Ferda Ataman has become Germany’s new federal commissioner for anti-discrimination despite claims of racism and her past instance of referring to ethnic Germans are “potatoes” in a magazine column she wrote.
The controversial Ataman has built a career around identity politics, and has made a number of racist remarks in the past, including in a Spiegel column where she wrote that many German citizens “sometimes mutate into thin-skinned Emo-Germans” if they are called “potatoes.”
She further wrote: “A surprising number of people see this as insulting discrimination. Why?” She then proceeds to answer her own question, writing, “So the outrage about ‘potato Germans’ is about something else. It’s about the inner resistance to deal with yourself and your own privileges.”
She has also referred to Germans as “almans,” which is derogatory slang for Germans displaying “typical” German traits.
In her Spiegel column in February, she called out Germans to participate in “name guerrilla” actions and recommended that ethnic German parents name their children “Osman, Aliyeh, Khuyen” while migrant children, on the other hand, should be given traditional German names.
Ataman’s Twitter feed was full of posts about White privilege, migrant issues, and so-called discrimination, however, she proceeded to reportedly delete thousands of her Twitter posts once her campaign for anti-discrimination commissioner began. Ataman, whose parents were from Turkey, has also been accused of ignoring the issues of forced marriages, Turkish nationalism, and genital mutilation, all issues that have plagued Germany due to a rise in migration.
Ataman won her commissioner position after a vote in the German Parliament (Bundestag), earning 376 yes votes against 278 no voters and 14 abstentions. However, many politicians fiercely opposed her appointment, saying she was not fit to judge matters of anti-discrimination given her past history.
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) member of the Bundestag, Christoph de Vries, refused to vote for her, writing on Twitter. “Anyone who has to clean up their past by deleting thousands of tweets in order to hide their position should not bear any future responsibility in the federal government as anti-discrimination officer.”
However, there was also opposition from the Free Democerats (FDP) who belong to the coalition ruling government.
Ataman stands “in a special way for divisive identity politics, defamation of those who think differently and a lack of willingness to differentiate,” said federal board member Linda Teuteberg in the German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Ataman is co-founder of the lobby organization “Neue Deutsche Medienmacher” , which wants to place more migrants in journalism. Every year they award “the golden potato” for “particularly underground reporting.” Among other things, the 43-year-old has served as the deputy member of the advisory board of the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency.
Racism against Whites increasingly ok?
Ataman’s appointment is not exactly unique in the West, which appears to be increasingly tolerant of minorities who have made racist remarks against White people. For example, France’s controversial new education minister, Pap Ndiaye, was recently appointed to his position despite a history of racist remarks against Whites, attending events that were forbidden to White people, and authoring reports calling for less White people in the Paris Opera. Despite his history of racism, he also claimed that France was “structurally racist.”
In the United States, the situation is not much different. Despite Kristen Clarke writing that Black people were superior to Whites genetically in an article for the Harvard Crimson and hosting an anti-Semitic speaker at Harvard, she was confirmed to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under President Joe Biden. Many not only claimed that it would set an egregious precedent but also was a double-standard that any White candidate for the position would never be able to overcome had they written something similar claiming Whites were superior to Blacks.
Even hallowed liberal establishments such as the New York Times not only refused to let go one of their board members, Sarah Jeong, but even defended her in an editorial opinion piece after numerous racist Tweets emerged. For the Times, the fact that they were directed at White people made these tweets appropriate and acceptable.
“Are white people genetically predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins,” she wrote in December 2014.
Jeong also wrote July 2014: “Oh man it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men.”
She also used the hashtag “#CancelWhitePeople” and voiced her anger about “white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants.”