A picture book for adults that revives Bertold Brecht's 1927 poem to argue that little psychopaths mature and can gain the political power to gamble with the future of humanity. I made it in Orwell's ominous 1984, in support of anti-war protests against the deployment of Pershing 2 ballistic missiles in West Germany (1983, 1984).
Postscript
Some things change over time, and some remain surprisingly familiar. In 1983 and early 1984, Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov were the faces of the Cold War. Europe was looking for ways to improve its economic and political relations with the Soviet Union by building the Trans-Siberian Brotherhood gas pipeline. Indeed, the pipeline was a problem for American neoconservatives because it promoted European economic independence and established the Soviets as partners rather than ideological enemies.
In order to affirm the NATO alliance and increase the stakes, Reagan sanctioned German companies involved in the Euro-Soviet gas pipeline project and began installing Pershing missiles in Germany. That backfired as millions demonstrated in the streets of Europe with banners such as "Yankee, go home!" It might come as a surprise to some, but, German Greens leader Petra Kelly criticized SPD leader Willy Brandt for betraying his Neue Ostpolitik by failing to demand West Germany's withdrawal from NATO. At the time, Greens used to be progressive and Europeans still had national states, politics, and a sense of sovereignty.
The Pershings were deployed in Europe despite opposition. Nevertheless, European resistance to American intimidation and the fact that Reagan could not stop the construction of the Trans-Siberian pipeline, which delivered cheap natural gas to Europe, prompted Americans to search for new ways to antagonize the Soviets and restrain the Europeans. In 1983, Reagan launched the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) with the goal of "promoting democracy in other countries." The fake non-governmental organization (NGO) soon became the basis of the soft power of the Security State and, together with Soros' neoliberal clones, became a key carrot and stick instrument behind the platitudes such as democracy, free market and open society.
Indeed, the pseudo-cosmopolitan institutions of soft power could be seen as the reason why the Greens are no longer green, just as the Western Reds are no longer red. Little colourblind devotees of neoliberal ideology supported by NED and Open Society foundations ended up as contemporary "mildly delighted" young leaders of Europe.
Bertold Brecht wrote the poem Apfelboeck, or the Lily of the Field (Apfelböck oder die Lilie auf dem Felde) about a real person who killed his parents in Munich in 1919 and lived in a house with their corpses. Brecht was inspired by the astonishing lack of remorse of the killer child and the ethical implications that aroused public curiosity. The bizarre story is accompanied by significant real-life coincidences. Apfelböck spent 13 years in prison sharing a facility with Adolf Hitler, who was writing Mein Kampf at the time. Apfelböck died in 1985 when the comic strip Apfelboeck was first published in the magazine Vidici (235, 1/1985, Belgrade). Around the same time, Antony Blinken was polishing his thesis based on interviews with Henry Kissinger, to be published as the book Ally versus Ally (1987, Praeger, New York). The book provided background on Reagan's efforts to stop the Trans-Siberian pipeline and explains imperialist, neocolonial motivations behind the recent sabotage of the NordStream pipeline.
The comic strip is republished here as a comment on the current striking lack of responsibility and remorse of the political class, state media and knowledge institutions for the victims of the NATO wars.
This is an insightful reminiscence of the historical events, our collective past, that most of us have forgotten. Thank you for reminding us of that time and for revealing the hidden ways of manipulation that have been misleading us for the last three decades. Relativism has been holding us hostage for far too long, and some would like to rewrite history. Little Apfelbocks still wish to control us.