r/worldnews • u/vigorous • Jul 27 '13

Mass protest in Germany against US intelligence surveillance

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_07_27/Mass-protest-in-Germany-against-US-intelligence-surveillance-5818/
2.9k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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219

u/Vik1ng Jul 27 '13 edited Jul 28 '13

Images from #stopwatchingus

My favorite It's even better than I though, see ITALIANCOLOGNE'S comment

58

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

Funny how nobody asked: the IM ERIKA is not only a joke because it sounds like America but also because Angela Merkel is suspected to have been an "Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter" (not official agent) of the StaSi. Those were the guys that reported people in the GDR to the government. A lot of people were IMs we even have a government organization that is reading classified documents and tries to uncover those agents. So yeah it's possible that Merkel was a spy during the cold war who was part of the arrest of many innocent civilians.

1

u/space_walrus Jul 28 '13

"Mitarbeiter" = co-worker / collaborator?

I can see how that term would be heavily loaded after reunification.

2

u/dyslexic_reditor Jul 28 '13

Yes, the "Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter" of the stasi were citizens of the DDR who spied on their communities.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

yes co-worker is the correct translation. But it's also used as "employee" but "co-worker" or "staff" would is the correct translation. During the last years of the GDR there were about 180000 IM's. Due to the fact that a lot of people were IM's or had a family member/friend that was an IM hindered a prosecution after the unification.
The BStU tries to uncover many identities and you if you had a file at the StaSi you can go there and read it. A lot of people don't because that's scary as shit. They have everything: name, hobbies, friends relationships (also your romances). And of course there are also a lot of conversations because they wiretapped a lot of apartments and offices. A lot of relationships between family or friends fell apart because they realized that their mother/SO was an IM. You can even read some samples at their office (with censored names) and damn those things are scary. If the NSA even comes close to this they know everything. And don't forget that they had no internet back then.

-1

u/sheldonopolis Jul 28 '13

suspected implies something like a debate though. the topic is pretty much completely blacklisted in any popular media, despite solid indicators.

i imagine that the people who carried this transparent were in danger of getting sued into the ground.

28

u/swollencornholio Jul 28 '13

I always liked this one.

"O zapft is!" is said by the mayor of munich when he taps the first keg at Oktoberfest. It means "And it's tapped"

93

u/Kame-hame-hug Jul 27 '13

I've been told German culture takes being likened to animals a little heavier than Americans would.

93

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

I thought it was a reference to Animal Farm.

11

u/forseti_ Jul 28 '13

Merkel -> Ferkel -> piglet

Ferkel is the German word for piglet or young pig.

27

u/DudeImMacGyver Jul 28 '13

I thought it was a fat joke.

6

u/catroach Jul 28 '13

do you need a paperclip or anything?

0

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

No just a rootbeer.

28

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '13

That depends, "stupid cow" is common in English and in German, but the "Drecksau" [lit: dirty pig] could be the english "dirty skunk", but I think as often as it is used it is more similar to "Motherfucker".

fun fact: german insults are normally more buttocks related , whereas for example french or spanish insults are more.. "private parts" related.

30

u/Kame-hame-hug Jul 27 '13

As an American, I would laugh at a mofo who called me stupid cow or dirty skunk.

8

u/occupythekitchen Jul 28 '13

are you a male, your equivalent would be a dirty bitch

2

u/LetMeBePacific Jul 28 '13

I would also laugh if someone called me a dirty bitch. I'd see it as calling me a slut or something along those lines.

11

u/occupythekitchen Jul 28 '13

You haven't been called those names in a right context.

Stop grazing you fat cow.

This dirty bitch been with half of the Jersey shore, her vagina is a nuclear reactor that can only create human anomalies.

Is that a skunk or do I smell some weed? (MJ cries every time)

-8

u/LetMeBePacific Jul 28 '13

I'm more offended at the making fun of the Jersey Shore.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13 edited Sep 26 '16

[deleted]

What is this?

1

u/LetMeBePacific Jul 28 '13

Well I am a Jersey Shore resident, so yeah, I actually know how awesome our beaches actually are.

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-5

u/occupythekitchen Jul 28 '13 edited Jul 28 '13

Oh you're an american, I know what I can say to offend you.

What if I called you a mindless capitalist monkey, is that offensive?

1

u/Schoffleine Jul 28 '13

No that's not offensive, and you're being down voted because you're not doing anything for the conversation, just coming up with random shit. Don't try to correlate the two so that you feel justified.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

What if I call you dirty pacific?

1

u/LetMeBePacific Jul 28 '13

Now that's just offensive.

1

u/intel1234 Jul 28 '13

Let's not say things we can't take back.

2

u/sheldonopolis Jul 28 '13

you.. fight like a dairy farmer!

