Neo Nazi Ad Takeover's in Berlin

Friends made me aware of the fact that an Identitarian group in Berlin had hijacked some ad space for thier refugees go home messages. It obviously upset a lot of people and an interesting Reddit conversation started [HERE]

While I in no way agree with the hate filled rhetoric and behavior surrounding protectionist solutions to economic and social unrest, not to mention the outright racism at the heart of most of these beliefs, I do see a place for the messages in public space (if only briefly). For me the public environment is an opportunity for expression and that does not come with censorship of certain ideas and individuals. It is a democratic space in which all can be heard and all can react to the ideas each of us put forward. No one group should dominate the civic media environment.

That said, I would expect these messages to be removed immediately by citizens who saw thier hate speech for what it is. I think that by negotiating our shared public spaces together we learn about eachother, react to one another, and then learn again. In the end, what gets left on our walls is who we truly are and so the negotiation is as important as the content.