What I Wish I Had Known About Germany Earlier

When public events of great consequence — such as the Nord Stream Pipeline bombing — are met with silence from both government and media, the silence itself becomes more terrifying than any atomic bomb.

It is interesting how people remember things differently - I really do not think that there was silence from the public or government in regards of the Nord Stream bombings. Yes, there weren't any demonstrations or riots on the street, but silence?

Well, silence is not the correct word, I agree. But the reaction was kind of mild, when you think about that it was a terrorist attack on seemingly very important infrastructure and thus on Germany's sovereignity. And that holds especially true after it became clear that it wasn't the Russians but someone who wanted to influence Germany's stance on Russia's invasion. Nobody cared.
I mean, Germany is obviously not in the position, but the US basically devastates whole regions for less. Thus it can be argued, that the reaction was comparably "silent".
- It still is quite strange for him to focus on Nord Stream. Yeah, it was important infrastructure. But it was switched off for quite a while due to sanctions against russia before the attack. So not great, but there was no immediate impact for people.
  I could understand if he was focussing on silence in regard of the Ukraine war or even Gaza, but Nord Stream is strange
- NS2 should not have existed in the first place. Don't you feel shame for building huge pipeline around whole Eastern Europe just so your trade wouldn't be interrupted as russia invades everything? Because you should feel the shame. It have been built when russia already invaded Ukraine.
  And yes, it wasn't yet used, but almost finished state of it gave russia more courage to launch full scale invasion.
- How should Germany have reacted? As I see it there were two possible culprits: Russia or Ukraine. If we make a big deal out of it we have to act.
  Say it turns out to be Russia, then we have a direct attack on the infrastructure of a NATO member. If we don't react to that it sends a desastrous message. If we do we and the rest of NATO have to react with force, something everyone has tried to avoid at all cost so far.
  If links to Ukraine turn out to be true (which seems more likely atm) this will give a massive boost to anti Ukrainian sentiment, with a good chance of complete collapse of public support for Ukraine. So what are we supposed to do then? Considering how Germany got bashed by everyone already for seemingly not doing enough (unfairly imo).
  Now even getting into a position like that is the result of long-term strategic failure. But in my limited view keeping this topic comparatively small is a favor to everyone involved. Because in the end world goes on without the pipeline as well.

Since I don’t speak the language, I can only imagine that the young people coming to Berlin would talk about [...]

Pretty brave presenting a list of pretty harsh statements without explanations about the German state and its people when not even understanding what they are actually talking...

Not really surprised that Zeit stepped back from publishing the article.

That’s basically every westerner passing judgement about China, so I’ll take it that his artistic message punched through
I like it. His art, words, challenge and provoke. I especially love the context here of asking a question when you are really not prepared for the answer.
It is perfect and should have gone to publication. Seeing this piece surrounded by lighthearted fluff about mustards would have been even more delicious.
Thought the same, found the article to be pretty dull and shallow. No notable insights shared.

I fully understand that they refused to publish this if I may say so. He is permanently contradicting himself, and this is not even the worst part.

He doesn't speak the language, but 'assumes' the young people 'coming to Berlin' (where do they come from?) are talking about clubbing? How does he make this inference?

And the Germans 'might' be 'truly the furthest from a sense of humor' which 'could be the result of their deep reverence for rationality' - an inference he apparently makes from a Mercedes-Benz ad at the airport.

And so it goes on. I mean, he is an artist and may assume whatever he wants, but I understand why they refused to publish this piece.

the young people ‘coming to Berlin’
I am from Switzerland, so I don't have the full picture, but I do remember that eastern (ex-communist) germany, where berlin is located, has/had a huge problem with people from the countryside fleeing to westgermany or the cities.
It was once so bad that a (i think government-) commission recommended giving up the villages completely and only focus on the cities. Which was received as well as you imagine it.
This is btw also a reason why the extreme right is so popular in eastern germany. All those with a more liberal mindset have fled. Definitely not the only reason, but one of them.
But yeah, this guy is just full of hot air.

Immigrant refuses to learn the language of the country he moved to and goes on to feel unwelcome. What a shame. As an immigrant living in Germany myself I'd recommend he go somewhere else.

Iirc he moved to London years ago
- Good for him. I suspect he speaks more English.

When people sense that power is beyond challenge, they redirect their energy into trivial disputes. And those trivialities, collectively, are enough to erode a society’s very foundations of justice.

This is more true than usual in more places than just Germany.

