Berlin Bulletin No. 24
April 6, 2011

A Down Escalator and an Up Escalator: A Tale of Two
Parties

By Victor Grossman

For weeks the German media have been full of gossip and
speculation about a political party now rapidly losing
relevance and importance, the Free Democratic Party, or
FDP, also called the "Liberals". This illustrates how
heavily downhill slides can hit - if not the bottom
then at least the headlines!

Guido Westerwelle has become known to the world as a
colorless foreign minister. But not in Germany. On
April 6th this loud, self-righteous if not arrogant
head of a once important party, a fixture of the
political scene for ten years, reluctantly but
inexorably stepped down as chairman and strongman. At
least for now he can remain as foreign minister.

Ever since the early post-war years the FDP played an
odd part in politics. On the one hand it was the home
of some moderate trends, strictly secular in contrast
with the two Christian parties, the CDU and its
Bavarian sister, the CSU, and it  included people
willing to stand up for civil liberties, a few of whom
still remain as brave but often ignored fossils. But
other early members were unrepentant ex-Nazis. It was a
hodge-podge, which settled down over the years to
become a godchild of big business interests, usually to
the right of Kohl or Merkel's CDU. Once happy to be a
junior coalition partner of anyone in government,
either the CDU or the vaguely leftish Social Democrats,
it has moved closer to its big-biz backers though still
attracting some upper middle-class professionals and
small business people. Despite its unofficial name, in
terms of American political lingo it is anything but
liberal.

But alas for the FDP and alas for Guido Westerwelle,
after just holding its own in Hamburg this year, it
suffered three bitter defeats: in eastern Saxony-Anhalt
and western Rhineland-Palatinate it failed to win 5 %
and so lost all seats in the legislature. In Baden-
Wurttemberg, where it was always at its strongest, it
lost half its voters and barely squeezed back into the
legislature by a 5.3 % skin of its teeth. And with its
CDU partners, those warm cabinet seats in the state
government which had almost taken on their body
contours after so many years had to be passed on to
Greens and Social Democrats.

Not all that many wept over its defeats. The FDP had
defended truly reactionary positions: lower taxes for
the wealthy, continued tuition demands for students,
further tracking for schoolchildren after the fourth
grade, dividing them into "good pupils" for diplomas
and college or just "poor pupils", a class-based method
still prevalent in western Germany. They pushed for
fewer regulations on business, cuts in social
assistance and, until events in Japan forced everyone
to change position, at least in words, total support of
the atomic energy industry. Only in questions of data
surveillance are its old libertarian ideas somewhat
visible.

The man replacing Westerwelle, who must be confirmed by
a congress in May, is Philipp Rösler. At least his past
is interesting. A German couple adopted him as an
infant in a Catholic orphan asylum in South Vietnam and
raised him in Germany. No dummy, he made a rapid
career, studying medicine with the army, working only
briefly as a doctor before entering politics and
becoming, at 38, the youngest head of his party since
its founding. He is certainly handsome, always
elegantly dressed, almost always wearing a friendly
smile. But his policies as Minister of Health have been
less than friendly; he has tried, with mixed success,
to increase the health insurance tax for working people
while keeping that of their employers stable, and aims
at having everyone pay the same tax amount regardless
of income level, thus favoring the moneyed strata. That
is also the policy of the FDP. But these days many
people, getting wise to such policies, no longer give
the FDP their votes. This growing skepticism also leads
to fewer votes for the CDU or CSU, the allies of the
FDP and, interestingly, fewer for the Social Democrats
as well, whose sincerity is increasingly in doubt.

Who have the skeptical voters chosen? In almost amazing
numbers the Greens. When founded 30-40 years ago this
party was the "bad boy" of West German politics. It had
strong left-wing leanings on questions like women's
rights, immigrant rights, gay rights and anti-
militarism. And of course it was an early warner about
atomic power and ecology. Largely made up of rebellious
young people, some of them quite radical, it outraged
fastidious Germans with daring attire like woolen
sweaters or sneakers in the Bundestag, or its conduct
there, knitting or sometimes caring for its babies.

