Helen Fares: “Smart, young people have long since given up on public media”

2024-04-13 08:19:23

“GuMo to the press, thank you for your interest, here is my statement so that I don’t have to give 800 interviews” – this is how a friendly and flippant post by the journalist and TV presenter Helen Fares begins, after a call for a boycott against Israel had lost his engagement with the broadcaster SWR (Südwestrundfunk).

The broadcaster justified this by saying that the presenter had violated her duty of neutrality, WELT reported. In her new statement on Thursday evening, the 29-year-old now accuses the station and also attacks the media and public broadcasting as a whole.

The statement can be read on Instagram. There, Fares had posted a video clip online from a supermarket in which she used a cell phone app to check products to see whether they came from Israel or were produced by Israelis. Fares, who is on Instagram Ms. Baklava and has more than 100,000 followers, recommended her viewers use the app called “No Thanks” as a way to position themselves against Israel and its war in the Gaza Strip.

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The video caused quite a stir. Not only the author was criticized, but also broadcasters in general who give a platform to presenters with an anti-Israel stance. Accusations of anti-Semitism were also raised.

“Racism against us Palestinian soldiers”

Fares herself now accuses the broadcaster of essentially abandoning her. The German-Syrian, who grew up in Leipzig, wrote that Südwestrundfunk (SWR) was always aware of her political stance and commitment. “My moderation work at SWR Format,Mixtalk’, “I started it after being an activist for many years, which advertises itself as a discursive format “in which discussions without hate are possible.”

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She also had a conversation before When she signed the contract, she once again told the broadcaster clearly and clearly: “I am a journalist AND an activist, I talk about Palestine, among other things, and that will never change.” In the telephone conversation, she said she had already warned that her work would harm her for the SWR “could end up in the firing line between you and those who want to abolish the ÖRR (public broadcasting)”.

What’s more, the “racism of us Palestinian soldiers” could possibly also be exploited to, quote, “harm you.” The broadcaster then assured her, “Yes, we know what you do.”

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After the headline-making incident with the boycott app, the broadcaster distanced itself from her and ended the employment relationship, “even though everyone involved knows that this hatred (…) was actually just an instrument for the discrediting of the public media.”

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Fares – she promotes herself with the words “human rights activism, journalism, psychology, moderation, podcasts” – indirectly accuses those responsible of giving in to public pressure: “I feel pity that a team of so many people in SWR felt forced to give in to pressure from the right in a climate in Germany that was already steadily moving further to the right.”

Obligation to create a “program for everyone”.

This process, the 29-year-old continued, was a fatal signal at a time when, in her opinion, democracy had come under pressure. Such an attitude can hardly be conveyed to many young people, especially politically active people.

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She observes privately and thanks to the many emails that she received after the scandal, “how smart, young people, with and without a migration background, have long since given up on public media.” Meanwhile, the moderator continued, many no longer believe “that the ÖRR is actually fulfilling its task of being a pillar of democracy because they feel neither seen nor heard, let alone represented.”

But it is the “duty” of public broadcasting to “represent society” and “to make programs for everyone,” especially to show those “who don’t want people like me in Germany”: “ There is also space here for us, for our opinions and attitudes that do not correspond to the white majority society.”

“Boycotts are a peaceful form of protest”

She continues to be combative herself. Fares concludes her post with the words: “I will be loud as long as I can – whether as a journalist, filmmaker, activist or artist. I will be loud for those who cannot, especially today for the over 30,000 people in Gaza who are being killed by a military that I am unwilling to support with my purchasing power.”

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She also renewed her appeal to her community to stand up for the fate of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “The Israeli government has been bombing Gaza for six months. Over 30,000 people have already been killed, these war crimes must be put to an end and we must ALL fight for them.” By Saturday morning, the posting had already been liked more than 12,000 times.

In addition, Helen Fares also thanked you for the support and gave an update on her emotional state: “To everyone who asks about me with concern and love: I’m fine. I know what I stand for and that is human rights. Boycotts are a peaceful form of protest that are socially accepted as a form of protest in any other context.”