A fasho German politician issued a public smear campaign against Maureen Maisha Auma, an amazing Black scholar studying the intersections of gender/race. The politician alleges that Auma is perpetrating anti-white racism by noting: German unis are structurally excluding POC/WOC. https://twitter.com/GlasmanJo/status/1352707715458605058

The social media campaign against Auma, which I will not reproduce here, features her face and this politician's call to action: "Don't accept racism against white people! Put Maureen Maisha Auma in her place!" This messaging—of course!—got a lot of traction in Germany.

The politician's campaign sits positioned in a long history of fasho disdain for gender studies proliferated among populist, right, and centre politics internationally. It is also aligned with the structural racism that harms Black scholars and students in Germany.

At the core of this politician's rhetoric is whiteness. He actively appropriates the idiom of oppression to note how critiques of whiteness harm white people unduly. His reasoning: white supremacy.

The politician's rhetoric is—as you can imagine—very harmful. It fuels fasho white supremacy in Germany and poses an immediate threat to Auma. It follows a somewhat similar logic to Trump's calls to action.

Select student groups issued a letter of solidarity with Auma QTed above. A couple of other solidarity campaigns with Auma are underway. These measures are very important. The Hochschule Magdeburg and the Humboldt Uni should put measures into place to help Auma.

Lots of scholarship out there and underway outlining structural exclusion of POC at German universities. You can read up a bit more on the matter here.

grateful that @SharonDoduaOtoo posted this interview with Auma https://twitter.com/SharonDoduaOtoo/status/1353019759286231041?s=20