Comparing Discourse between Cultures: A Discursive Approach to Movement Knowledge

Abstract

A discourse analysis of German left-wing media coverage of the Middle East conflict brought to light a phenomenon also seen in other political fields, but much stronger in quantity and quality: Much of the discourse was related to Germany’s National Socialist past. Vocabulary from that era was used and comparisons drawn. In one newspaper, Palestinian violence was reported on as the actions “of a mob”, aimed not at “taking back illegally expropriated soil” but at “exterminating Jewish existence” (Bartel and Ullrich 2008). Earlier statements by pro-Israeli autonomist activists had described the Palestinians as the “biggest anti-Semitic collective” and stated that the “Popular belief in Palestine” is “völkisch” (literally “folkish”, extremely nationalistic, an essential part of German Nazis’ self-description) and aims at a “pure-blood Palestine free of Jews” (Ullrich 2008). In a similar fashion, the well-known and at times politically active German poet Günter Grass wrote a poem (“What has to be said”) about his fears of an Israeli attack on Iran, which in his view may “exterminate the Iranian people” — an allusion to the Nazi extermination of Jews. Some pro-Palestinian activists hailed this political statement as an act of bravery. The question arises as to why, despite having different political aims, politically active Germans — especially radical activists — debate the Middle East conflict in a discursive framework so strongly shaped by terms and patterns from the discourse of or about Germany’s National Socialist past. Or more generally, what shapes the discursive patterns of these movements?