Friday 29th of March 2024

defining "culture" at the cross roads...

"the"gate by moonlight (picture by Gus)

A new poll shows that more than half of Germans support the idea of introducing a “dominant culture” as recently presented by the country’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. His proposals ignited debate in political circles and on social media.

The survey, conducted by the INSA research institute for the German Focus magazine, revealed that 52.5 percent of Germans believe that their country needs a “dominant culture” while 25.3 percent oppose the idea of ushering in any such values.

Almost 53 percent of respondents said they associate themselves with German culture while only 30.6 percent consider themselves members of a European culture.

Knowledge of the German language, adherence to the country’s constitution, respect for the equality between men and women, and the rejection of all radical views that contradict the democratic order were considered as the core features of a dominant German culture by the majority of respondents to the poll.

The survey was conducted on May, 3 and included 1,000 people.

On April 30, de Maiziere outlined his 10 principles of a German “dominant culture” in an opinion piece published by the Bild daily. His set of core features of a dominant German culture particularly included the principle of meritocracy, respect for German history and culture, commitment to social consensus and a unifying role of religion and Christian values as well as a definite “behavior pattern.”

The minister did not write about the potential statutory recognition of the proposed set of values and principles, saying that he only sought to “stimulate a discussion about a dominant culture for Germany.”

read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/387302-germans-dominant-culture-poll/

 

the weight of history...

reistag

Top picture: RT. Bottom picture: Gus

Picture at top: Gus Leonisky, "The" Gate by Moonlight.

...Instead, the return of

...

Instead, the return of German hegemony on the European continent will be subtle, incremental, and largely benign. Germany’s economic clout is already masked by the European Union, and there is ample scope to expand this influence through pre-existing “multilateral” institutions. To take just one example, Germany supplies a disproportionate share of the European Union’s internal aid budget, an important source of revenue for its poorer Eastern European members. Hungary and Poland have been vocal critics of German immigration policy, but they might change their tune if the EU starts withholding critical infrastructure funding. Indeed, the anti-German posturing of the Visegrád Group is more than a little reminiscent of the Little Entente, an interwar alliance of smaller Eastern European states that was also supposed to constrain German ambitions. 

The EU will almost certainly survive, if only through sheer bureaucratic inertia, but the ongoing populist backlash has exposed the limits of a pan-European identity. Instead, we should expect the continued emergence of an independent “European” foreign policy, increasingly shaped by German preferences and often at odds with American priorities. Like the expansion of Germany’s economic influence, this process has already been underway for some time. Disagreement over the Iraq war and German distaste for Donald Trump are obvious points of tension, but these are less isolated fissures than signs of a gradually widening divide. American annoyance with Germany’s limited NATO contributions predates Trump, as do disagreements on a variety of consequential issues, from the proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline to the response to Russian aggression in Ukraine. A more amicable relationship between American and German heads of state might take these disagreements off the front page, but they won’t restore the Cold War-era unity of purpose.

 

Read more:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-subtle-return-of-ger...

"er ist wieder da"...

 

Six years ago, back in 2012, things weren't all that different than they are today. Angela Merkel was chancellor and Joachim Löw was the head coach of the German national football team. That year, though, a novel was published called "Look Who's Back, [Er ist wieder da]" a white-covered tome with a swatch of dark, parted hair across the top and the letters in the title arranged in a perfect rectangle, almost like a small moustache. The face was familiar, and everyone knew who the title was referring to: Adolf Hitler. The book imagined him reawakening in Berlin in the year 2011 -- and picking up where he left off. 

The book was comedy, to be sure, but the return of Hitler was obviously a metaphor. There was something in the air, something that cried out for a political response, and the author, Timur Vermes, had obviously sensed it. His novel remained at the top of the DER SPIEGEL best-seller list for 19 weeks, it was translated into 43 languages and was also made into a feature-length film. Over 3 million copies were ultimately printed. A sensation. 

Now, Timur Vermes has a new novel on the way called "Die Hungrigen und die Satten," or "The Hungry and the Rich." It is a title that sounds as though it could have come from the pen of Dostoyevsky, like it is a deadly serious book. But "The Hungry and the Rich" is intended as entertainment, full of satire, surprising twists and vanity. For the author, though, the issue is a weighty one, because the actual subject of the book isn't funny at all. Vermes writes about us, the well-off, satiated Europeans -- and of a European Union that has completely sealed off its external borders and integrated the North African states into this system. And it tells of the masses of the hungry, the refugee routes that only reach as far as the Sahara, of lives lived in giant camps.

 

Read more:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/who-are-we-examining-the-sta...

 

Er ist wieder da

 

 

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