DOCSLIB.ORG

The Alternative Für Deutschland, Collective Memory, and Populism As a Repertoire

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Alternative Für Deutschland, Collective Memory, and Populism As a Repertoire Constructing ‘the People’ and the Past: The Alternative für Deutschland, Collective Memory, and Populism as a Repertoire by Andrew Edwin Prosser Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Waterloo, 2017 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Political Science University of Victoria ©Andrew Edwin Prosser, 2018 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Constructing ‘the People’ and the Past: The Alternative für Deutschland, Collective Memory, and Populism as a Repertoire By Andrew Edwin Prosser Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Waterloo, 2017 Supervisory Committee: Dr. Avigail Eisenberg, Co-Supervisor Department of Political Science Dr. Oliver Schmidtke, Co-Supervisor Department of Political Science, Centre for Global Studies iii Abstract Populism is a key, albeit ambiguous, feature of the contemporary political landscape. Prevalent conceptualizations of ‘populism’ are not analytically useful in understanding the nature of the phenomenon; such conceptualizations are useful for identifying populist actors, rather than revealing the specificity of populism. Conventional conceptions of populism do not adequately address the core feature of populism: the construction of ‘the people’ against ‘the elite.’ The thesis argues that conceptualizing populism as a ‘discursive repertoire’ accounts for how populists construct ‘the people’ in practice through identity politics. The thesis tests the efficacy of this approach through a discourse-historical analysis of a ‘hard’ case of populism, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), and focuses on how the AfD constructs ‘the people’ through the identity politics of collective memory. The analysis revealed that the AfD uses collective memory to establish continuity between ‘the people’ and the past in ethnocultural terms while simultaneously transcending ethnocultural nationhood by invoking ‘the people’ in the immediate through direct action. Thus, the populist invocation of 'the people' is temporally complex. Therefore, conceptualizing populism as a repertoire reveals the specificity of populist identity politics and, more specifically, the populist use of history. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ................................................................................................................ ii Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ..................................................................................................................................v Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ vi Dedication .................................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1 The Limitations of ‘Populism’: Literature Review ..............................................................2 Research Question, Case Study, and Argument ..................................................................5 Outline of Thesis ..................................................................................................................8 Chapter 1: Discourse, Populism, and Collective Memory .......................................................11 Discourse-Historical Approach ..........................................................................................11 Populism as a Repertoire and the DHA .............................................................................13 Theorizing the ‘National-Populist’ Conjuncture ...............................................................15 Identity and the Politics of Collective Memory .................................................................19 Methods and Conclusion....................................................................................................24 Chapter 2: Remembering Germany’s “Two Dictatorships” ...................................................27 German National Identity After National Socialism: Literature Review ..........................27 German Memory Politics and the Faces of the Nation ......................................................30 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................50 Chapter 3: Merkel and the Construction of the Anti-Populist Frontier ................................52 Angela Merkel’s German Identity: Unity, Europe, and Responsibility .............................53 Anti-Populism in the German Context ..............................................................................62 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................65 Chapter 4: Populism as a Discursive Repertoire: A Discourse Analysis of the AfD .............67 The AfD as “Competition Populist” ..................................................................................67 The AfD, PEGIDA, and the European Migrant Crisis ......................................................69 Research Design.................................................................................................................72 Findings: The AfD and the Populist Repertoire ................................................................72 Discussion and Conclusion ................................................................................................98 Conclusion: ‘The People’ and the Past ....................................................................................102 The Temporal Complexity of ‘The People’ .....................................................................103 Populism as a Repertoire .................................................................................................106 Avenues for Future Research ...........................................................................................109 References ...................................................................................................................................111 Appendix: AfD Discourse Analysis Codebook ........................................................................142 v List of Tables Table 1: The Function of Elements of Discursive Repertoire and their Historical Reference Points .............................................................................................................................................73 