Exactly. As I stated in another comment already, most of the statements feel like generic Fortune-Cookie-style wisdom packed into edgy language.
- If half the world is failing in precisely the same ways at this time, it's all the more valuable to publish the words of an artist who's able to point it out.
The whole article consists of such truisms.

Seems reasonalble? I don't agree with everything, but he is not exactly wrong with his impression. And yes, Chinese restaurants in Germany suck 🤷

To stay with the Chinese restaurant trope:
Many of his statements seem to me to be generic Fortune Cookie level wisdom.
Generally not wrong, but also of limited specific reference to Germany.
Some are true but generally known. We would like to find a solutions ourselves to them. e.g. the excessive and often uncompromising bureaucracy.
And some statements are so ambiguous that they are ready to be used by the very enemies of democracy and freedom for their own purposes.
Right out of the AfD style book.
- And some statements are so ambiguous that they are ready to be used by the very enemies of democracy and freedom for their own purposes.
  He called you out already: "When conversation becomes avoidance, when topics must not be mentioned, we are already living under the quiet logic of authoritarianism."

I live in Germany for over 6 years, and come from Russia. I don't appreciate generalisation, but some things he mentioned just ring the bell. Some Germans I met definitely fit the description, but not the others.

I don't think art here is complacent, but I also see how artists from outside of Germany (and generally, foreigners), often tune down their criticism towards Germany.

At work, my German colleagues are very sensitive if a foreigner criticizes late trains or long bureaucratic procedures. There's a notion we should be grateful, and if we don't like something, we should go back to places we like...

Germans themselves seem to be critical of their society though, so I wonder how it works from the inside.

Perhaps Ai Weiwei's point is a perspective of an outsider who's expected to express gratefulness and complacency.

I've lived in the most northern region of Germany for over 30 years now, and still feel foreign here even though I'm white as it gets and speak German better than most Germans. The mindset of many Germans is on such a basic level because many have never stepped a foot outside of their country. And if they did, it was usually in either German speaking countries or tourist destinations full of other Germans. Many Germans are afraid of new things and prefer to live in their bubble, where Germany is the most advanced and civilized nation on Earth (which is utter bullshit). The feeling of being a foreigner becomes worse the farther south you go. I'm just happy that I got to know a couple of very good people who don't fit this description.

My expectation for this article was very different, maybe because I'm not at all familiar with the author. This seemed like a loose collection of aphorisms and not really like anything I'd lump in with what I generally think of as "journalism". Take this for example:

Bureaucracy is not merely sluggish. It is a cultural scorn. It rejects the possibility of dialogue. It insists that ignorance, codified into policy, no matter how wrong and inhumane it is, remains the best resistance against social mobility, against moral motion. In such a society, hope is not misplaced. It is extinguished.

What does this mean? What does it refer to? Which bureaucratic processes specifically? This could have been a useful think-piece, but it doesn't contain any actual information. It's more... like a word-picture for feelings.

Maybe the ZEIT editors also had different expectations?

Yeah, they're all reflections and learnings of their own life, nothing "wish I would have known before coming to Germany" that is about Germany explicitly and living there specifically. Many of the views don't influence anything if you were to come to Germany.
Delayed second comment reply now that I've actually read through their texts.
When I reduce the quote, I understand it as "bureaucracy is inhumane, depersonalized processes, evading individual concerns and preventing social mobility (that those worse off can get into a better situation)".
- When I reduce the quote, I understand it as “bureaucracy is inhumane, depersonalized processes, evading individual concerns and preventing social mobility (that those worse off can get into a better situation)”.
  I read that as well - but again, that's a completely disconnected statement, so what's the point? Ai Weiwei doesn't elaborate on what kind of bureaucracy he encounted, how that bureaucracy differs from the one he was used to or holds as ideal. There's nothing actionable here, i.e. that paragraph didn't teach me anything about German bureaucracy.

This rings so much for nordic countries too.

if this was the article, i totally understand zeit.

ai wei wei is boring and prude. i never warmed up for his superficial art. basically jeff koons but with a selfrightous moral highground.

but i always thought he would offer something else. he is a well known human rights activist after all. then i read this lazy observation. maybe i thought there has to be more to the man than his art, he is worldwide known as a critic of nations and governments after all.

so i looked into his positions and "art". the only word that sounded sincere was that he doesn't understand art. the other stuff is a common ground, free from controversy. yes there is war and human rights are ignored, but ask yourself the following: if you asked chatgpt for it's positions on human rights or an idea for controversial art - would the answer differ much from ai wei weis works?