So I have been indicted by the Berlin District Prosecutor for authoring, publishing, and advertising a book.
I’m not joking. The District Prosecutor is actually going to prosecute me again, this time for the crime of publishing a book. My lawyer received the indictment today.
Now, let me be clear, because this gets kind of confusing. This indictment is a brand new indictment. This isn’t the first indictment that I was already prosecuted for, and originally acquitted, but then had my acquittal overturned by an appellate court after the Prosecutor appealed, and thus will be sentenced in connection with in October. That indictment was based on two tweets I had tweeted that featured the cover art of the book that the District Prosecutor has now indicted me for authoring, publishing, and advertising.
Yes, the book I have been indicted for authoring, publishing, and advertising is The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent Factory Essays, Vol. III (2020-2021), an unofficial history of the Covid era. I cannot show you a photo of that book, or else the German authorities might send the police to raid my home again, as they did in November.
The new indictment alleges: (1) that I authored and published the book and offered it for sale on Amazon and assorted other booksellers’ platforms; (2) that the artwork on the cover of the book (which I cannot show you, or the German authorities will send the police to raid my home again) features an image of a Covid mask with a swastika barely visible behind it; (3) that I was aware that the swastika is a well-known symbol of the former National Socialist German Workers Party (i.e., the Nazis), and that this symbol was visible to persons visiting the booksellers’ websites, including persons in Germany.
Which, of course, all of those allegations are true.
The indictment further alleges that, on October 5, 2024, I published an essay, Fear and Loathing in New Normal Germany, reporting on the overturning of my acquittal in that earlier prosecution involving those two tweets, and included an image of the cover of the book, on my blog (i.e., consentfactory.org), as well as screenshots of the two tweets that I had just been convicted, or unacquitted, of tweeting.
Which, that allegation is also true.
So the new “crimes” I have been indicted for are as follows:
(1) writing, publishing, and promoting a book that the German authorities don’t want anyone to read. (There are, of course, numerous books with swastikas on their covers available for sale in Germany. Matt Taibbi posted images of some of them in a piece on my case back in 2023. So please, if you are one of these annoying German toadies who writes to me, over and over, and over again, claiming that “this prosecution is only about the swastika,” don’t bother, and … you know, go fuck yourself. )
(2) publishing an essay reporting on my original prosecution for tweeting.
But wait, here comes the most Kafkaesque (or perhaps the most Orwellian) part. After the Bundesverfassungsgericht (i.e., Germany’s supreme court) took a huge shit on Article 5 the German constitution …
Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.
… and summarily refused to review my appeal, I cancelled distribution of the book. So now I’m being prosecuted for authoring, publishing, and advertising a book that I no longer publish or advertise.
Of course, I can’t unwrite the book, so I guess they can still prosecute me for that, and they probably won’t be thrilled about the new updated second edition of the book that Skyhorse Publishing will be releasing shortly, but … well, what can I do? There is only so much fascist boot I can publicly lick.
Oh, and I just saw that Skyhorse Publishing is getting ready to load the book on their website. Gosh, I wonder what the new cover will look like?
I’m sorry that I’ve turned into a mockery of Lenny Bruce. I’ll try to keep you posted on the new prosecution. I’m also sorry about my recent lack of Substack output. I’ve been busy writing more harmful and undesirable literature.
Every country is a network of mafia protection rackets. Nothing provokes more anger and violence in a mafia than defiance of its authority, particularly if it's by the plebs they're extorting and looting in exchange for the illusion of protection, protection against some other mafia taking over the extortion and looting and "protection".
Few things expose that reality more starkly than the story of your defiance. It's a service many of us will never to be able to repay you for fully.
Very sorry this is happening to you, but even a casual observer of geopolitics understands that the EU/NATO countries are (ironically), going full fascist/authoritarian/oppressive. The UK and Germany are particularly bad for anyone who wants to engage in free political speech. Im surprised you stayed in Germany after the first prosecution, especially if you had the means and opportunity to leave and go to a country that won’t persecute people for criticism pertaining to Germany.