This is how the Internet reacts to the planned solidarity campaign with Till Lindemann

taketonews

The planned solidarity campaign with Rammstein singer Till Lindemann causes divided reactions on social media. The background: For today’s concert in Munich (June 7th), fans called for kneeling down in response to the allegations of abuse against the singer in front of the band – and thus showing their solidarity.

Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of criticism for the fan action. There are many reasons for this: some declare the singer to be a criminal on their own in their tweets [Für Lindemann gilt die Unschuldsvermutung, Anm.] and feel solidarity with him as scandalous. Others judge the gesture of kneeling as subservient, martial or see an explosive connection to the Black Lives Matter movement.

“A slap in the face and humiliation for all those affected”

“It’s incomprehensible that someone is still going to Rammstein concerts, but anyone who then wants to kneel down out of solidarity with the rapist Lindemann can only be a perpetrator themselves or a cowardly protector of the perpetrator who mocks all of his victims,” ​​writes one person.

Another user speaks of a “slap in the face and humiliation for all those affected”.

However, a user of the short message service cannot understand “that thousands in Munich want to kneel in front of an abuser.”

Reference to the Black Lives Matter movement

Some also see kneeling as problematic because it is a well-known gesture of the Black Lives Matter movement, which dates back to American football player Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick would kneel during the US anthem at NFL games in 2016 instead of standing up as usual. He demonstrated against racial discrimination and police violence in the United States. The gesture made waves around the world and is an important part of the “Black Lives Matter” discourse – and also because Kaepernick’s career never recovered, which is interpreted as an indication of structural racism. The author and anti-racism activist Jasmin Kuhnke had previously commented on this.

However, not everyone sees this connection. “I may be leaning a little far out here, but this gesture exists in many areas and also from all kinds of times, e.g. in the Middle Ages and before that, knights showed their loyalty to their master by kneeling in front of him went,” writes one person. Others point out that Rammstein has been performing the gesture of kneeling in front of their fans during their concerts for many years (and well before Kaepernick’s action) — and fans just want to mirror that gesture.



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