vi Acknowledgments Firstly, I would like to thank the University of Victoria and the Department of Political Science. Specifically, I would like to thank Joanne Denton. I am also thankful for the various funding opportunities I have received through Teaching Assistantships, Research Assistantships, and Graduate Scholarships. This thesis would not have been possible without the support and guidance of my two supervisors, Avigail Eisenberg, and Oliver Schmidtke. I am grateful for Dr. Eisenberg’s endless patience with me. Her incredible abilities to ask deep questions and to boil down my muddled thoughts into something coherent fundamentally shaped this thesis. Most importantly, I am thankful for Dr. Eisenberg’s frequent encouragement to find my voice. In the same vein, I am deeply indebted to Dr. Schmidtke whose insights into German history and politics were a constant source of inspiration. Additionally, Dr. Schmidtke’s comments throughout the writing process were invaluable in thinking through the difficulties of writing and thinking. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such caring, attentive, and supportive supervisors. I am incredibly grateful to be part of such a supportive cohort. Completing my thesis in the company of such unique and bright individuals broadened my academic horizons and, more importantly, encouraged me in all situations. I’d also like to thank my friends and interlocutors from various walks of my life, each of whom has contributed to this thesis in some way. I am deeply indebted to my friends and professors from the University of Waterloo, Cam Hale, Sam Nolan, Phoenicia Kempel, Dr. William Coleman, and Dr. John Jaworsky. I’d also like to thank my dear friends Justine Bochenek, Luke Travers, Sarah Fleck, Dale Wilson, and Ashley Jeffries. The importance of your friendship in my life cannot be overstated. I’d be remiss if I did not acknowledge the cats in my life. I’d like to thank the best one- eared cat in the world, Topaz. Thank you for your cuddles, head butts, and naps, and for allowing me to make your food. I’d also like to thank the best polydactyl cat in the world, Mumford. Thank you for giving me a thumbs-up and watching movies with me. It is difficult to imagine how I would’ve made it through this thesis, let alone my time at grad school, without my best friend and partner, Lauren Yawney. You were there for me through all the stressful times and the times when I felt inadequate and unconfident. For that, I am forever thankful. Your constant support, encouraging
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reactionary Postmodernism? Neoliberalism, Multiculturalism, the Internet, and the Ideology of the New Far Right in Germany
    University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM UVM Honors College Senior Theses Undergraduate Theses 2018 Reactionary Postmodernism? Neoliberalism, Multiculturalism, the Internet, and the Ideology of the New Far Right in Germany William Peter Fitz University of Vermont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses Recommended Citation Fitz, William Peter, "Reactionary Postmodernism? Neoliberalism, Multiculturalism, the Internet, and the Ideology of the New Far Right in Germany" (2018). UVM Honors College Senior Theses. 275. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/275 This Honors College Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Theses at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in UVM Honors College Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REACTIONARY POSTMODERNISM? NEOLIBERALISM, MULTICULTURALISM, THE INTERNET, AND THE IDEOLOGY OF THE NEW FAR RIGHT IN GERMANY A Thesis Presented by William Peter Fitz to The Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The University of Vermont In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts In European Studies with Honors December 2018 Defense Date: December 4th, 2018 Thesis Committee: Alan E. Steinweis, Ph.D., Advisor Susanna Schrafstetter, Ph.D., Chairperson Adriana Borra, M.A. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: Neoliberalism and Xenophobia 17 Chapter Two: Multiculturalism and Cultural Identity 52 Chapter Three: The Philosophy of the New Right 84 Chapter Four: The Internet and Meme Warfare 116 Conclusion 149 Bibliography 166 1 “Perhaps one will view the rise of the Alternative for Germany in the foreseeable future as inevitable, as a portent for major changes, one that is as necessary as it was predictable.
    [Show full text]
  • Framing Through Names and Titles in German
    Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2020), pages 4924–4932 Marseille, 11–16 May 2020 c European Language Resources Association (ELRA), licensed under CC-BY-NC Doctor Who? Framing Through Names and Titles in German Esther van den Berg∗z, Katharina Korfhagey, Josef Ruppenhofer∗z, Michael Wiegand∗ and Katja Markert∗y ∗Leibniz ScienceCampus, Heidelberg/Mannheim, Germany yInstitute of Computational Linguistics, Heidelberg University, Germany zInstitute for German Language, Mannheim, Germany fvdberg|korfhage|[email protected] fruppenhofer|[email protected] Abstract Entity framing is the selection of aspects of an entity to promote a particular viewpoint towards that entity. We investigate entity framing of political figures through the use of names and titles in German online discourse, enhancing current research in entity framing through titling and naming that concentrates on English only. We collect tweets that mention prominent German politicians and annotate them for stance. We find that the formality of naming in these tweets correlates positively with their stance. This confirms sociolinguistic observations that naming and titling can have a status-indicating function and suggests that this function is dominant in German tweets mentioning political figures. We also find that this status-indicating function is much weaker in tweets from users that are politically left-leaning than in tweets by right-leaning users. This is in line with observations from moral psychology that left-leaning and right-leaning users assign different importance to maintaining social hierarchies. Keywords: framing, naming, Twitter, German, stance, sentiment, social media 1. Introduction An interesting language to contrast with English in terms of naming and titling is German.
