Last Saturday, myself and colleagues went to Greding, a small town in the Franken region of Bavaria, to cover a shadowy group within the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party called “der Fluegel”. The subgroup is already under preliminary monitoring by the German secret service due to right-radical connections and anti-democratic efforts.
During the course of our documentations of the various politicians and public figures attending, we were often insulted, approached, and harassed. At one point, we were approached by the right-radical Dubravko Mandic, who targeted me out of the entire group first, getting in my face and demanding I delete the photos. As a journalist, I refused and said so. During the course of his demands, he began spitting in my face while speaking. After becoming frustrated, he targeted a female colleague and stole her phone. We’re both in agreement that he targeted me due to my skin color and her due to being female. Basically, from my research, hatred of women and racism correlate strong. Police then broke the situation up, though Mandic filed false criminal complaints against us for the photography.
Later, another colleague was attacked by two members of der Fluegel which is displayed in a photo I took that aired on TV and is available online. This story also has other aspects as during the attacks, we all continued documentation.
The police are now investigating the situation and Mandic has at least one criminal complaint against him. The Bavarian Journalist Union is also heavily engaged with the situation, including having made mention during the Press Freedom Day Awards.
Article in Frankfurter Rundschau with statements from me and right-extremism expert Birgit Mair:
https://www.fr.de/politik/fluegel-treffen-afd-mandic-loeschen-sofort-bild-12253268.html
„Wir dürfen unsere Arbeit nicht unterbrechen, nur weil wir von Rechten angegriffen werden.“ – Sachelle Barbbar
Photo Credit © Imago via ZUMA Press
Photo Credit © Chris Jackson/PA via ZUMA Press
Some people stop going into situations because of a fear of being overwhelmed by anxiety and not being able to escape or get help. Buster Burns, a former drag queen, has 8 personalities and has not left his house for past 9 years. Buster suffers from agoraphobia. ’Facebook is my whole life,’ he stated of the social media platform, which allows him to interact with others without leaving the security of his home. Those who suffer from this debilitating disorder typically avoid places where they feel immediate escape might be difficult, such as shopping malls, public transportation, and open places. Agoraphobia is particularly common in people with panic disorder. Their world may become smaller as they are constantly on guard, waiting for the next panic attack. Buster Burns lives in Little Rock, Arkansas and used to be as extroverted as they come, once a successful drag queen, he would walk the stage as Ophelia every week in a crowded club. After the sudden death of a friend in 2000, Buster started slowly to retreat from public life. Today Buster spends his days with a supportive Facebook community, chatting for up to 10 hours a day. His sister visits him once a week to bring groceries and anything he might need from the outside world. Agoraphobia currently affects over 200,000 people in the United States. This debilitating condition is chronic, and those affected are often restrained to their home to avoid people and places that cause anxiety.
Sit back and enjoy POM! “The Pictures of the Month” presented by Scott Mc Kiernan and ZUMA Press. Images chosen from ZUMA’s huge volume of 1 million images from the month of April, shows the work of photojournalists documenting the most important events of the past month. ZUMA’s talented staff Ruaridh Stewart, Julie Rogers, Mark Avery, Shalan Stewart, Seth Greenberg and POM Editor Jim Colton contributed to this show. My thanks to all of the photographers. Your hard work is appreciated and very visible in these collections.
ZUMAland.com 