BERLIN — If national flags could speak, most of them would have a strong opinion.
The American Stars and Stripes would say something like: “Yeah, folks, I know, some of you think I’m a promise; some believe I’m a broken promise. But what remains is the promise, right?”
Britain’s Union Jack would state: “I am utterly aware of the fact that our once global empire is vanished and gone. Yet I am hip. Use me as your iPhone cover or wear me as a bikini. Cool Britannia is fine with it.”
The German flag would have to think awhile. Then it would propose: “Get me now at your nearest discount supermarket as part of the World Cup fan package, with a six-pack of beer and a Brazilian thunderer whistle for only 6.95 euros!”
That’s the sad reason I would never fly the German flag. It’s not that I’m unpatriotic. It’s that our flag’s branding is so spoiled. Can we have a new one, please?
Next I asked a French friend. He looked at me as he often does when we talk about our countries: as if I had gone mad. He also reminded me of the legendary World Cup in Germany in 2006, the so-called Sommermärchen, when the cities were more or less covered in black-red-gold — and no one took offense.
Again, the details: To make ourselves comfortable with such a display, we Germans had to invent a new term: “party-otismus,” in contrast to, and in parody of, “patriotismus.” So what are we talking about? A flag of revelers, nothing more.
O.K., the French friend conceded, if you want to redesign it, you should do it along the corporate colors that many German banks use for their websites: green and blue, the embodiment of seriousness and reliability. He wasn’t being ironic.
From what I remember hearing on NPR this morning is that the AfD received 33% in a couple of former E German states. Since no one will coalition with them, their only power is stopping legislation that requires 2/3 vote, such as approving judges.
I just happen to be reading this excellent one volume account of the rise of the Nazis and sure sounds similar...
Did you know the Nazis never garnered more than about 37% of the popular vote in any federal Weimar Republic election? Disturbing to think about with how the Republicans operate today.
Angela Merkel rebukes own party over bombshell deal with the far right
BERLIN — Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has publicly chastised the leader of her own party, Friedrich Merz, after the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) for the first time relied on far-right votes to pass an anti-immigration motion in parliament.
The deal broke a long-standing commitment to isolate the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is polling in second place ahead of the German election on Feb. 23.
Merkel’s rare intervention, first reported by German magazine Stern, exposes an internal rift within the conservative CDU over how to handle the AfD’s rising influence.