    [Show full text]
  • Germany 2018 International Religious Freedom Report
    GERMANY 2018 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT Executive Summary The constitution prohibits religious discrimination and provides for freedom of faith and conscience and the practice of one’s religion. The country’s 16 states exercise considerable autonomy on registration of religious groups and other matters. Unrecognized religious groups are ineligible for tax benefits. The federal and some state offices of the domestic intelligence service continued to monitor the activities of certain Muslim groups. Authorities also monitored the Church of Scientology (COS), which reported continued government discrimination against its members. Certain states continued to ban or restrict the use of religious clothing or symbols, including headscarves, for some state employees, particularly teachers and courtroom officials. While senior government leaders continued to condemn anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim sentiment, some members of the federal parliament and state assemblies from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party again made anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim statements. The federal and seven state governments appointed anti-Semitism commissioners for the first time, following a recommendation in a parliament-commissioned 2017 experts’ report to create a federal anti-Semitism commissioner in response to growing anti-Semitism. The federal anti-Semitism commissioner serves as a contact for Jewish groups and coordinates initiatives to combat anti-Semitism in the federal ministries. In July the government announced it would increase social welfare funding for Holocaust survivors by 75 million euros ($86 million) in 2019. In March Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said he did not consider Islam to be a part of the country’s culture, and that the country was characterized by Christianity.
    [Show full text]
  • Plenarprotokoll 19/148
    Plenarprotokoll 19/148 Deutscher Bundestag Stenografischer Bericht 148. Sitzung Berlin, Mittwoch, den 4. März 2020 Inhalt: Erweiterung und Abwicklung der Tagesord- Tagesordnungspunkt 1: nung . 18435 A Befragung der Bundesregierung Absetzung der Tagesordnungspunkte 6, 11 c, 22 und 28 . 18437 B Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18453 C Geänderte Ausschussüberweisungen . 18437 C Stephan Protschka (AfD) . 18454 B Feststellung der Tagesordnung . 18437 D Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18454 C Glückwünsche zum Geburtstag der Abgeord- Stephan Protschka (AfD) . 18454 D neten Ulrich Oehme und Dr. Eberhard Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18455 A Brecht . 18437 D Nezahat Baradari (SPD) . 18455 B Wahl des Abgeordneten Michael Theurer als Mitglied des Verwaltungsrates der Kredit- Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18455 C anstalt für Wiederaufbau . 18437 D Nezahat Baradari (SPD) . 18455 D Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18455 D Zusatzpunkt 1: Frank Sitta (FDP) . 18456 A Abgabe einer Regierungserklärung durch den Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18456 B Bundesminister für Gesundheit: Bekämpfung Frank Sitta (FDP) . 18456 C des Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Deutsch- land Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18456 C Jens Spahn, Bundesminister BMG . 18438 A Johannes Huber (AfD) . 18457 A Dr. Alice Weidel (AfD) . 18440 B Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18457 B Bärbel Bas (SPD) . 18441 D Carina Konrad (FDP) . 18457 C Christian Lindner (FDP) . 18443 A Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18457 C Dr. Georg Nüßlein (CDU/CSU) . 18443 D Hans-Georg von der Marwitz (CDU/CSU) . 18458 B Amira Mohamed Ali (DIE LINKE) . 18445 A Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL . 18458 B Kordula Schulz-Asche (BÜNDNIS 90/ Hans-Georg von der Marwitz (CDU/CSU) . 18458 D DIE GRÜNEN) . 18446 C Julia Klöckner, Bundesministerin BMEL .
