Party Lines

We attended a plenary session of the German Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, on a day of special debate on education, so the chamber was relatively empty. The TV cameraman in the gallery had the world cup soccer match on his viewfinder. The real drama came in a series of meetings with representatives of all five major parties. The "links" or left party represents what remains of the former East German communists, convinced that the glorious productivity of the German worker will lift the eurozone out of its crisis without any cuts in social welfare benefits. I was so caught up in the Green's "New Deal" for the economy and the environment that I forgot to take a picture of their representative. He asked about climate change issues in the US seemed quite shocked when I explained that many Californians don't like recent environmental legislation that could put more than a million people out of work.
I wish the US had a viable party like the "liberal democrats," who aren't liberals or democrats at all. They favor low taxes and small government, but libertarian when it comes to individual choices on social issues. They are the kingmaker party at the center. They believe in tax cuts to stimulate business growth, but since they can't deliver they are losing support and fighting with the majority CDU party.
The majority Christian Democrats, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, are taking a lot of heat for their Germany austerity program and bailout of Greece. It didn't help matters when the German president, largely a ceremonial job, quit unexpectedly because his feelings were hurt after the press criticized his comment that German troops should protect the country's economic interests. This sets up a vote on a new president that is seen as a test of Merkel's popularity.
Finally, the SDU, or Social Democrats, lost a third of their support in 2009 after 11 years of running the government. They are hoping to capitalize on the CDU's problems but aren't offering much in the way of specific alternatives.
Outside the parliament, we also met with a union representative who talked frankly about unification issues with former communist workers from East Germany. All the factions agree that more regulation of the banking industry is needed, and stimulus spending is out of the question. But no one likes to see their favorite programs cut. Clearly, there is more room for compromise in a coalition system and the politics are not as polarized as in the US.
We also had an enlightening "off the record" lunch discussion with one of the leading MPs in the Merkel coalition government. He worked the room as if campaigning for our votes and never missed a beat while downing a substantial chicken entree for lunch. Impressive! He talked frankly about German disenchantment with President Obama and the difficulties the CDU is facing because of the eurozone economic crisis. He seemed confident that other countries in the EU who have not yet adopted the euro, such as Poland, will eagerly do so as soon as they are qualified. I'm not so sure.

Turkish Talk Radio

Radyo Metropol is the first radio station in Germany that serves the Turkish-German immigrant community with a mix of Turkish culture, talk and news in both Turkish and German. Turks first came to Germany as guest laborers in the 1960s and it is possible to grow up in a Turkish community in Berlin without learning to speak German or Turkish very well. Above is one of the student interns who are working at the radio station while being paid by the German government's labor department and finishing their university degrees.You'd think the German government would be embrace the idea of Turkish radio as a way of reaching out to the immigrant community, but the reality is just the opposite. The Germans see it as more proof that the Turkish-Germans don't fit in to their society. According to station manager Tamer Ergun, even Chancellor Angela Merkel said she didn't favor the idea of Turkish language radio signals "on German soil." The station has had trouble obtaining the additional licenses it needs to expand. The station claims it fights Islamic extremism by encouraging immigrant participation in German politics and providing a reliable source of news whenever there is an attack on the Turkish community. The perpetrators, often from right-wing extremist or neo-Nazi groups, are not always caught. Still, the Turks in Germany are increasing their share of population due to a higher birth rate, so it's a growing audience that needs to be served.
The double standard is also evident in education, where Turkish children tend to be sent to the "hauptshule" or high school instead of the gymnasium, which is for college prep. The Germans refer to people of "immigration background," even when they're referring to the third or fourth generation of passport-holding citizens. By that standard, I'd still be a "Polish-Slovenian of immigration background" instead of an American because my grandparents were immigrants! How many generations will it take until the descendants of the Turkish immigrant are considered to be actual Germans? We met with a Green Party politician, Ozcan Mutlu, who overcame the odds to obtain a university education and now represents his community in Berlin's state parliament. He answered confidently that he believes systematic discrimination, such as Nazi anti-Semitism, could never happen again in Germany. However, as he described the fight for such basic principles as bi-lingual educaction and affirmative action, it's clear that diversity is a strange concept for Germans who perceive the Turks, not as hard-working laborers and small business owners, but as freeloaders on the generous social welfare benefits provided in Germany. We were told that an unemployed Turk in Germany makes more money than a working person in Turkey. Ironically, we met in a restored building that was the parliament in Prussian times. As we were about to find out, unified Germany has a surplus of former parliament buildings!