Concrete Achievements

Category: Current Affairs

  • Reading: Why is AfD strong in eastern Germany?

    This 2020 article in PQ by Manes Weisskircher reviews the research on why the far right is strong in eastern Germany.

    The answer is multi-faceted. There is the reality of economic decline, particularly for those of working age since the welfare state gives people past retirement age an income on which they can live easily -worth noting that in the Saxony-Anhalt results yesterday, the older voter cohorts, past retirement age, were more likely to vote CDU than AfD, despite the CDU’s terrible showing in the region.

    There is also a sense of being looked down upon, particularly by AfD voters – the idea that the western Germans don’t think that they are worth helping.

    Immigration narratives (rather than immigration realities) also play their part, as does the flight of younger people away from areas where they see no prospect of work

    What does it mean for democracy?

    First, that economic well-being matters but so does the sense of being an equal citizen, not a burden on the state. Restarting economic growth in eastern German towns may not be something that can be done with a wave of the hand, but understanding how they need support as the economy continues to transition is part of it. Also, the solidarity between East and West is under pressure in Germany – in a time of fiscal problems for the country as a whole, what can be done to reinforce that as a collective right not a burden on the wessis?

    Second, social and democratic cohesion (or re-integration, in the term the article uses) is essential. That has to start at local level is needed to give voice to local communities and to stand against disinformation-driven radicalisation. Jochen Wegner in Die Zeit calls for this sort of democratic mobilisation, but it can’t come just from Berlin and the media sphere, it has to be built locally.

    Third, the defences at national level against the far-right also need to be stronger. This isn’t just about maintaining the firewall against engaging with the AfD, but also finding means to counter the huge PR boost they acknowledge they are getting from far-right foreign forces, whether Muskite or Putinite.

  • Glucksmann and Citizen Convention on Immigration

    The French presidential candidate Raphaël GLUCKSMANN has published proposals for how he would run the country – in book form, of course, this being France.

    A striking proposal highlighted by Le Monde today is a Citizen Convention on Immigration. This would be a design challenge (to say the least) but, given how toxic and deadlocked the immigration issue is in France and elsewhere in Europe, it might be a way to change the conversation.

    It’s the sort of issue for which citizen assemblies/conventions are well-suited – big picture, politically deadlocked, with a strategic or moral question at their heart.

    It’s not simple, though. Given how immigration is used as *the* core issue by anti-system parties, it would be a challenge to disentangle the actual question from side-questions about rural depopulation, economic changes, demographic shifts, and people’s sense of the past.

    But European mainstream politicians seem to have no solution to the immigration issue other than “copy the far right” and “hope it goes away” – this at least might move the conversation forward.

  • Cameron’s heartfelt plea for Europe

    “Because the truth is this – we are in a global race today and that means an hour of reckoning for countries like ours. Sink or swim. Do or decline.”

    via Cameron speech to warn on economy – UK News – News – WalesOnline.

    It’s not quite sink or swim (Britain will not sink beneath the azure waves) but the changing shape of geopolitics is one of the strongest arguments for European integration. Funny sort of place to make that argument, at Conservative conference…

  • May madness

    Here’s the Guardian on Teresa May’s rumblings about renegotiating EU Freedom of Movement rules:

    It had been thought there was little momentum to review the free movement of EU workers on the basis that it is such a central pillar of the EU’s founding principles. But May believes there are reforms that could be made in part to reverse previous European court of justice judgments that have in effect redefined free movement as available to citizens rather than merely workers.

    (from Theresa May considers curbs on EU migration)

    Sorry, what? Teresa May wants to block people who aren’t working – like Tory-voting retired inhabitants of Spanish coastal resorts – and allow people who are – like Polish plumbers?

    Surely (if you believe that Britain is threatened by evil mudbloods) you want to keep the Poles out while letting the Brits go anywhere and do anything, like the rulers of Europe they rightfully are?

  • Enjoy France!

    The US Government have now nationalised three major institutions in the course of a fortnight, so what could be more pleasurable than going to FreeRepublic, home of right wing nutcases, to hear them wail about how they are now living in a socialist republic?

  • Still electioneering

    I find it odd that most media sources said that Thursday's commemoration events for 9/11 were in some way a 'suspension of electioneering'. Sure, the speeches were by George Bush II rather than John McCain or Barack Obama, but this extract from the president's speech at the Pentagon sounds to me like pure propaganda for his 'war on terror' notion:

    When our enemies attacked the Pentagon, they pierced the rings of this building. But they could not break the resolve of the United States Armed Forces. Since 9/11, our troops have taken the fight to the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. Thanks to the brave men and women, and all those who work to keep us safe, there has not been another attack on our soil in 2,557 days. (Applause.)

    For future generations, this memorial will be a place of learning. The day will come when most Americans have no living memory of the events of September the 11th. When they visit this memorial, they will learn that the 21st century began with a great struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror. They will learn that this generation of Americans met its duty — we did not tire, we did not falter, and we did not fail. They will learn that freedom prevailed because the desire for liberty lives in the heart of every man, woman, and child on Earth.

  • Class conflict on Today (no, not really)

    I know that Today is produced by the middle classes for the middle classes but even so I was astonished that the 8.10 slot today was given over to a long grumble by the well-spoken white middle-class sister of an armed gunman who was  shot by the police.

    I don't doubt that she's grieving, and looking for answers, but her complaints about the police could basically be summarised as "Why did they have to shoot him – it's not like he was black or poor".

    I remember Today doing interviews on unarmed people shot by police (Menezes, Harry Stanley) but never when the victim was an armed gunman taking potshots out of his window.

  • Daily Mail admits it provoked anti-Polish tension

    Hurrah! Some articles to be deleted, others amended after deal with venerable Polish lobbying organisation. 

    Daily Mail agrees peace deal with Polish Federation of Great Britain |
    Media |
    guardian.co.uk
    .

  • Really ambitious environmental policies

    At least the Spanish government aren’t in a funk about upsetting the poor widdle motorists: Spain cuts speed limit and introduces energy-saving measures in bid to reduce oil imports |
    Environment |
    guardian.co.uk
    .

  • Carey: Damn you, justice!

    George Carey, writing in the Church Times, sorry, in the News of the World, condemns the courts for their privacy ruling on Max Mosley. If the newspapers aren’t allowed to pry into people’s private lives, he asks, how on earth can we Church leaders find perfectly legal things to condemn?