    [Show full text]
  • Commemorating Communist East Germany in the Berlin Republic: Modes of Remembrance in Literature, Film, and Memorial Sites
    COMMEMORATING COMMUNIST EAST GERMANY IN THE BERLIN REPUBLIC: MODES OF REMEMBRANCE IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MEMORIAL SITES by Katrin Mascha BA equivalent, University of Augsburg 2007 MA, University of Pittsburgh 2009 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Katrin Mascha It was defended on April 8, 2014 and approved by John Lyon, Associate Professor, Department of German Sabine von Dirke, Associate Professor, Department of German Clark Muenzer, Associate Professor, Department of German Marcia Landy, Professor, Department of English Dissertation Advisor: Randall Halle, Professor, Department of German ii Copyright © by Katrin Mascha 2014 iii COMMEMORATING COMMUNIST EAST GERMANY IN THE BERLIN REPUBLIC: MODES OF REMEMBRANCE IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MEMORIAL SITES Katrin Mascha, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 This dissertation studies how the Berlin Republic commemorates Communist East Germany and investigates how this engagement is translated into cultural memory. I understand cultural memory as dynamic, multifaceted, and as a widely contestational interplay of past and present in socio-cultural contexts. The making of cultural memory involves various participants and allows us to examine the nexus between individual remembering and culturally mediated memory. Culturally mediated memory appears as a process of the representation and manifestation of the past in the present. By studying the mediality of ‘present pasts,’ we gain an understanding of how the past is remembered and how it is mediated via cultural objects in the present.
    [Show full text]
  • View / Open Final Thesis-Hauth Q
    HOW MIGRATION HAS CONTRIBUTED THE RISE OF THE FAR-RIGHT IN GERMANY by QUINNE HAUTH A THESIS Presented to the Department of International Studies and the Robert D. Clark Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts June 2019 An Abstract of the Thesis of Quinne Hauth for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the Department of International Studies to be taken June 2019 Title: How Migration Has Contributed to the Rise of the Far-Right in Germany Approved: _______________________________________ Angela Joya Increased migration into Europe in the summer of 2015 signified a shift in how the European Union responds to migration, and now more so than in Germany, which has opened its doors to about 1.5 million migrants as of 2018. While Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcome helped alleviate the burden placed on countries that bordered the east as well as the Mediterranean, it has been the subject of a lot of controversy over the last three years within Germany itself. Drawing on this controversy, this study explores how migration has affected Germany’s migration policies, and the extent to which it has affected a shift towards the right within the government. I conclude that Germany’s relationship with migration has been complicated since its genesis, and that ultimately Merkel’s welcome was the exception to decades of policy, not the rule. Thus, as tensions increase between migrants and citizens, and policy fails to adapt to benefit both parties, Germany’s politicians will advocate to close the state from migrants more and more.
    [Show full text]
  • Pain, Opioids and The
    HIGHLANDS NEWS-SUN Monday, June 11, 2018 VOL. 99 | NO. 162 | $1.00 YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1919 AN EDITION OF THE SUN Summer reading DUI citations rocks! jump up this year By MELISSA MAIN STAFF WRITER SEBRING — DUI citations from law enforcement agents in Highlands County have risen dramatically since last year. From January 2017 through April 2017, Highlands County Sheriff’s Office dep- uties issued 16 DUI citations. However, that rose to 49 for the same period in 2018 — a 206 percent increase. Sheriff’s Office spokesman Scott Dressel said, “The difference in the numbers can be attributed to MELISSA MAIN/STAFF SOBERING some new depu- FACTS ABOUT ties we have who Sebring Public Library rocks its summer reading program designed to keep students’ reading skills sharp during the summer. are very vigilant DUIS when it comes to •Drunk driving costs the looking for drivers Sebring Public Library’s fun activities United States $132 billion that may be a year. impaired.” •About 1 in 7 teens binge- Lake and reading programs get children busy drinks, but only 1 in 100 Placid Police parents believes his or her Department saw By MELISSA MAIN child binge-drinks. a 133 percent STAFF WRITER •Fifty-seven percent of increase in DUI fatally injured drivers citations from SEBRING—The summer rocks at had alcohol and/or other January 2017 Sebring Public Library with loads of drugs in their system, and through April fun summer activities and a reading 17 percent had both. 2017 compared program designed with incentives •The rate of drunk driving to the same time to keep children reading throughout is highest among 26- to this year.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right
    Maik Fielitz, Nick Thurston (eds.) Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right Political Science | Volume 71 Maik Fielitz, Nick Thurston (eds.) Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right Online Actions and Offline Consequences in Europe and the US With kind support of Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Na- tionalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No- Derivatives 4.0 (BY-NC-ND) which means that the text may be used for non-commer- cial purposes, provided credit is given to the author. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ To create an adaptation, translation, or derivative of the original work and for com- mercial use, further permission is required and can be obtained by contacting [email protected] Creative Commons license terms for re-use do not apply to any content (such as graphs, figures, photos, excerpts, etc.) not original to the Open Access publication and further permission may be required from the rights holder. The obligation to research and clear permission lies solely with the party re-using the material. © 2019 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld Cover layout: Kordula Röckenhaus, Bielefeld Typeset by Alexander Masch, Bielefeld Printed by Majuskel Medienproduktion GmbH, Wetzlar Print-ISBN 978-3-8376-4670-2 PDF-ISBN 978-3-8394-4670-6 https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839446706 Contents Introduction | 7 Stephen Albrecht, Maik Fielitz and Nick Thurston ANALYZING Understanding the Alt-Right.
