The first is that I can't believe it's been 17 years since the Berlin Wall fell. Now that I think about it, this means that just about half my life has been lived since the end of the Cold War. This is a very odd thing indeed, because, during that first half the Cold War seemed like one of those things which would just continue on pretty much forever. This was a widespread (if not universal) assumption at the time, something which was, quite coincidentally, brought home to me last night when I started reading Philip K. Dick's classic novel Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep (the basis for the film Blade Runner). Alongside its unsettling depiction of android intelligence, ersatz animals, interplanetary travel, laser weapons and hover-cars, the book, most weirdly in hindsight, envisions a still-extant Soviet Union in the mid 21st century.
(One thinks also - sticking with the science fiction genre - of the Cold War backdrop in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Of course, come to think of it, I think that film also included typewriters of all things. )
To me at the time, the only alternative to an almost eternal stasis in the superpower struggle was an apocalyptic vision of nuclear annihilation (which incidentally, it appears, has made a comeback). So, all things considered, I suppose that the reality we have - as grim as it seems - is not so bad after all. (Sorry, that's as close as we're going to get to true optimism here at Obscene Desserts.)
If nothing else, though, this should be a reminder that any particular period of history is not eternal (so, in theory, not eternally grim) but a passing phase in an eternal (by human standards) cycle of historical events. We should not assume that the way things are now are a good indication of the way things will always be. This is perhaps simple-minded, but I find it's a pretty useful mantra.
The second thought is a realisation of how - after a mere five years in country - I have managed to develop a profound, I suppose patriotic, emotional connection to my chosen homeland. During the preview broadcast tonight on ARD for Sönke Wortmann's new documentary film Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen I was nearly moved to tears, as memories of the emotional ups and downs of last summer's World Cup bubbled up once again.
When Germany was actually reunified, I was quite a distance away (I was, in fact, in the midst of my sophomore year at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois; thus, it's hard to think of a place which was more distant from where it was really at that year). Still, since I've been here, I've realised how attached you can get to a place which once, really, seemed incredibly foreign.
I'm now thoroughly convinced that Germany is one of the finest places on this Earth, and, if you want to disagree with me on that, you'd best be up for a bruising, pal, so be careful.
Third, as an American (in origin, if not in current primary loyalties), I'm struck by how little German holidays resemble American ones. On most German holidays, everyday life for the most part comes to a stop. In fact, this would seem to have become, for me, to be the definition of a 'holiday': a time to stop and reflect on the subject of the holiday...or, failing that, to at least have some time off to...hang out and drink beer.
Most American holidays, on the other hand, seem to have simply degenerated into business-as-usual with an Added Reason to Sell Crap You Don't Need. There are no 'Day of Unity Sales' in Germany, and I think that this alone is cause for celebration. I hope I am not the only one who finds the notion of a 'Veterans Day Sale' to be perverse.
A country in which the overriding motivation is the commodification and selling of human experience is not, I suggest, one that's going to be around for all that long.
Fourth, and perhaps most tangentially, I'd like to bring your attention to a translated speech by Jürgen Habermas, perhaps Germany's best-known intellectual. (That hypocrite Grass doesn't count.) Habermas, in this case, was speaking earlier this year about a different kind of unification: that of Europe.
I have long been on record as a supporter of greater efforts at European unification, so it was a delight (via Click Opera) to recently have my attention drawn to this excerpt from a speech by Habermas on the occasion of being awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize for the advancement of human rights (translation and commentary provided by signandsight).
I want to focus briefly on to two issues Habermas raises.
First, he - rightly - points out that opposition to the establishment of a European constitution is not resistance to neo-liberal globalisation, but rather a means of making such a future ever more likely. This is an important point, I think, as there has been a great deal of criticism levelled at the constitution from the Left (particularly - and shamefully - from the French Left, which effectively helped to scuttle the French referendum and - perhaps - also tipped the balance in the Netherlands).
This is not to argue that the constitution text as it was presented was perfect, but it seemed to me that it was far from the neo-liberal nightmare which some on the irresponsible far left presented it to be. Globalisation in some form is inevitable, and the constitution would have been an imperfect - but useful - framework for shaping its further development. As Habermas points out, the alternative to closer European integration (presumably more or less along the lines of the current constitution text) is not a more progressive Europe, but rather a collapse into a kind of lowest-common-denominator EU, which, in effect, will turn nation against nation in a neo-liberal race to the bottom.
Here the only defence is offence: winning back political clout on a supra-national level. Without convergent tax rates and medium-term harmonisation of economic and social-policies, we are in effect relinquishing our hold over the European social model.
I would urge critics of the constitution to read it once again and consider it in terms of what we might (with a tip of the hat to Cold War nostalgia) call Real Existing American-Style Capitalism.
Ask yourself: where would you rather live?
Second, Habermas surprises with an astonishing call for Europe to not only get its house in order in defending its version of the social-market but also, in essence, to defend itself in more literal ways: politically and militarily. I have to admit that I find it refreshing to hear someone who would generally be thought of as a left-wing thinker advocating that Europe get its act together militarily, as this is something I've been thinking for some time.
As Habermas points out, the current world situation is characterised by:
The return to ruthless hegemonic power politics, the clash of the West and the Islamic world, the decay of state structures in other parts of the world, the long-term social consequences of colonialism and the immediate political consequences of failed de-colonisation – all of this points to a high-risk international situation.
It is time, as Habermas argues, for Europe to dare to achieve a more independent position, in a world which is dominated by large military powers such as the US, Russia and China and relatively small but threatening ones such as Iran and North Korea.
It is precisely in critical cases of joint action that we must break free of our dependence on our superior partner. That is one more reason why the European Union needs its own armed forces. Until now Europeans have been subordinated to the dictates and regulations of the American high command in NATO deployments. The time has come for us to attain a position where even in a joint military deployment we still remain true to our own conceptions of human rights, the ban on torture and wartime criminal law.
In some ways, many of the arguments were well rehearsed some time ago by Will Hutton in his important (though hardly pulse-quickening) book The World We're In. And the intervening time has, of course, not been entirely encouraging for supporters of a more united EU.
Nevertheless, Habermas's lecture is a call worth considering.
German unification, after all, has been nothing but arduous and characterised by many misjudgements and many petty (and some more serious) disagreements. However, all-in-all, it's certainly been worthwhile.
Happy Unification Day, my fellow residents of Europe. Let's get together!
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