MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY
What chaos! The coalition has collapsed, the government is on its last legs, the opposition is rebelling, murdering and scheming, and the people are watching helplessly as a clique of rulers, far removed from reality, is steering the country into the abyss. Each for himself, all for none.
The foreseeable exit of the FDP from the traffic light coalition has plunged us into a bitter fight for survival. And this at a time when we need a stable government more urgently than ever. Because the world is also on the brink.
by Serdar Somuncu
The foreseeable exit of the FDP from the traffic light coalition has plunged us into a bitter fight for survival. And this at a time when we need a stable government more urgently than ever. Because the world is also on the brink.
by Serdar Somuncu
A war that has been raging in Ukraine for three years, the burning Middle East, popular uprisings in South Korea and Georgia, and if you now add Iran and Taiwan, then this is almost exactly the state the world was in before the outbreak of the First World War. A Europe divided, where nationalism is increasingly gaining the upper hand, an economic crisis, deindustrialization and inflation, plus changes of power and regional conflicts. The mixture that is used to make world wars is complete. But it could all have been so simple. If Ukraine had been told the truth from the start and had relied on diplomacy instead of raising hopes and relying on further escalation, then this war, which has claimed far too many lives on both sides since it began, would have been over long ago and we could concentrate on more important things. Instead, the usual protagonists resort to recurring discussions about ever new arms deliveries, which have already led to a spiral of escalation, the end of which seems to be the use of ground troops or nuclear weapons and thus the certain downfall of civilization.
If we had had a government in the Middle East that no longer supported terrorism and on the other hand hypocritically promoted remembrance, then we would probably have saved ourselves a lot of domestic political trouble and could have continued to deal with the question of how we can finally end this conflict peacefully. Whether this involves the establishment of a free Palestine or a two-state solution in Gaza within the existing borders is irrelevant, as long as no more innocent people die and the tactics and empty promises finally stop.
The same applies to the internal conflicts in our society. The constant dispute between a libertarian upper class about ever more restrictions and, on the other hand, the fight for ever more absurd freedoms, leaves people baffled by the arrogance with which the ruling elite is preoccupied with itself instead of living up to its responsibilities and finally taking care of the needs of the people in this country. A sense of duty, far from it. Education policy, immigration and internal security are either election campaign ammunition or rhetorical accessories to the usual phrases. Just as the failure of the environmental protection and infrastructure development programs have only been hastily paid lip service. Germany is lagging behind. Not only are exports weak, but a modernization of old structures is long overdue. But if you ask those responsible, it's all just a problem of communication. Aha, so the causes lie in the citizens' lack of understanding. In other words, people are too stupid for their politicians.
These are obvious contradictions for which no explanation is given. A government that, on the one hand, only half-heartedly subsidizes electric cars, thereby plunging the car industry into one crisis after another, and on the other hand continues to rely on fossil fuels and cancels nuclear power, is not only trapped in its blind dogmatism, in its arrogance and aloofness it is no longer even remotely capable of recognizing what people's real needs are. All of this is dismissed and played down. Decisions are put on the back burner and discussions are nipped in the bud. Other opinions are stigmatized and sanctioned, ultimately preventing any form of constructive search for solutions.
We could have had a social discussion about our shared values and goals for the future long ago, instead of leaving it to the demagogues who constantly profit from our discord and keep pushing for power until one day they will probably be able to prevent power or decide for themselves who they support.
And now new elections without the vote of confidence having been decided. What if Scholz remains chancellor? Can Merz then hold on as a failed opposition leader? Who does the CDU want to form a coalition with if it itself is increasingly reducing its options? Or will the party reflect onf the secret crown prince from Bavaria and in one fell swoop elects Markus Söder as the new candidate for chancellor, who, together with crowd favorite Boris Pistorius, will give the worn-out grand coalition a new coat of paint? It would be exciting. But whether it would be good for Germany is another question.
What a soap opera. A disorientated chancellor who seeks salvation in approaching ideas that have long been discarded and who wants to present himself as a diplomatic chancellor in retrospect, a CDU that is divided over firewalls and coalition options. A crumbling left that is increasingly splintering its votes and thus has no prospect of participating in government for a long time to come, and an increasingly unscrupulous approach by the media, which in its own fight for survival relies more on clickbaiting and fake news than on well-founded education and credible exchange of information. It seems to be more complicated than it has been for a long time, and if you take another anxious look at history, you wonder how this desire for permanent escalation is supposed to lead to a happy ending when none of those involved are really interested in amicable solutions and instead the emphasis is on asserting their own interests. Constructive discussions always fail when insisting on one's own opinion is more valuable than prudence and reason.
After the difficult Corona period, those responsible in politics and society have obviously found themselves in an insoluble dilemma that has unleashed them to such an extent that they hardly think about the effects of their decisions and measures and only use flimsy or hyper-moral arguments to justify their actions. Above all, coming to terms with the Corona failures of both politicians and the public involved would be a further and important step towards building trust. Something that the next government urgently needs if it does not want to form majorities out of pure pragmatism and thereby engage in lazy compromises.
