint with the police.

German-born Akin, who is of Turkish descent, told SPIEGEL: "Bush's policy is comparable with that of the Third Reich. I think that under Bush, Hollywood has been making certain films at the request of the Pentagon to normalise things like torture and Guantanamo. I'm convinced the Bush administration wants a third world war. I think they're fascists."

Asked why he was using the swastika to make a political statement in Germany of all countries, he said: "You can apply irony to something like that. You can redefine the symbol in a politically correct horizon. My T-shirt is more than mere provocation."

Akin's film "Gegen die Wand," ("Head On" in Britain and the United States), about a Turkish woman who flees her strict Muslim home, won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004.

cro/spiegel/dpa

Somebody send one of these shirts to Michael Moore please.

[Te(V)plar]

How ironic that Germany is combating fascism with fascism. Comparing Bush with Hitler is fucking retarded, but Germany has to get over their ww2 guilt-trip.

[stevus]

Interesting side-note: Kiss has to change their logo in Germany because the the two lightning bolt S's closely resemble the gustapo logo. That too is illegal. The cds have just plain S's. Doesn't look right.

[Tony Soporno]

There's no comparison between Bush and Hitler, Hitler was known for captivating audiences with his speeches, and Bush is known for speaking like a retarded hillbilly.

[Cow Pie]

Originally Posted by Te(V)plar

How ironic that Germany is combating fascism with fascism. Comparing Bush with Hitler is fucking retarded, but Germany has to get over their ww2 guilt-trip.

How ironic that a Turk would were such a stupid t-shirt depicting Bush as Hitler when his own country of origin committed the Armenian Genocide. He's a useful idiot.

[Clam Section]

Originally Posted by Te(V)plar

How ironic that Germany is combating fascism with fascism. Comparing Bush with Hitler is fucking retarded, but Germany has to get over their ww2 guilt-trip.

+1

Germany continues to defile the reputation of the swastika. They act like they invented the word and the symbol (a mark that stood for good luck hundreds of years before the Nazis got their grubby Aryan hands on it).

It's astonishing that they would waste time implementing and enforcing such a silly law. Do they really think aspiring neo-fascists or some fifth column would openly display Third Reich symbology in an attempt to seize power?

[Cow Pie]

Originally Posted by Clam Section

+1

Germany continues to defile the reputation of the swastika. They act like they invented the word and the symbol (a mark that stood for good luck hundreds of years before the Nazis got their grubby Aryan hands on it).

It's astonishing that they would waste time implementing and enforcing such a silly law. Do they really think aspiring neo-fascists or some fifth column would openly display Third Reich symbology in an attempt to seize power?

If I remember correctly, the aryans (Indians) did invent the swastika. Some Indians claim to be descentants of the aryan race.