In the letter family, the Z has always been a little disadvantaged. It had to queue at the end, and for the sake of simplicity, the alphabet was referred to as “ABC” and not “A-Z”. But now it gets really thick.
Depending on the context, the use of the letter Z in public should be punishable. This is not about a general ban, but: Its use can represent an approval of the Russian war of aggression in individual cases and is therefore prohibited under Section 140 of the Criminal Code. The paragraph in the Criminal Code states that anyone who condones certain crimes in a way that is likely to disturb public peace can be punished with a fine or up to three years in prison. The states of Berlin, Bavaria, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony have already criminalized the use of the “Z” to endorse the war against Ukraine.
The always fun-loving users of social media have already become active and predict difficult times for the delivery service Zalando, the weekly newspaper Die Zeit and especially for ZDF. Can’t you see better with the second?
From Zorro to Costa Gavras
In fact, the Z has seen better days. In any case, in European film history there are completely different stories associated with it that are not just about the anarchic westerner Zorro. At the end of the 1960s, the Z stood for a democratic freedom movement. Costa Gavras’ film of the same name from 1969 is about the murder of the intellectual Gregoris Lambrakis during the Greek military dictatorship and is considered a genre-defining classic of political film.
In this context, “Z” means “He is alive”, and at the same time it became an emotional symbol of resistance against any form of totalitarianism. The Z was emblazoned on the walls of Greek houses and painted on the streets in bright white. The film music comes from the recently deceased composer Mikis Theodorakis, whose rousing rhythms seemed to mobilize directly for the just cause at the time.
Seen in this way, the Z now applied to heavy Russian war equipment is a clear case of sign theft, which Putin should not be allowed to get away with. The same applies in this case: a ban plays into the hands of the despot.
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