Guest post by Naomi Seibt
What do the Smurfs have in common with Germany? They are blue. And the same goes for Germany.
This is the controversial statement that got a girl removed from the classroom by principal Jan-Dirk Zimmermann who confronted her with three police officers because she had the audacity to post it on TikTok. You may be wondering, surely this must be some sort of provocative reference with an outrageous backstory.
Let me solve the riddle:
Blue is the color representing the political party AfD (Alternative for Germany), the only strong right-wing opposition in Germany. He has generated a substantially growing following in recent years, but the mainstream media continues to shun him for his “racist,” “queer-phobic,” “climate denial,” and “anti-vax” views. Sound familiar? Yes, the AfD is the equivalent of right-wing patriotic movements promoting free speech around the world.
In the TikTok, the girl Loretta, without revealing her face, claims that the Smurfs and Germany have something in common (they are both blue) and shows the map of Germany in strong shades of blue with a statistic showing the popularity of the AfD .
Principal Zimmermann immediately took drastic action and called the police, saying Loretta was promoting “potentially unconstitutional content.” The girl was issued a “formal police warning” as a preventative measure against “incitement”.
Let me remind you that the AfD is a legitimate and very popular political party that has been the subject of absurd scaremongering and defamation by the mainstream media and the left-wing political sphere, which currently dominates the German government. How the Smurfs video could violate the Constitution is almost comical!
Comical, if it weren’t so serious. Such a humiliating experience must have been terrifying for the girl. She probably didn’t expect this male authority figure to scroll through her students’ TikToks during class, nor should she! You supposedly received a confidential “clue” from a parent, but what could that have done? The idea that there was something dangerously controversial about this TikTok is so absurd that the principal should have rejected it immediately. She had no right to peek at her content on TikTok out of curiosity, whether political or private. Not to accuse Zimmermann of anything highly inappropriate, but perhaps the police should have stayed and checked his hard drive…
Just a “formal police warning” as a preventative measure, of course! What goes around comes around.
What drives a principal to watch a student’s TikTok during class??? The police should have stayed longer and checked the hard drive!
— Naomi Seibt (@SeibtNaomi) March 15, 2024
When the Smurfs scandal sparked public outrage, cops downplayed the events and said they strove to keep the interrogation as discreet as possible. Loretta’s classmates allegedly “didn’t even notice” the officers.
As it turns out, that was a lie.
Loretta and her mother were interviewed to share their perspective:
Loretta: “All the voices went silent and everyone stared at me – it was the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me“
Annetta B.: “Numerous students were eyewitnesses. At no point did they appear to have thought about how the matter could be discussed discreetly and anonymously.”
Loretta, what was it really like?
Loretta: My mother is right. I heard everyone‘my eyes are burning. It was the most embarrassing thing‘This has never happened to me.
Annetta B.: “You can criticize our conservative political views, you can reject them, find them wrong and reprehensible, we respect that. But calling the police because of a student‘s opinion – That‘it’s just amazing!
And then take her out of class and walk her around school like a criminal and on top of that spread the word in the press that it was necessary to conduct some kind of “danger discussion” (preventive police measure) with her and thus represent a completely innocent minor as a potential criminal in front of the whole world – do these people really realize what they are doing?”
Furthermore, the police defended the intervention with “§ 13 SOG MV”:
“Regulatory authorities and the police are required, within the framework of applicable laws, to take the necessary measures at their discretion to avert dangers to the public or persons, which threaten public safety or order.”
When asked what such charges might entail, police had to admit that, technically, Loretta had not committed any crime. However, his actions could possibly fall within or lead to the violation of § 86a or § 130 StGB. This includes displaying unconstitutional or terrorist symbols (e.g., the swastika) and hate crimes such as inciting violence against a certain population.
The Interior Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (member of the left-wing SPD party) does not agree that the measures taken by the police were in any case disproportionate. After all, she wasn’t escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs. That’s literally what she said.
Of course, the real damage done to Loretta’s trust and sense of security is ignored by the mainstream media, police and political spokespeople who despise the AfD. Loretta was absolutely discouraged from continuing to support her political views.
Loretta: I promised them what they wanted.
Why did you do that? If your description is correct, it was extra-legal, political intimidation.
Loretta: Because I stopped making videos anyway.
Loretta: Because they kept getting deleted months ago, even though I had read up on them and made sure to do so‘Don’t accidentally post something unauthorized. But that’s how it was‘t help, and this‘It’s no fun when all you‘I worked hard to make it disappear again. While anti-AfD criticism and agitation remain on Tiktok, for example: “AfDler töten” (“Kill AfDers“)
In fact, the AfD is currently the most represented German party on TikTok. Most likely because there is almost no neutral or positive news coverage about the AfD in the mainstream media. Obviously this is a threat to the establishment’s monopoly.
“Between January 2022 and December 2023, TikTok videos from the official channel of the Bundestag AfD (Alternative for Germany) achieved an average of 430,000 impressions per video. The FDP (Free Democratic Party) has reached 53,000, while the remaining parties are even further behind. Impressions indicate how often the content was displayed to users.”
Let’s make sure Loretta and brave teenagers like her don’t drown in the tyrannical intimidation of authorities who disapprove of their political views! This is censorship on an absolutely heartbreaking level: psychological terror against children.
Now even Elon Musk has taken note of the situation:
Really, that’s all?
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2024
Smurfs-Gate is an international scandal. Germany is being reminded of the policies implemented to silence and terrorize dissidents in the GDR, the eastern part of Germany under socialist rule behind the famous Berlin Wall during the Cold War.
The original TikTok video may have been deleted, but Loretta’s allies around the world continue to share and talk about it. This was a teenager’s silent attempt to demonstrate that numerous AfD supporters like her already exist. She sparked hope for like-minded people and the spark grew into an international fire of support for Loretta.