Four years of indecision, empty promises and pretexts are enough. We must finally return to a solution-oriented and pragmatic policy that not only puts our own needs first, but also makes clear our responsibility for the world. The fact that Europe and Germany might end up taking the exact opposite path to America does not necessarily mean that we have to say goodbye to the Atlantic bond, but that instead of an America First we should try a Justice for all that stands for more peace and freedom than any ideology that always seeks salvation only in egoism and in the enforcement of its own interests. It is time to wake up. Let's finally start doing that!
06.12.24
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Healing of the Soul" now available for download in the shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
If we had had a government in the Middle East that no longer supported terrorism and on the other hand hypocritically promoted remembrance, then we would probably have saved ourselves a lot of domestic political trouble and could have continued to deal with the question of how we can finally end this conflict peacefully. Whether this involves the establishment of a free Palestine or a two-state solution in Gaza within the existing borders is irrelevant, as long as no more innocent people die and the tactics and empty promises finally stop.
The same applies to the internal conflicts in our society. The constant dispute between a libertarian upper class about ever more restrictions and, on the other hand, the fight for ever more absurd freedoms, leaves people baffled by the arrogance with which the ruling elite is preoccupied with itself instead of living up to its responsibilities and finally taking care of the needs of the people in this country. A sense of duty, far from it. Education policy, immigration and internal security are either election campaign ammunition or rhetorical accessories to the usual phrases. Just as the failure of the environmental protection and infrastructure development programs have only been hastily paid lip service. Germany is lagging behind. Not only are exports weak, but a modernization of old structures is long overdue. But if you ask those responsible, it's all just a problem of communication. Aha, so the causes lie in the citizens' lack of understanding. In other words, people are too stupid for their politicians.
These are obvious contradictions for which no explanation is given. A government that, on the one hand, only half-heartedly subsidizes electric cars, thereby plunging the car industry into one crisis after another, and on the other hand continues to rely on fossil fuels and cancels nuclear power, is not only trapped in its blind dogmatism, in its arrogance and aloofness it is no longer even remotely capable of recognizing what people's real needs are. All of this is dismissed and played down. Decisions are put on the back burner and discussions are nipped in the bud. Other opinions are stigmatized and sanctioned, ultimately preventing any form of constructive search for solutions.
We could have had a social discussion about our shared values and goals for the future long ago, instead of leaving it to the demagogues who constantly profit from our discord and keep pushing for power until one day they will probably be able to prevent power or decide for themselves who they support.
And now new elections without the vote of confidence having been decided. What if Scholz remains chancellor? Can Merz then hold on as a failed opposition leader? Who does the CDU want to form a coalition with if it itself is increasingly reducing its options? Or will the party reflect onf the secret crown prince from Bavaria and in one fell swoop elects Markus Söder as the new candidate for chancellor, who, together with crowd favorite Boris Pistorius, will give the worn-out grand coalition a new coat of paint? It would be exciting. But whether it would be good for Germany is another question.
What a soap opera. A disorientated chancellor who seeks salvation in approaching ideas that have long been discarded and who wants to present himself as a diplomatic chancellor in retrospect, a CDU that is divided over firewalls and coalition options. A crumbling left that is increasingly splintering its votes and thus has no prospect of participating in government for a long time to come, and an increasingly unscrupulous approach by the media, which in its own fight for survival relies more on clickbaiting and fake news than on well-founded education and credible exchange of information. It seems to be more complicated than it has been for a long time, and if you take another anxious look at history, you wonder how this desire for permanent escalation is supposed to lead to a happy ending when none of those involved are really interested in amicable solutions and instead the emphasis is on asserting their own interests. Constructive discussions always fail when insisting on one's own opinion is more valuable than prudence and reason.
After the difficult Corona period, those responsible in politics and society have obviously found themselves in an insoluble dilemma that has unleashed them to such an extent that they hardly think about the effects of their decisions and measures and only use flimsy or hyper-moral arguments to justify their actions. Above all, coming to terms with the Corona failures of both politicians and the public involved would be a further and important step towards building trust. Something that the next government urgently needs if it does not want to form majorities out of pure pragmatism and thereby engage in lazy compromises.
Four years of indecision, empty promises and pretexts are enough. We must finally return to a solution-oriented and pragmatic policy that not only puts our own needs first, but also makes clear our responsibility for the world. The fact that Europe and Germany might end up taking the exact opposite path to America does not necessarily mean that we have to say goodbye to the Atlantic bond, but that instead of an America First we should try a Justice for all that stands for more peace and freedom than any ideology that always seeks salvation only in egoism and in the enforcement of its own interests. It is time to wake up. Let's finally start doing that!
06.12.24
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Healing of the Soul" now available for download in the shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
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