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Martin Budich is no video gamer. He doesn’t even know who Bomberman is. But that didn’t stop him from using a protest poster with said character on his website, which in turn lead to him being charged with supposedly having invoked violent acts against Nazis.
The poster (pictured above), which wasn’t manufactured by him but by a group of anti-fascism activists, shows Bomberman holding a cake with a burning “candle†sticking in it. The text “Kein Zuckerschlecken für Nazis.†can be roughly translated as “No cake walk for Nazis.†(Zucker schlecken is a German term for something easy).
The demonstration of Nazis (that this poster is against), and the demonstration of left wing activist against it, took place in the German town of Bochum on the 25th of October last year. The Nazis used the motto “Deutsche, wehrt Euch!†(Germans, fight back!). For these who don’t know, that was used also in the third Reich, with “Kauft nicht bei Juden!†(Don’t buy from Jews!) added. And we all know where that led to…
Martin Budich says that he used the poster because he wanted to show the whole spectrum of opposition. But the prosecution of Bochum says that he invoked acts of violence. The argument: the character isn’t holding a cake with a candle but a bomb with a fuse. Ergo he triggered violent acts by the anti-fascism activists, by invoking the carrying of illegal objects to use them for acts of bodily injury.
The investigations of the prosecution have shown that there has been an aggressive atmosphere at the anti-Nazi demonstration. According to the authorities. this was thanks to the publication of said Bomberman poster.
Yeah, right. I’d like to see a anti-Nazi demonstration that doesn’t have an (at least slightly) aggressive atmosphere.
This whole thing looks like a way to intimidate persons that are politically committed, since Martin Budach did piss off the authorities quite a bit in the past (especially with his website bo-alternativ.de). Great way to use my tax money, instead of investigating the activities of the Neo-Nazis.
But just to be fair, Martin Budich has already been convicted in a similar case. He used an anti-Nazi poster that showed a comic character with a slingshot, which got valued as a appeal for acts of violence.
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what a sad miss use of a video game character