From: markus@mroh.GUN.de (Markus Schlegel)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil
Distribution: world
Subject: Re: Violencia na Alemanha e tem brasileiro envolvido.
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Organization: Private ST-Minix Site
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 11:36:02 GMT

Glauber (gmribeir@david.wheaton.edu) wrote:
: In article <1992Oct2.050834.22112@cmcl2.nyu.edu> petrescd@acf3.nyu.edu (Deivy Marck Petrescu) writes:
: >Berlin: A young musician from Brazil was attacked in the U-Bahn and
: >will lose three fingers as a result. A dozen youth were in the well-filled
: >car at around 10pm as it went through the western city center in the
: >direction of Ruhleben. One of the youth came up to the Brazilian and
: >kicked him. The Brazilian said (in English) "Please, I do not want
: >trouble". Not one of the passengers said a word, the Brazilian attempted
: >to get out at Wittenbergplatz. The gang grabbed his bicycle and threw it
: >out of the car, they held the Brazilian, put one of his hands in the
: >doorway and slammed the door on it three times. Hard. They opened the
: >door again, threw him onto the floor, kicked his face, and continued on
: >their journey with the subway. The musician had unfortunately pulled his
: >jackknife out in an attempt to protect himself, the knife opened as
: >the door was slammed on his hand, severing the tendons in three of the
: >fingers, that were only still attached to his hand by strips of skin.
: >He will lose the fingers. Not *one* of the many passangers has called the
: >authorities to even describe the youth that must have ridden on
: >in the car at least one station. The Brazilian has refused to file a
: >complaint for fear of retribution.   
: 
: 
: Puta merda!
: 

Well, I do understand that everyone reacts to incidents like these more
emotionally if they happen in Germany than any other place in the world.
The criminals can only be strongly condemned for what they did, and everything 
should be done to prosecute them and give them the hardest possible
punishment. But the effect described in your article is not specific to 
Germany or the Germans. Moreover, it has been scientiffically researched and
is known as the "stander-by-effect", saying more or less that the more people
watch a crime the lesss feel responsible for doing something against it.
I am not defending those criminals or their deeds, but I can only warn 
to criminalize a whole country for the acts of certain people.
I beleive that Germany as a whole has to live with a kind of "hyper-
scepticism" from abroad. I can only warn that condemning the German people as 
a whole wil not make life all that much easier for those people who see the
dangers and try to do something against it. Being suspected as radicals 
just because of their nationality would ultimately force them to give in to
radicals, using exactly these reactions from abroad to stir up the simple-
minded against those who think and act against violence and such crime.
The effect of solidarization against an exterior enemy (and be it only one
depicted to the people as a make-beleive image), should be well known.
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Markus Schlegel
markus@mroh.GUN.de

i
Markus Schlegel
markus@mroh.GUN.de