Political activists in Germany said Thursday they had projected an image of Elon Musk’s infamous raised-arm salute and the word “Heil” onto the outside of his Tesla plant.
Campaigners from German group the Center for Political Beauty and British activists Led by Donkeys shared pictures and footage online of the protest action they said they had staged late Wednesday.
The word “heil” is seen projected onto the factory near Berlin in the font of the automaker’s logo, to spell the message “Heil Tesla”, a reference to the Nazi greeting that honoured Adolf Hitler.
Philipp Ruch, founder of the Center for Political Beauty, said in comments to AFP that Musk had given “a Hitler salute, just like American neo-Nazis have been practising for years”.
Musk has rejected as “dirty tricks” and “propaganda” any comparisons between the Nazi salute and his gesture, which he repeated and accompanied with the words “my heart goes out to you” to the audience.
Musk has already drawn criticism in Germany for his vocal support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and repeatedly insulting German political leaders on his X social media platform.
With Germany in the midst of an election campaign, Musk has described the AfD as the “last ray of hope for the country”. He also hosted a discussion with AfD top candidate Alice Weidel on X.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, asked about Musk on Tuesday, said that Germany guarantees free speech but stressed that “what we do not accept is if this is supporting extreme right positions”.
The Tesla factory in Germany has been targeted by protestors in the past on environmental grounds.
In November, police cleared a protest camp in woods near the plant, where activists sought to block the site’s planned extension.
In March, a far-left group had claimed responsiblity for sabotaging power lines which supply the plant.
Next: small decals with text “wankpanzer”, “Incel camino” or “cyberstuck” selling like hot cakes.
Some person(s) in my city used to go around slapping stickers over Trump bumper stickers that said “drink beer, support the queer!”. As of recently several Teslas have had “Built by fascism” slapped on them… Wonder if it’s the same person(s).
What a legend 😆
It’s great because nobody can figure out who may be doing it.
There’s a running theory that it’s the same graffiti artist that had been doing anti-corpo stuff during Occupy WallStreet like some kind of ancap banksy but again, they haven’t been caught nor identified.
Who would buy hit cakes?
How is there any debate? It’s a Nazi salute. You can debate whether or not he meant to do it, I guess, but it’s insane that anyone would try to deny it.
The party has to redefine reality - basically as a flex. The mainstream media get to show deference to the regime by bending the knee, whereas anyone who calls out the emperor’s new clothes goes on a list as a potential troublemaker.
NAZIS RAUS!
Schiesst diesen Wixxer auf den Mars!
Ohne Anzug.
Oh shit that was real? I thought it was photoshop…
me too when i first saw the picture
nice fucking projector they got there
He is not a nazi and he won’t kill trans people. Sometimes I think people never leave their social media apps and they just sit there, believing everything is horrible outside their front door.
Yes definitely no Nazi Stuff!
Whatever anyone of you thought to see with your own eyes was a original gesture, choreographed by Elon himself. It will be the new gesture used to show how the “Heart goes out” to fellow Republicans. Rest assured it will catch on and even be used by officials in Law-Enforcement, Education, Politics, Healthcare, Defense and More!
/S
You Nazi…
Correct, he won’t kill trans people… he’ll just talk it up so other people do it for him and then take All the credit. That’s his MO.
He’s still a Nazi though.
If you actually believe that, you need a break from social media. :)
What’s your definition of nazi?
It turns out lots of people on our side in WW2 thought the Nazis were only bad because they were on the other side, and not because of their repellent authoritarian, genocidal ideology.
The dude wants to impregnate every woman possible because he thinks his genes are superior, is trying to push the afd into power and threw nazi salutes live on stage for the world to see. C’mon dude, pull your head out.
I think you are deep into some kind of social media bubble here, and you think I need to pull my head out… :)
You keep going to that well, dude. What’s the matter, can’t come up with another reason why someone might think a person throwing roman salutes is being a bit fashy?
Trumps government will work hard to dissolve American democracy and suppress anyone they don’t like. Trans people are in danger right now. I don’t think they’ll kill them directly, but many will be killed either by stochastic terrorism or because they are driven into suicide.
How is Musk not a nazi? He collaborates with nazis, he agrees with nazis, he speaks and acts like a fucking nazi. Wake the fuck up.
He did a nazi salute and supports the fascist party openly advocating for the naked use of state power to subjugate, destroy the life of, or kill millions (as is the logical conclusion of the logistics of finding and deporting millions) of people in nationalist “cleansings” and “purification” against minority groups. He’s obsessed with breeding and perpetuates “great replacement” conspiracies. He supports the AfD. He hates and infantilises trans people (not exclusive to nazis but yaknow, they were big on that shit to the point of mass slaughter of us).
Here is a salute comparison. Do not gaslight yourself or the rest of us: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pICDVb3jztA
Yes I have seen the salute comparison, but do you think he decided to tell the world he is a nazi in front of the world’s TV cameras? I really think there is something wrong with you guys and how you think, since you actually believe the man is a full blown nazi now because he made a gesture. And he profits from all this discussion since he owns Twitter!
But we won’t change each other’s minds. If you guys have decided he is a nazi, that’s what you will think. Just trying to show the other side of it. It doesn’t make sense.
There is no other side to this. He is a Nazi or at least sympathetic to the cause. Your defense of a budding megalomaniac and accusing others here that they are in a deluded social media hole is both gross and speaks volumes more about you than them.
Its not just the gesture, its everything else as well. You know, repeating nazi conspiracy theories about jewish people wanting to eliminate “”“whiteness”“”, supporting the AfD, etc.
And I think that yes, he would do that. I mean, look at how many people are sanewashing this and trying to pretend he hasn’t even done it. Look at the fact he was cheered on by the people in the crowd while doing it.
America (or at least enough parts of it with political attentiveness and less apathy) is so far right that advocating for what amounts to mass ethnic cleansing/purges (as Trump/GOP has done, and as fascists do) is a completely accepted position by at least 30% of voters. Not to mention the plans to suborn the entire US government into a hyper authoritarian, totalising christian nationalist social-regimentation-enforcer, amongst so many other things I can’t even count.
Ah yes, the country that created Nazis & is pro censorship def still knows a thing or two about fascism.
I mean, yes. We definitely know how to spot someone literally doing a Hitler salute.
And we’re confident enough that there is no valid reason to ever use that gesture that we elected to prohibit it by law, yes.
The Elon dickrider has arrived
I despise Elon Musk, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with you on your stupid takes.
No you don’t…
… but when you don’t it just makes you a Nazi apologist.
What kind of censorship are they following? All that comes up online is removal of hate speech and misinformation.
They’re probably referring to § 86a StGB (German penal code), which makes it illegal to use symbols of unconstitutional or terrorist organisations.
Symbols explicitly covers flags, badges, uniform patches, slogans and greetings (for obvious reasons).
Isn’t that self contradictory? If you hate Nazis, why would you hate the censoring of Nazi imagery?
