[Berlin] Admins of Telegramm channel VeranstaltungsTERMINE Berlin - Cancel all palestinian events and kick out people who criticize their behaviour

The Telegram Group

The group VeranstaltungsTERMINE Berlin now has almost 3600 members. Originating from the Sharing is Caring group, it has existed for several years and has since established itself as an important infrastructure within the left scene in Berlin (digital infrastructure is also infrastructure). Although not exclusively, it is mainly used to mobilise for political events and to exchange information about all kinds of actions. Since 7 October and the Hamas massacre in Israel, as well as Israel's subsequent attacks on the Gaza Strip, all events related to Palestine have been deleted by the group's administrators without exception.

The following argument is repeatedly used by those responsible as a justification for the deletion of any postings with a Palestinian reference: as long as allegedly anti-Semitic slogans were shouted at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, no (pro)Palestinian events could be posted here.

The discussion group

Attached to the Telegram group is a discussion group where (allegedly) contentious issues from both the Sharing is Caring and the Events group can be discussed. Even this group now has almost 850 members. Usually, contentious posts are moved there. Within this group it can then be discussed whether the posts should have a place in the respective actual group or why they do not have the right to be posted.

Since 7 October, however, events in solidarity with Palestine and against the war have simply been deleted, as described above. Often, there is not even a hint of the deletion by the administrators within the event group, so that most people following the group receive the impression that no Palestine-related events are being promoted within this group. Whenever a deletion is made transparent, it is referred to further space for discussion within the corresponding channel.

Within the discussion group, which is supposed to have space for contradictions and debate, the admins now cancel any unpopular opinion by referring to previous discussions and muting people in the group, i.e. depriving them of the right to post. This is sometimes made transparent by those responsible, but usually it is only made clear by the fact that the discussion breaks off abruptly. The muting does not happen after verbal abuse or disrespect or the like, but after simple contributions to the discussion that criticise the behaviour of the administrators.

What is the problem?

The administrators are acting with an absolute lack of transparency and self-importance that would have personal and social consequences in any analogue discussion. In the discussion on 31 October 2023 regarding the deletion of the demo scheduled for 04 November 2023, the administrators accused a Jewish person belonging to one of the organisations organising the demo (which was co-organised by two Jewish organisations, among others) of antisemitism in an absolutely undifferentiated and sweeping manner. In the course of the discussion, their right to write and post to the group was withdrawn in the form of a ban.

Since the group is open and anyone can join the Telegram group VeranstaltungsTERMINE Berlin, instead of providing further examples of the behavior of the admins, we ask everyone to take a look at the discussions from the past few weeks and, if necessary, join into the discussion.

To be fair, it must be said that individual members also engage in discussions and in individual cases they also argue why a certain event is judged to be anti-Semitic and is therefore not posted. However, these are almost always discussion participants and not admins.

General suspicion and stigmatisation

The arguments of the admin group work through a form of collective detention and stigmatisation towards all (pro-)Palestinian activists. In the same way that the state repressive organs ban the majority of pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the board, the Telegram group deletes a wide variety of events on the grounds that anti-Semitic slogans are being shouted at other demonstrations. Not taking the trouble to discuss individual cases, but equating (pro-)Palestinian resistance of any kind with anti-Semitism, supports the racist discourse of the German majority and mainstream society.

But the problem goes beyond that: it is not only about the question of how the admins position themselves within the Israel-Palestine conflict and why they do not identify their political position as such.

The group VeranstaltungsTERMINE Berlin has become part of the left and radical left infrastructure. There are no moderation criteria that are transparent and public. Whenever the demand to comply with this transparency is voiced, the demand is answered by muting the group members who demand it. The administrators of the channel use their structural power for their own political agenda. This group is run by a large part of the left scene in Berlin, which is why they should also have control over the group. The minimum of grassroots democratic standards would be to allow discussions within the discussion group, to collectively work out moderation criteria, and to make them transparent. Instead, this Telegram group, which presents itself as a left-wing emancipatory project, resembles in practice capitalist platforms like Meta or Instagram, although there there are at least guidelines to be read and sanctions to be followed. Cross-spectrum channels and forums are important. Contradictions sometimes have to be endured. This does not mean that anti-Semitic posts should not be deleted. However, an anti-German team of administrators who do not make their own position clear, who use structural power to push their own agenda, who respond to criticism not with discussion but with expulsion, who self-importantly label the most diverse actors as anti-Semitic and are blind to their own racist stereotypes and double standards, are not part of left emancipatory practice.

⁃ We demand a collectivisation of the channel VeranstaltungsTERMINE Berlin, as well as a forum in which moderation principles are developed together, which must be made transparent.

⁃ We demand that those members who have been deprived of the right to post to the group and participate in discussions be given this right back.

⁃ Until these changes happen, we call on everyone to participate in the discussions within the group (Diskussions Gruppe Sharing is Caring Berlin) and to no longer tolerate the authoritarian behaviour of the admins.