Truth Commission Chatter

 Since around 2014, if you lived in the Neukolln neighborhood area of Berlin (the far south region of town).....you might have noted around a half-dozen 'events' which have been deemed 'right-wing' extremism.  These mostly involve vehicles set on fire, 

The fact that no one has been arrested on any of these events?  Well....it is a bit odd.  Two arrest warrants have been issued in the past two months.....but neither of the two guys mentioned....have been seen (still on the loose).

So the public TV folks at RBB lay out this story, which is worth a read.

All of this 'action' has led to a truth-commission being formed by the city government.  

Last week, the truth-commission finally issued it's general report.

First, they admit there's nothing wrong with the police or prosecutors involved in this whole business.

Second, they think that more communication (at least from the police) needs to occur.  They aren't saying much over content suggested....just that the public needs to get another image of whats going on.

Third, the truth commission suggests that for decades, this right-wing extremism has existed in Berlin.  

Fourth and final....the truth commission lays a fair amount of blame for public feeling on the news media.  In some way, they are suggesting that the news folks 'fanned' the flame a bit.

Neo-Nazis at work?  I went back to a local report at the end of December....two local guys arrested for an 'event'.  Connecting the two guys back to car-fires?  Well....it didn't really progress well.  The police locally....can say they are neo-Nazis without any doubt....beyond that, the connection business is marginal.

A lot of the events being car-fires?  Well....yeah.

It used to be a non-existent crime (if you go back to the 1980s and 1990s).  Back in the summer of 2018, a hundred-odd vehicles were set on fire in Sweden.  New Year's eve in France for 2020?  More than 800 vehicles were set ablaze.  Go back to summer of 2018 in Berlin....in a single night, 14 cars were set on fire.  August 2011, a couple of dozen cars were set on fire around Berlin.  

No one ever gets busted, and there's almost no way to suggest such events are left or right-wing extremists at work.  

The fact that a lot of these are working-class people who serve as victims, and in most cases....they carry only liability insurance....so their car won't be replaced or covered by insurance?  It's just another frustration. 

Maybe there needs to be a bigger truth-commission and just start discussing vehicle fires in general.