Com Unist. Fasc Ist.
03. Mai 2026,
Just because the bourgeoisie is small doesn't mean thinking has to be. Yes, I grew up in a perfectly normalised family. Father brought home the money, and Mother kept the house and kitchen in order. And raised the children, more or less on the side. Ideas that might upset the peaceful family picture were neither welcome nor wanted.
Well then — where do these unsettling, disruptive ideas come from?
Back then, sixty-five years ago, it was books — exclusively — that wanted to play with my synapses.
"What if?" was my daily occupation, my way of finding my footing in the world.
One author in particular, in Berlin at the start of the twentieth century, stirred something in me — unsettled me inwardly and made me rebellious outwardly: Kurt Tucholsky. The man lived only forty-five years, but moved an enormous amount.
What an excellent storyteller, journalist, satirist, and critic, this Tucholsky — a man who could put into words the moments of his time that were barely graspable as moments.
To this day he remains the one author whose writing style and philosophy I want to draw close to.
Throughout his short life, this man described those dark times through wide-awake observation and scalpel-sharp words.
Trained as a lawyer, violations of social justice got under his skin badly.
And his typewriter had to pay for it.
This Kurt Tucholsky planted the first seed in me for a sense of justice.
And kindled something of an interest in politics.
Back then, in the kingdom of puberty, I wouldn't have wanted to live in a time like today — not even in my worst nightmare.
A time of monstrosities.
Of political upheaval and the political circus between left and right.
Speaking of which: the terms *left wing* and "right wing" are Made in France, during that famous Revolution.
Which was also, yes, Made in France.
The radical Jacobin party had their offices in the left wing, and the conservative Girondists were housed in the right wing of the building. People took the geographical position of the offices and mocked the left and right politics of the parties.
"Merci beaucoup, La France."
Today, in the year 2026, geography matters less than the political effects between communism and fascism.
The two regimes are far apart. Very far apart.
Or so it seems.
When we speak of figures like Hitler or Stalin, we don't mean specifically the communist or fascist governments.
No — we're talking about a totalitarian government.
Left as well as right.
Totalitarianism is the ideology that always exists at the outermost edge of both left and right.
Both carry the same characteristics in their portfolio.
Nationalism is hoisted high, human rights are curtailed, science and art are held in contempt, media is state-controlled, unions are not tolerated — but corruption is in full bloom, the cult of personality grows into a state religion, and rigged elections become the norm.
Aha.
And there you have it: both ideologies, existing at the extreme outer edge — communism and fascism — pursue one and the same goal: totalitarian government.
Kurt Tucholsky planted some of his human visions and philosophies deep in my head.
To him I owe my deep love of justice and community — quite apart from any political position.
Somehow, Kurt laid the first cornerstone of my hippie philosophy.
Today I am reminded of this Tucholsky quote: "Germany is an anatomical curiosity: it writes with the left hand and acts with the right.»
Let us enjoy the era of peaceful resistance against extremism.