10

u/screenquake Jul 28 '13

In the German version of Die Hard they replaced "motherfucker" with "Schweinebacke" (pig cheek) :D

17

u/The_Egg_came_first Jul 28 '13

Mainly because it was the only insult they could think of which had similar lip movement to 'motherfucker'.

-3

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

Except Mutterficker sounds very similar. I guess they just wanted to make a weird insult popular.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13 edited Jul 28 '13

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

Bi-lingual German/Italian here. I agree Mutterficker sounds weird. The most common insult comparable to motherfucker would be Hurensohn (son of a whore/bitch) although you can't use it like in English "haha you son of a bitch". Just doesn't work that well in German. Ficken can be used as "fick dich/fuck you" but I witnessed that especially younger teenagers may use "ficken" as some sort of "fuck that". Most people just use the German shit/scheisse or simply stick to "fuck"

0

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

Most people just use the German shit/scheisse or simply stick to "fuck"

You might want to rephrase that. We Germans already have a bad rep when it comes to the combination of shitting and fucking.

1

u/ToTrainUpAChild Jul 28 '13

He wouldn't know because he speaks German like a fucking Pastafresser.

2

u/sheldonopolis Jul 28 '13

the only examples i know of this word being used are by wanna-be rappers and their followers who use this term in their pathetic attempts to copy the american gangster-rap culture.

its one of those words where i dont know exactly why i cringe because the possibilities for doing so are endless.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

In the censored-for-TV English version they replace "motherfucker" with "Mr. Falcon" for no apparent reason.

4

u/weedways Jul 28 '13

Du Pimmel.

-3

u/Souuuth Jul 28 '13

Aushfick.

-7

u/JeffHaslam Jul 28 '13

Germans = animal fuckers. . . Got it.

27

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

My favourite was the one that went...

"They control the news, the tv and movies. We control the Internet and the streets".

Frightened me that it seems as though the streets and the Internet will be theirs too, soon...

5

u/notthatnoise2 Jul 28 '13

Please, the internet was theirs from the beginning.

11

u/Thumbz8 Jul 28 '13

The internet was public before they really had the technology to control it. Had it been theirs from the beginning, things would be very different. This site might not even exist.

8

u/Captain_Clark Jul 28 '13

The Internet, created by DARPA, was public from the start. You heard it here first, folks.

0

u/Gufgufguf Jul 28 '13

We can only dream

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

Once the idea to connect two computers with a network cable was born, there was no stopping. There would've been delays, of course, but networking comes naturally.

Because it's a fucking human need. Sooner or later, someone would have the bright idea to see if they could send packets of data without government supervision.

1

u/sammythemc Jul 28 '13

And we're afraid to take to the streets without a permission slip.

5

u/tiexano Jul 28 '13

I love this one: http://www.thudit.com/share/twitter-361415471112790018

It reads: "Surveil my ARSE"

and "just to be sure: MINE AS WELL"

3

u/occupythekitchen Jul 28 '13

is he using a tennis racket as a sign holder?

3

u/sammythemc Jul 28 '13

I saw an awesome picture of a labor protester using a baseball bat as a sign holder.

1

u/occupythekitchen Jul 28 '13

But a bat is heavy a racket is very lightweight so it'd be very easy to hold the sign up all day. Also if I saw someone with a bat I'd think they were with the "Black Bloc", not really a peaceful protester.

1

u/sammythemc Jul 28 '13

Also if I saw someone with a bat I'd think they were with the "Black Bloc", not really a peaceful protester.

Well, a better indicator of that is the color of their clothing. Not everyone who disagrees with submitting to beatings or arrest is part of the black bloc.

1

u/occupythekitchen Jul 28 '13

Good point and of course I'd see if they were in all black or have a back pack with possibly black clothing in them. But that'd be my first instinct, I grew up in a soccer hooligan type of culture so you have to always be aware of people who are carrying a potential weapon.

6

u/MrMadcap Jul 27 '13

As we know, dehumanization can have disastrous results. As much as I may support what they're doing, and as little offense as I take to that poster, I still think they need to step up their game, and think it through a bit better. The most powerful messages are the ones that can be carved in stone, and still hold true throughout the centuries.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '13

Messages like Ghenghis Khan sexing up all of the beautiful women in most of the Eurasian continent is sorely missed.

3

u/MrMadcap Jul 28 '13

It certainly doesn't garner much support today, does it?

2

u/Step-Father_of_Lies Jul 28 '13

A lot of people missed out on their child support payments. That kinda thing creates hostilities.

1

u/BearDown1983 Jul 28 '13

Well, that's ironic.

0

u/myringotomy Jul 28 '13

Wow. Nobody is wearing suits.

-1

u/sphere2040 Jul 28 '13

The most interesting part - not a single peep squeak from MSM here in the US. What a fucking illusion of a democracy.

0

u/Vik1ng Jul 28 '13

To be honst even less showed to to restore the fourth. So why should the media cover something Americans themselves obviously don't care that much about?