    [Show full text]
  • Cdu'nun 33. Olağan Kongresi Sonrası Almanya Siyaseti
    CDU’NUN 33. OLAĞAN KONGRESİ SONRASI ALMANYA SİYASETİ M. ERKUT AYVAZ ANALİZ ŞUBAT 2021 . SAYI 343 CDU’NUN 33. OLAĞAN KONGRESİ SONRASI ALMANYA SİYASETİ M. ERKUT AYVAZ COPYRIGHT © 2021 Bu yayının tüm hakları SETA Siyaset, Ekonomi ve Toplum Araştırmaları Vakfı’na aittir. SETA’nın izni olmaksızın yayının tümünün veya bir kısmının elektronik veya mekanik (fotokopi, kayıt ve bilgi depolama vd.) yollarla basımı, yayımı, çoğaltılması veya dağıtımı yapılamaz. Kaynak göstermek suretiyle alıntı yapılabilir. SETA Yayınları ISBN: 978-625-7712-16-3 Uygulama: Said Demirtaş Baskı: Turkuvaz Haberleşme ve Yayıncılık A.Ş., İstanbul SETA | SİYASET, EKONOMİ VE TOPLUM ARAŞTIRMALARI VAKFI Nenehatun Cd. No: 66 GOP Çankaya 06700 Ankara TÜRKİYE Tel: +90 312 551 21 00 | Faks: +90 312 551 21 90 www.setav.org | [email protected] | @setavakfi SETA | İstanbul Defterdar Mh. Savaklar Cd. Ayvansaray Kavşağı No: 41-43 34050 Eyüpsultan İstanbul TÜRKİYE Tel: +90 212 395 11 00 | Faks: +90 212 395 11 11 SETA | Washington D.C. 1025 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 410 Washington D.C., 20036 USA Tel: 202 223 98 85 | Faks: 202 223 60 99 www.setadc.org | [email protected] | @setadc SETA | Berlin Kronenstraße 1, 10117 Berlin GERMANY [email protected] SETA | Brüksel Avenue des Arts 27, 1000 Brussels BELGIUM Tel: +322 652 0486 CDU’NUN 33. OLAĞAN KONGRESİ SONRASI ALMANYA SİYASETİ İÇİNDEKİLER ÖZET 7 GİRİŞ 8 CDU’NUN 33. OLAĞAN KONGRESİNE GİDEN SÜREÇ (2017-2021) 9 15-16 OCAK KONGRE PROGRAMI VE CDU GENEL BAŞKANLIK ADAYLARI 10 KONGRE SONUÇLARI VE ÖNE ÇIKAN HUSUSLAR 14 SONUÇ 17 setav.org 5 ANALİZ YAZAR HAKKINDA M. ERKUT AYVAZ Erlangen-Nürnberg Üniversitesi (Almanya) Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Hukuku bö- lümlerinden 2011’de mezun oldu.
    [Show full text]
  • Visible TRANSIT Vol. 12, No. 2
    Salzmann & Silhol-Macher: Visible Visible by Sasha Marianna Salzmann TRANSIT vol. 12, no. 2 Translated by Lou Silhol-Macher I will never know what it means to be invisible. I will never know how it is to be able to kiss carelessly in the park, to just go for it. What it means to stroll in the streets and not have to deal with the fact that somebody might try and touch my hair as they walk by. How it is not to have to constantly self-soothe in monologues after a day of being asked multiple times whether one understands German. To dissolve in the crowd is not an option for me. I belong to several minority groups at once; to conceal this would entail more dangers for me than to name my positionalities. Your silence will not protect you1 is the title of a collection of essays by Audre Lorde in which she emphasizes the destructive force of self-imposed silence across several texts: According to Lorde, the only way to avoid having one’s being turned against oneself is to speak out about it before others do. Otherwise, the attacks and judgements of others remain in the gray zones of society’s perception, and it becomes possible for others to claim that they did not know. I think about the Jewish people at the beginning of the 20th century who were so busy trying to assimilate that Hitler had to remind them that they would never belong and never be wanted there. These people became Jewish through discrimination, through exclusion, through their death.
