Letter to C J Hopkins #3
Michael Ballweg
Of Heroes II
Dear Mr. Hopkins,
The logic of my letters dictates that I write about Michael Ballweg although I know next to nothing about him. I was only able to research a little yet I’ve decided to write about the little I know all the same.
Michael Ballweg belongs to my generation. He was born, according to the notoriously unreliable and extremely dubious “Wikipedia”[1] (aka the Cocaine Import Agency & Deep State Disinformation Service) in Wertheim, a town of roughly 24,000 souls in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in November 1974.
For Germany 1974 was a time of triumph. Germany was doing well, despite the Kissinger induced Oil Shock of 1973. “Die große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner” by Werner Herzog, five films from Rainer Werner Fassbinder (including his interpretation of Effi Briest & “Angst essen Seele auf”) and Wim Wender’s “Alice in den Städten” were playing in the cinemas while in July of the same year Germany won the World Cup, beating the Netherlands 2–1 in the final at the Olympiastadion in Munich.
According to Wikipedia: “Ballweg graduated from the vocational academy in Stuttgart with a degree in business administration and founded the software company Media Access GmbH around 2001. Their software enabled companies to find highly specialized…professionals for specific projects. Customers included the Baden-Württembergische Bank, EnBW, the city of Hamburg, HUK-Coburg, Robert Bosch GmbH, Techniker Krankenkasse and Thyssenkrupp.”
In other words: Michael Ballweg is an entrepreneur (some might say “Yuppy”) who seems to have done well for himself.
“Ballweg was not politically active until 2020. At the beginning of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, he welcomed the government’s protective measures on his Twitter account and called for compliance with the AHA rules (“Keep your distance” “Observe hygiene measures” “Wear an everyday mask”). He showed corpse transports in Bergamo, where many people died from a Covid-19 infection. On March 14, 2020, he posted a satirical video under the hashtag #FlattenTheCurve, which mocked incumbent US President Donald Trump as a complete idiot and warned that such “asshole behavior” could quickly become life-threatening for high-risk patients in the pandemic. On March 20, 2020, he shared a warning from the Freiburg police about the risk of infection in group meetings that were too large with the hashtag “We’re Staying Home”.”
In other words: until 2020 he was politically fully unaware, which is understandable under the circumstances. After all: few have the time, means or leisure to read philosophy, history or, for that matter, study what actually goes on in the shadows of our society. And even those such as myself, whose sister played a key role in debunking the lies of the “bird flu pandemic” of 2009, weren’t quite sure, at first, what exactly we were confronted with. Was this really a “pandemic” or not? All I experienced was fear. What was clear however was that the “protective measures” were novel and “experimental” and of questionable use. Such a huge, global, experiment had never been conducted before. What would be the results? Nobody knew.
An acquaintance of mine, an actor, had repeatedly warned of how quickly democracy can fail. Other friends of mine, such as a Yoga teacher, mocked “Covid” when I caught the flu. What was going on? Was Covid really a threat or were we confronted with an assault on democracy?
For weeks, in the spring of 2020, I sat in a garden, the weather in Vienna was divine, and read Boccaccio’s Decamerone, Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, and Camus’s La Peste with a fierce intensity. These works were proof perfect as to the true value of literature: as a source of inspiration, comfort and embodiment of experiential truth.
Gradually, I came to realise that my historical situation differed fundamentally to those portrayed in the above mentioned texts. By comparing and contrasting my world with that of Boccaccio’s I knew I was most certainly NOT in the midst of a genuine plague.
“From mid-March 2020, Ballweg warned of the economic consequences of the measures and shared contributions from “crash prophets” such as Marc Friedrich. He then began to downplay the virus, citing a video by Sucharit Bhakdi, who described the number of corona deaths as completely exaggerated and the protective measures as destructive. Ballweg then shared many contributions by conspiracy ideologist Ken Jebsen on his web portal KenFM on the pandemic.”
What became abundantly clear was that the “protective measures” were costing lives, most notably in the “Third World” but also closer to home. Even before the pandemic my circle of friends had been devastated by a spate of suicides (including that of my brilliant cameraman: Ludwig Löckinger) and now this very real plague was getting noticeably worse. If the measures were designed to “save lives” why were they costing them?