But, sadly for some, its members got older and more
prosperous, the more radical "fundi" wing lost out, and
the Greens grew ever tamer. When they finally broke
through the taboos and joined the Social Democrats in a
government coalition, rebellious sparks were very rare.
With their most prominent leader, Joschka Fischer,
Foreign Minister next to Chancellor Schroeder, they
helped push through many tough measures still causing
trouble today; increased value-added taxes, hitting the
poor, an  increase in the retirement age to 67, tougher
policies for the unemployed. They achieved a few
improvements for immigrants and the gay community, but
supported the murderous bombing war against Serbia,
killing civilians, diplomats, journalists and blasting
at least one huge chemical factory despite the immense,
easily foreseeable ecological damage. After long
efforts they finally achieved a cutoff date for atomic
reactors - but not until 2021.

Few still thought of them as "tree-lovers" or climate
Cassandras. But wen they lost their government
positions and had to sit again on the harder opposition
seats, they loudly recalled their more progressive old
traditions and, like the Social Democrats, purloined
the program of the Left party which, always
discriminated against by the media, was far less known.
As for foreign policy they split, with most in top
leadership supporting the war in Afghanistan and now
attacking the surprising abstention by Merkel and
Foreign Minister Westerwelle on the UN decision to bomb
in Libya - to achieve a "no flight zone". Thus, in the
view of anyone opposed to military involvement by
Germany in yet another conflict, most Greens, like the
Social Democrats, took a position to the right of the
Christian Democrats and FDP. But the core of Green
support in recent years has centered increasingly in
more prosperous, well-educated professional sectors.

Yet when it came to opposing the transportation of
atomic waste through the land and storing it in dubious
salt mines, or opposing the waste of billions on an
underground rail station in Stuttgart, at the expense
of an old and beloved park, the Greens were still most
vigorous and most visible. Their actions were clever,
their slogans catchy and people believed them and voted
for them. Decisive was the shock of the atomic disaster
in Japan; there are four not very youthful atomic
reactors in Baden-Wurttemberg alone. This explains in
no small measure why the Greens outpaced the Social
Democrats for the first time and will now become senior
partners in the state government in this quite
prosperous home of Mercedes and Porsche - a true
challenge if ever there was one! Indeed, a Green
politician will become minister president of a state
for the very first time. The one-time science teacher
Winfried Kretschmann, 62, member of a communist
splinter group in his student years, has long since
dropped such radical ideas. He will now have a chance
and a challenge in this southwestern corner of Germany.

His first successes or failures can soon be of
importance in state elections where the Greens hope to
gain new strength, in Bremen, the northeastern
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, but above all in Berlin,
where the latest poll shows them slightly ahead in a
tight race. If they win, the aggressive Renate Kuenast
might replace popular Social Democratic Mayor Wowereit
after the September election, which would be a second
very major sensation.

Last but, for some, not least; what about the Left?  It
had hoped so very much to break the 5 % barrier and get
into the parliaments of Baden-Wurttemberg and
Rhineland-Palatinate, and perhaps to win first place in
East German Saxony-Anhalt. It failed in all three
endeavors, with results in the West German elections of
only around 3 %. Seemingly almost paralyzed by inner
divisions and the lack of any new issue which might
capture sympathy and entail action here and now, its
members, at first happy that the party managed to stay
in the city legislature in Hamburg, were greatly
saddened by the losses that followed, and no real
solution is in view. Some hope for the invigorating
spirit of Oskar Lafontaine, currently active only in
his own small state of Saarland but, evidently restored
to health after a difficult time, perhaps more active
soon on a national level. Lots must be done to save and
enlarge this very crucial venture, the only party truly
devoted to fighting militarism, restricting the banks
and giant concerns and improving the lives and hopes of
working people in Germany.

___________________________________________

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