    [Show full text]
  • Drucksache 19/23147 19
    Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 19/23147 19. Wahlperiode 07.10.2020 Kleine Anfrage des Abgeordneten Stephan Brandner und der Fraktion der AfD Aussagen des Bundesministers für Gesundheit bezüglich der Corona- Schutzmaßnahmen der Bundesregierung Medienberichten zufolge hat der Bundesminister für Gesundheit Jens Spahn bei einem Auftritt in Bottrop am 31. August 2020 eingeräumt, dass einige der von der Bundesregierung getroffenen Corona-Schutzmaßnahmen im Rückblick wo- möglich unverhältnismäßig gewesen seien (https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/coro na-lockdown-besuchsverbote-spahn-100.html; https://www.zeit.de/politik/deuts chland/2020-09/corona-beschraenkungen-jens-spahn-massnahmen-verbesse rung). Wörtlich sagte der Bundesgesundheitsminister Jens Spahn in Bottrop: „Man würde mit dem Wissen von heute, das kann ich ihnen sagen, keine Fri- seure mehr schließen und keinen Einzelhandel mehr schließen. Das wird nicht noch einmal passieren. Wir werden nicht noch einmal Besuchsverbote in den Pflegeeinrichtungen brauchen. Wir haben doch etwas dazugelernt in den letzten Monaten, wie wir uns schützen können, ohne dass es diese Maßnahmen braucht. Dafür braucht es aber vor allem eben zum Beispiel die Maske“ (https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article214831024/Corona-Lockdown- Diese-Verbote-wuerde-Spahn-nicht-mehr-aussprechen.html). Konfrontiert mit dieser Aussage, erklärte der Bundesgesundheitsminister Jens Spahn im Rahmen einer Pressekonferenz in Bochum am 1. September 2020 (https://www.bild.de/ politik/inland/politik-inland/spahn-haette-friseure-und-altenheime-nicht-schlies sen-muessen-72676814.bild.html): „Was wir miteinander jeden Tag ausverhan- deln in der Gesellschaft ist die richtige Balance zwischen Gesundheitsschutz, Infektionsschutz, Sicherheit und Alltag und Freiheit.“ Demnach seien Corona- Maßnahmen nie eine Frage von „absoluter Wahrheit“, sondern eine „Abwä- gung zwischen Argumenten, die dafür sprechen vor allem zum Schutz und an- deren Argumenten, die dagegen sprechen, weil es eben auch eine Belastung ist im Alltag“ (ebd.).
    [Show full text]
  • Nikolas Kockelmann1 Football Star Mesut Özil in the Crossfire of German Media
    ERDÉLYI TÁRSADALOM, 17(1), 2019, DOI: 10.17177/77171.223 Football Star Mesut Özil in thehttp://www.erdelyitarsadalom.ro Crossfire of German Media Nikolas Kockelmann1 Football Star Mesut Özil in the Crossfire of German Media Abstract The photo of football star Mesut Özil together with Turkish President Erdogan sparked a controversy in German media with a political backlash in 2018. Criticism was manifold and linked to the athlete’s representative function and the authoritarian style of Erdogan. However, the reasons for such strong reactions are much less superficial. Deep cultural reasons lay the ground for criticism on Özil. German identity has assumed a patriotic representation of athletes before the founding of the state itself and is deeply integrated in today’s identity. How does this cultural-historical aspect matter today? The early 21st century has been a partial break with this tradition and a shift towards a more inclusive identity. However, since the European refugee crisis the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) demands a revival of traditional German identity. Insecurity in public opinion went beyond the AfD. Other parties have recognized the need to defend German identity and values vis-à-vis authoritarian ones. The general clash of identity, culture and politics heavily influence the backlash on an apparently unpolitical photo by Mesut Özil, who has been used as a political scape- goat. Keywords: Özil, Erdogan, migrant crisis, integration in Germany, German identity How to cite this article: Nikolas Kockelmann (2019). Football Star Mesut Özil in the Crossfire of German Media. Erdélyi Társadalom/Transylvanian Society, 17(1), 39–53.
    [Show full text]