BUSH KOMT NAAR BERLIJN!!!
U. Woudenberg - 09.05.2002 23:36
Op 22 en 23 mei komt Bush naar Berlijn:
laten we hem verwelkomen
OP NAAR BERLIJN!
EEN AX VAN VREDE MOET HEM BEGROETEN!
EXCITING WELCOME PLANNED FOR BUSH IN BERLIN - BUT
PEACEFUL, BITTE!
Victor Grossman, Berlin
All Berlin is in a tizzy! George W. Bush will honor the
city with a short visit on May 22nd and 23rd - on his
way from Paris to Moscow. There are big plans to make
the brief stopover a memorable occasion for him - he
will be honored with one, two or even more
demonstrations. The biggest should be on the evening
before he arrives, just to set the proper tone - and
get into the media the same time he does. The day of
his arrival will feature separate rallies, probably
centering on different aspects of his policy: Iraq, the
environment, death sentences (and Mumia Abu-Jamal), the
war on Afghanistan, the Near East - but then joining in
one big meeting on Unter den Linden boulevard, with
drums of every kind thumping out a warning - and echoed
by drums in countless cities all around Germany (called
"Bush drumming"). The gatherings are of course not
meant to be in any way disrespectful to his person -
only against his policies, and against German
government policy backing his actions with troops in
Afghanistan, ships around the Horn of Africa, and tanks
in Kuwait, just waiting to help attack Iraq. The
demonstration idea , therefore, is not so welcvome to
the Social Democratic and Green coalition ruling the
federal government - but fighting an uphill election
campaign for the September 22nd elections.
The very idea of demonstrating against the president of Germany´s closest ally and big brother for all those years already has the opposition, the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the business-based Free Democrats (FDP), up in arms. To make matters worse, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) is the junior partner in the governing coalition now ruling Berlin - and it is supporting the demonstrations (not organizing them, as has been reported), thus threatening to tense up the complicated relationship between Social Democrats and PDS. Things looked even worse for a while: Mayor Wowereit (SPD - but a smart cookie) is currently occupying the alternate chair of the upper house of the German parliament, and in that capacity was due to lead a federal government delegation to Australia just at the time of the Bush visit. He probably rejoiced at being so far away! But in his absence his job of welcoming Bush to the city would devolve on Gregor Gysi, the deputy mayor, who comes from the PDS! What a scandal! From a party whose predecessors across the city in East Berlin hardly rejoiced in the past when US presidents visited West Berlin - not even when Kennedy announced "Ich bin ein Berliner!" No, Gysi greeting Bush - that would never do! So under heavy pressure Wowereit agreed to forget about kangaroos and koalas and greet Bush. This may only be from a seat in the Reichstag, since George plans no city sightseeing tour and wants to keep well away from crowds, which may not be friendly enough for a bath in the crowd, or even a pleasant word or two. Who knows what he might hear?!
And since the Brandenburg Gate is currently under repair and covered with a fanciful camouflage (with curving pillars) he won´t speak there either.
The demonstrations are being organized by a large number of peace organizations, leftist parties, anti- globalization groups, religious representatives and immigrant groups. They chose the title "Achse des Friedens" (Axis of Peace), both because of their basically anti-war positions and because they
vigorously reject any stone throwing or other violence.
But sincere and well-considered as this decision was, the German Bush buddies from the rightwing parties are ignoring this and crying alarm, drawing constant parallels to the stone throwers on May Day, who set fires to cars, injured policemen and vandalized a supermarket. The police have found that these young men were not from any organizations, not even far left ones, but were "tourists in violence", mostly without any strong political principles except to heave plaster stones at men in unioform. Of course, a few of them may try to heat up the Bush demonstrations (with a probable base of agents provocateurs, many believe) but, as on May Day, this will have nothing to do with the organized demonstrations. However, the US authorities are already worrying publicly about the "safety of the
president", efforts are being made to keep the demonstrations out of his sight and out of earshot, the US Embassy will become even more of a besieged fortress
than it is already, and the Secret Service is already all over the place. There will undoubtedly be more cries to prevent the demonstrations entirely, and if,
as it stands now, this has no effect, unexpected provocations of one kind or another can certainly be expected in the next two weeks. It looks like an
exciting time ahead!
|
