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It is forbidden to talk about violence at the Chaos Computer Club

I have deliberately chosen a provocative title here to draw attention to an unfortunate dynamic that comes with dealing with the topic of interpersonal violence. I want to stimulate reflection and invite people to talk, even if and precisely because the topic is so uncomfortable. Since 2018, I have been working more intensively and more explicitly on the emergence and persistence of violence in society. How victims become perpetrators, of themselves and others, how experiences of violence are passed down through generations and contribute to mental disorders and other illnesses.

This behaviour encourages a normalization effect, which ultimately leads to the legitimization, acceptance, blunting and even glorification and imitation of this immoral, unrepentant behaviour.” ( Dr. Anja Oswald, Dr. Pablo Hagemeyer und Dr. Jan Gysi: Toxic Leaders; DeepL translation) I believe that legal regulations in this case positively reflect what I think is important in a democracy: there must be factual reasons for a ban, not just imagined ones, and a hearing means interacting with each other, to listen and respond to the arguments put forward and not simply ignoring them. In over 25 years of data protection activism, I have given dozens of specialist lectures, co-chaired an academic symposium, appeared on the Tagesschau and many other formats as an ’expert’, would have supervised a doctoral student if Covid hadn’t intervened, been offered various jobs and research positions, and so on and so forth.

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