Jetzt wird's parlamentisch!

The crisis in Greece is becoming a crisis for Germany. Facing the devaluing of her country's currency, Angela Merkel called Wednesday for the Bundestag to approve an extensive, mostly German-financed rescue package for Germany's fellow-EU-member.

Now for the exciting part: my friend's roommate works for the Bundestag, and he got us reservations to sit in on the debate that preceded Friday's vote over the package (thanks, Lorenz!)! It was this IR-major's study-abroad dream come true.

While the bailout package is extremely unpopular among the German people, the Bundestag's coalition government (CDU and FDP) were expected to have the required votes to get it through. Enough CDU members had promised to vote against the proposal, however (a rather unusual case in Germany where a party-list electoral component leads to pretty strict adherence to the party line), that a several surprise "no" votes could have stopped it. I don't think anyone really awaited that, though.

The first few speeches held few rhetorical surprises, but were extremely heated. Then came Gesine Lötzsch (DIE LINKE), who drew sharp criticism from the Bundestagspräsident for tastelessly referring to the speculators who caused the crisis as "Taliban in Nadelstreifen" ("Taliban in pinstripes").



Then came the defining moment [above] of the part of the debate I saw in person (the seats are in such demand that you can only stay for an hour). Renate Künast (B90/GRÜNE) took the podium and announced that the Greens would be supporting the bailout proposal. This was certainly not to be assumed, given that the party is a strong opponent of the CDU/FDP government that proposed it, and the Green support cemented the proposal's success. "Jetzt und hier geht's um Europa" ("Here and now, it's about Europe"), she began, going on to explain that the EU is a critical tool for combating climate change, one of the Greens' major objectives. In order to offset the implications of her support of the CDU/FDP initiative, Künast mercilessly criticized Angela Merkel, whom she called out for directing her speech at a domestic rather than European audience and whom she berated for waiting as long as she did to reach out to Greece when the crisis might have been averted, or at least lessened, had Germany stepped in earlier. Some very exciting politics (including a somewhat under-handed dig at Lötzsch and her East-German past). Watch the clip above if you enjoy political passion and understand German.

The next speaker was the Finance Minsiter, during whose arguments we had to leave, as our viewing time was up. We watched more of the proceedings on closed-circut TV in Lorenz's office. Other speakers included Foreign Minister Gudio Westerwelle, whom people like to make fun of for his lack of English-language skills. In German, though, he seems to be a pretty talented public speaker.

In the end, the CDU, FDP, and B90/GRÜNE voted for the bailout and DIE LINKE against it. So many of the SPD abstained (in what most view as a cowardly move to win the favor of misinformed voters) that abstention was the party's official position on the issue. The proposal passed easily with B90/GRÜNE support. Totals were 390 votes for the bailout, 72 against, and 139 abstained.

The debate was particularly exciting for me, because of my strong interest in what happens when Germany's love of multilateral solidarity and its domestic national interests come into conflict. In this case, the issue was really that of the public's perception of a conflict, as experts agree that for Germany to do anything other than bail out Greece and save the Euro would act against its self-interest.

For those interested in such things, the entirety of the debate (and vote, I think) can be streamed or downloaded here.

SO 36 brennt

The part of Kreuzberg I live in has an interesting history. Once home to much of West Berlin's alternative community and overflowing with squats, the the area was a center point for far-left (especially anarchist) political activity in the time before the fall of the wall and the gentrification that followed. Referred to by its West Berlin postcode, "SO 36" thinks back nostalgically on its edgy past. As the famous comparison between SO 36 and Kreuzbergs more bourgeois other half states, "36 brennt, 61 pennt" (36 is on fire, 61 is asleep).

In keeping with this mood, Berlin's more left-oriented residents flock to SO 36 on May 1 (Labor Day) to peacefully demonstrate by day or riot by night, depending on how radical they are.

View from my Window, Morning

The day has become such a tradition that its no longer solely about political ideology. In fact it's mostly about things that have nothing to do with politics, such as the largest, most crowded party I've ever seen . My street, Oranienstr., was particularly packed, as it was lined with food and alcohol stands and sound-stages that shook all the windows in my apartment.

Party on the Street

Things heated up a bit at night after the sound stages closed at 1 or 2 am. Some years it gets really serious and police get severely hurt, but this year was pretty tame. There wasn't really any sort of clear message from the rioters. They seemed rather to enjoy clashing with police--it was all more of a game than an expression of ideology. The worst of the chaos happened a few blocks away, and the scuffles outside my window didn't escalate really. The procedure I observed was this: some people would throw fire-crackers into the police ranks or shove some of the riot-control-guys; those people would get arrested; members of the crowd would attempt to stop the arrests; they would be arrested too; police reinforcements would arrive; everyone would take a little break; and things would get started again.

View from my Window, Night

More (and bigger) pictures of the day's festivities, not all of which were taken from my window, can be viewed here.