Of interest is the fact that, at that point in time, the ability to disagree or discuss became so highly charged. How was this possible? Sucharit Bhakdi had and has a right to voice an opinion. That is perfectly normal. Ken Jebsen, who is by no means a “conspiracy ideologist” as alleged by the dubious Wikipedia, but rather a highly intelligent, highly critical thinker, had and has the right to ask questions about what is going on. That too is normal.
What makes both Sucharit Bhakdi and Ken Jebsen heroes in my eyes is the fact that they stuck to their guns despite initial, mocking, attacks that gradually turned into fierce and brutal persecution.
Why is it not possible to discuss matters openly? What is wrong with exchanging ideas or observations? How can this be “dangerous”? And since when has dubious dogma assumed such grand proportions? There is something profoundly sick, insane and wierd about the “new normal”, which is why we must discard it in the trashcan of history.
What we were confronted with was very obviously fraud and this was not difficult to prove.
The infamous, unscientific Drosten Protocol, which was used world-wide for PCR tests, was rammed through in untimely haste (three days) allowing no time for serious, scientific consideration. The fact that the inventor of the PCR tests (who very conveniently passed away shortly before the “pandemic”) had said that they were ill-suited to such a purpose was demonstrably ignored.
“From April 18, 2020, Ballweg began “vigils for the Basic Law” in Stuttgart. From April 22, he called his initiative “Querdenken711” (“lateral thinking711”). A website of the same name created by his wife went online on April 23. He called for demonstrations against restrictions on fundamental rights in the corona crisis every Saturday on Schloßplatz (Stuttgart). On April 25, 2020, up to 500 people attended. Among them were many members and supporters of the Alternative for Germany (AfD).”
“When the city administration of Stuttgart banned the third rally, Ballweg managed to have the ban lifted with an urgent application to the Federal Constitutional Court…He moved the following rallies to the Cannstatter Wasen. There, on May 2, 2020, in front of around 5,000 participants, he called for freedom of assembly and freedom of belief as well as new elections in October 2020. He didn’t tolerate any radical ideas from the left or right, but advocated freedom of expression. He mocked the distance rule, called for “major nationwide demonstrations” for May 9, 2020 and announced Ken Jebsen as a speaker in Stuttgart. This appealed to the Swabian bourgeoisie, conspiracy ideologues, free church Christians and opponents of vaccination.”
“Before interviews, Ballweg demanded that journalists sign a declaration “to report truthfully, impartially and completely” and not to practice censorship. He justified this with an alleged “distorted reporting in ARD, SWR and ZEIT online”, thus excluding them from interviews with him and rejecting critical reporting in favor of “alternative media”.”
Suffice it to say: he has been brutally persecuted for this assertion of our basic freedoms and only recently has he been released from prison.
I fear this letter might well be boring you (having to quote Wikipedia all the time, with its appalling style is deeply depressing) so I will cease for the time being.
I sincerely hope your case is going well. The brutal repression you are facing for speaking the truth is nearly if not as bad as the repression faced by the likes of Ballweg, Sucharit Bhakdi and Ken Jebsen.
A friend recently opined:
“However, amidst all the noise and haste (and a large sector of silence), neither meaningful deterrent nor counterforce has created an effective opposition. I appreciate optimism, but until there is a change for the better — which will probably have to be legal in nature — pessimism is still on the table. Meanwhile, as the audience is held captive, the script keeps rolling and we are forced to watch this horror show. Why am I now thinking of Alex in A Clockwork Orange. We are all Alex now.”
Yet I remain nevertheless, perhaps irrationally, optimistic. The truth will out (eventually).
Best,
Michael
" I appreciate optimism, but until there is a change for the better — which will probably have to be legal in nature — pessimism is still on the table." 'Legal in nature', really? Don't hold your breath. Democracy and 'Rechtsstaat' are dead. After the global corporate coup d'état of the last three years, the elites have done away with the centuries old 'Operettendemocratie'. They now openly claim power. Both the Judicial and the Legislative are in the service of the Executive which itself has become the lackey of Big Money and the City of London. I recommend the books/ exposés by the charming Sorbonne alumna Valérie Bugault, who explains it well. 'We have been led around the garden since the Magna Charta.' How's your French?
Trying to reason with the insane. Thank our lord and forefathers that knew the second amendment was instrumental and never, ever made accommodations or power grabs for lockdowns or power grabs based on pandemics that they had direct and historical knowledge of.