I agree that this is politically motivated and these folks don’t deserve losing their residence.

Thank you for the article with more details.

Calling resisting and attacking policemen and freeing of prisoners non-violent is a bit of a stretch though.

Three of these are EU citizens. The EU wide freedom of movement can be revoked for public order and safety, health, or security reasons.

Für eine Verlustfeststellung aus Gründen der öffentlichen Ordnung oder Sicherheit gelten besonders hohe Voraussetzungen: Es muss eine tatsächliche und hinreichend schwere Gefährdung der öffentlichen Ordnung oder Sicherheit vorliegen, die ein Grundinteresse der Gesellschaft berührt. Diese Gefährdung muss auf dem persönlichen Verhalten des Unionsbürgers beruhen.

The corresponding law is Gesetz über die allgemeine Freizügigkeit von Unionsbürgern (Freizügigkeitsgesetz/EU - FreizügG/EU) § 6 Verlust des Rechts auf Einreise und Aufenthalt

Known football hooligans and violent political activists are often barred from entry into other EU countries, if they’re likely traveling to a violent protest or big football match.

The law doesn’t say that a court verdict is necessary, it does say it isn’t sufficient though.

The argument is that these people are a danger to public order and safety. That means this is about prevention (Gefahrenabwehr) of future acts. Prevention is always done to the detriment of the innocent, because nobody has actually done anything yet. All of these are known to be active political activists and at times violent. They are likely to continue their activities, some of which endanger public order and safety. That’s sufficient to make a legal argument.

The courts are working this out now and the authorities are respecting court orders. So, I don’t see where this is disregards the Grundgesetz.

That said, I also think this is targeted repression and the crimes aren’t serious enough to warrant immediate revoking of residence.

The ministry of the interior is testing what the courts require as a minimum for losing residence rights.

This article is misrepresenting what happened.

The four people in question were not simply peaceful advocates. They participated in a violent occupation of university offices, destruction of property, breaking open of closets, graffiti. University employees were threatened with violence and barricaded themselves in their offices. Some employees reported being physically assaulted.

State attorneys are prosecuting these crimes against these four. It’s true it hasn’t gone to court yet. All four have formally protested against their deportation and the court has granted them extensions until the verdict.

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/regional/berlin/rbb-innenverwaltung-verteidigt-moegliche-ausweisung-von-aktivisten-nach-protest-an-der-fu-berlin-100.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticization_of_politics

https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3248848/view

It’s an established idea.

Umberto Ecco‘s famous article on ur-fascism is worth reading as well, if you don’t know it. It touches on these themes as well.

The Nazi party conventions at Nuremberg were a huge choreographed spectacle for example.

The Fediverse isn’t immune to propaganda and bots. It might even be an easier as in cheaper target than Twitter or TikTok.

Creating a bunch of superficially legitimate instances and using them to upvote stuff you like is straightforward.

The old time fascists used the new media of their day to the utmost. Their propaganda was so effective, it still echoes today. Fascism itself is focused on aesthetics, appearance, and performance. All of these are forms of propaganda.

Apple and Android have equivalent management tools

MDM (mobile device management) is where Apple shines. Android has some features for it as well, but supported devices can be spotty. Samsung has their own thing going as well.

If you want to administrate a fleet of mobile phones and iPads, Apple has the most complete and easy to use platform. Their devices also get OS updates for longer than typical Android devices.

You can also order USB flash drives with a linux iso already on it for ten bucks or so.

Lenix

everyone should learn enough about how a computer works to be able to contribute in some way

Every user should give back either in the form of labor or with money. All of the problems you list are problems that could be solved with money.

Many FOSS projects don’t focus on getting a lot of donations or selling services. Non profits need revenue too. Even the sale of merch like stickers or mugs with the project logo could be used more effectively.

Contributing with labor is also not easily accessible or even always well received. Active outreach from the project to recruit users is also not practiced much. All of that is of course organizational and managerial work as well as media work and community management. If the volunteers are already overloaded, it won’t be done well of course.

Everything being done by a few frustrated, overworked people isn’t healthy or sustainable

Very much so. Voluntary work should only be done, if the work itself is enough reward or simply fun or as a learning experience. A project can be sustainable even if it’s carried by overworked frustrated people. It just needs a way to recruit new contributors at the rate people quit from burnout.

We can try to make things as accessible and easy to understand as possible

That’s where we’re at now with social media. Things are super accessible, but shallow and often based on pure emotional appeal.

Ubuntu used to mail out free install CDs for a while. Nowadays many people don’t have optical drives anymore though.

Choosing software is mostly choosing a tool get a job done. Microsoft has powerful software and a big ecosystem around it.

Windows is really good for administrating lots of workstations for large organizations for example.

LaTeX is great but it’s not an office suite.

LaTeX is great for documents, mediocre for slides, questionable for spreadsheets, useless for mail and calendar.