Growing up in East Germany sometimes felt like living in a fantasy world. It was not so much that East Germany was a land of plenty but rather that some people spoke a language that appeared to hover over reality without ever really touching it. In public, people seemed to engage in an elaborate linguistic game with strict yet inscrutable rules, juggling words without any meaning.
'Imperialist plots' were constantly afoot which were designed to prevent the 'vanguard of the working class' to march unhindered towards a 'glorious communist future'. Ultimately, however, resistance was futile since the Marxist logic of the march of history was undeniable.
In other words, some people appeared to live in a parallel reality. The question was whether they really believed the elaborate conceptual constructs they used in public speech. The end of communism answered that question, so I thought, and political and social affairs took on an air of pragmatic realism again. Or, as my grandmother put it: 'Looks like things will be normal again from now on.'
This normality of politics for long has informed the broader consensus in European politics. Cut through the ideological nonsense and find solutions to problems has been the motto of European politicians ever since they put their signatures under the Treaty of Rome.
The first extreme leftist Greek European government, in coalition with an extreme right wing party, (who says political extremes are polar opposites!) is a sign that this consensus is about to end. Listening to the Greek Prime Minister it reminds me of East Germany. It sometimes sounds as if he really believes the hollow phrases of neoliberal evil-doers and Greek comrades being humiliated by the international finance capital. Mixed into this melange of ideological clap-trap borrowed from the darkest Stalinist times is a good dose of eternal victimhood that traditionally curries favour with the Greek populace.
Seen as a clash between pragmatists and ideologues, the negotiations between the troika and Greece could only have one final destination: a confrontation between nationalist and ideologically charged rhetoric and shock and disbelief by European governments about the Greek Prime Minister for refusing to accept the basic framework of pragmatic European politics, resting on negotiations and compromise. Yet, we shouldn't be surprised. The attractions of living in a fantasy world have always be strong. And, you know, no one has yet conclusively proven that Marx was wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment