Betrayal:


Election day, May 26th 2007:

I have returned home from Berlin, Germany(the city where I live) to Dublin, Ireland, the city where I was born specifically to vote in the Irish parliamentary elections. What I am doing is not legal and my parents have even colluded in it – in Ireland only citizens who permanently reside in the state are allowed to vote. My mother graciously lied to the electoral commission when they called at our door wondering if the 5 people on the register still lived there, as did the parents of most of my scattered friends, who left Ireland to go to countries all over Europe, who have returned for this one event.
 
And most of us know exactly why we’re here. For the most part, we’ve returned to ensure that the moribund party of government is thrown out, the permanent government of Ireland, the Fianna Fail party. I hear the arguments of permanent residents of Ireland that Fianna Fail have done a great job in creating a boom and economic stability and argue with all the conviction I can muster that they did no such thing, that the first portion of the boom was due to factors largely outside of Fianna Fails control and that since then they have been pumping the economy when the should be calming it. But knowing that there is no convincing will ever really be effective, I simply do the most effective thing I can think of and go out the next day and give my first preference vote to my local Green Party representative, Eamon Ryan.

The next day, my father, a life long politically active member of Fianna Fail takes me along to the count centre in the RDS exhibition centre in Dublin 4.  He has been observing counts and doing party estimates since before I was born and everyone knows. He introduces me, and notes in a half-joking, half-apologetic manner that I am a very committed Green Party supporter and have been since long before I could even vote.  A few minutes later as I am gazing into space the one and only Eamon Ryan sweeps by. He is tall and dark and surprisingly dashing in person.  

The Greens do triumph, getting their best results yet and I cheer with friends as we watch the results come in. Later, though, it becomes apparent that neither of the pre-negotiated coalition blocs have enough representatives to be elected to government and that some other unlikely government will have to be formed. Before I even leave there is talk of the Green Party going into government with Fianna Fail. Negotiations follow, and my father rings to tease me through every step of the process….’wouldn’t you know it’ he says ‘we’re going into government together’….
The decision to go into government with this corrupt right wing party rips the Irish Green Party apart. The leader resigns, a nasty split in the party emerges and it is clear that many people see the act of going into government with Fianna Fail as tantamount with going into government with the devil.

April 2009:

Despite my hopes to the contrary the Irish green party has underwhelmed in government. It is not specifically that they are doing anything wrong – every now and then I tune in and hear Eamon Ryan, who is now Minister for Energy talk about windmills. For me it is the fact that they have done so little besides the obvious practical things that needed to be done. They important social and moral force that fuelled the party and drew me to it is lost. There has been no attempt to rid the country of the arcane social legislation and constitutional provisions that govern it.  The country slopes downhill, and important Green Party members defend the party that created it, their coalition partners Fianna Fail. It is impossible for me to feel anything other than betrayal. And the next time I hear a Green minister on the radio I find myself compelled to just switch it off….

Rejection


A letter comes from the Borough Electoral Office in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin inviting me to register to vote in the European Parliament elections on the 7th of June 2009. The letter explains that I may vote in either my own home country or in Germany and directs me to the form. The German electoral authorities, being German, ask me to list the constituency I vote in at home to ensure that I am removed from the electoral register there and do not vote twice.  I giggle first at this classic example of German to-the-t bureaucracy, reflecting that I voted in England last European Elections without so much as listing an Irish address. Then the more far-reaching consequences hit me. Won’t informing the electoral authorities in Ireland that I am not resident there result in me being struck off the register for all elections? Will this mean I will never vote in another national election again? Somehow, it no longer matters to me. The Green party betrayed me, I reason, I will never be able to vote for them again with the same pure and hopeful heart I once had. It doesn’t matter if I can never vote in Ireland again. There is no-one left to vote for.

The European election campaign warms up, and posters start appearing all over the city. At Alexanderplatz, waiting for a tram I find myself looking into the kind face of Lothar Bisky, the top candidate for ‘Die Linke’, the most traditionally left wing socialist party there is in Germany. I met him once, and he seemed like a nice man, but that is no reason to vote for a party and I have never been a traditional left wing voter anyway. I have always been green. I find myself squirming in front of Green Party posters, only half aware of why I am squirming, only half questioning my squirm. And then it is through the miracle of Facebook and a conversation with a likeminded friend that it all becomes clear.  Where once we shared our joy at the success of the  Irish Green Party, now we share our disappointment and disgust. What am I doing now?  Am I really intending to punish the entire European Green Party for the actions of its disappointing Irish arm? I pledge to myself that Sunday morning to at least give German Green Party a chance, and head out into the morning sun to yoga. On my way back I find myself sitting in a neighbourhood café reading a newspaper and eating muesli  when a small green advert jumps out of the page at me and bounces around. It is advertising a Green Party organised podium discussion on the subject ‘Wie weit reicht Europa’(‘How far does Europe reach’ or ‘How wide is Europe’). And most importantly, the current leader of the German Green Party, Cem Özdemir, will be there. This, I think to myself, is an opportunity I cannot resist. I note down the details and resolve to plan the following day with this event in mind. Pay heed dear greens, for this is your last chance.    


The Second Chance.

It is 6.45 when I get on the train at Kotbusser Tor, and I am running a fraction late. I purchase a ticket that is valid for three stops, not the full four that I need to get to my ultimate destination, Café Rix in Karl Marx Straße. Karl-Marx Straße, one of the main thoroughfares in North Neukölln, and area that has been settled by Turkish, Arabic and other immigrant families and so the storefronts are all takeways and cheap clothing stores. At one such store I stop to look at a bag – it is cheap, shiny and tacky, but also strangely appealing. Onwards, onwards, I coax myself, passing the beautiful building that houses the Neues Off cinema. Café Rix is similar in many ways. The complex itself dates from the so called ‘Gründerzeit’, in the second half of the 19th century, and walking into the courtyard an elegance not found in many other places is apparent.  I walk past the folk enjoying an evening class of beer or wine into the café proper and find a seat. Before this I spent an hour and a half at my neighbourhood open air swimming pool – somewhat longer that I had intended. My bedraggled hair is only partially dry, I am still in my little red sundress, I am tired, hungry and thirsty. Knowing I cannot afford to buy any kind of substantial food here, I content myself with a small glass of mineral water and the no-doubt stimulating discussion that is to come.

Some time after 7pm the discussers enter the room. They include Cem of course, some guy from the CDU as well as two ladies, one who is blonde and does all of the introducing and another lady, intent, older, who gives the impression of having some kind of strength of character. Someone here is apparently responsible for youth in some respect, but I cannot for the life of me figure out who that could be; nobody here looks a day under 40. The CDU, or Christian Democratic Union are Angela Merkel’s centre right party. On the German political colour spectrum they are always represented as black, a decision that always perplexed me. Right wing(from the left perspective) is traditionally side of evil and black the colour of evil. Did they choose black intentionally? Does it have some other significance other than evil? Or do the CDU just have a really good sense of humour? Whatever, I have failed to catch CDU man’s name and so in honour of his party’s colour have nicknamed him the ‘Prince of Darkness’ in my head. After the introductions are complete it is the prince that talks first…


19.15
The Prince is talking about Turkey. Not just talking, he is veritably heaping praise on Turkey. They really have the most awesome government ever and their leader is the best leader since Atatürk. Better than Atatürk even…but they don’t really need to join the EU. How about a privileged partnership? Any takers for a privileged partnership? No?

19.25
Cem is talking. He’s been talking passionately about why Turkey needs the EU. He’s even quoted Atatürk in Turkish too antiquated for most to understand. I am distracted and thinking about dinner. I’m sure there must be somewhere I can get a good falafel in the neighbourhood. After all, if you can’t get a good falafel in Karl-Marx-Straße where can you.

19.30

Cem is near impossible to photograph. After taking a couple of cell phone photos sitting down, I stand up to try and catch the panel in their entirety in one photo. But Cem swivels his head so much that each time I photograph him he is looking away. Ultimately I give up and retake my seat.

19.40

I still have not decided what I want for dinner and the debate about privileged partnerships is still raging. Cem has at some point alluded to the fact that the EU screwed up the integration process in Romania and Bulgaria, and someone, I think the Prince of Darkness, has argued that it does not matter whether Turkey becomes a privileged partner with trade benefits but without full social benefits or a full EU member with the full social and economic benefits that entails. Whichever option is chosen it will have little impact on the lives of people in this neighbourhood.  

Ha! That is just what he thinks! Wait until he realises that the citizens of EU countries that allow Germans to become dual citizens can get dual citizenship of Germany and their home country if they jump through the correct hoops. I remember the horror on the CDU faces of some people I once worked with when I told them that I was not only entitled to dual citizenship of Germany and Ireland but that I fully intended to take it up when the time came. And I’m from a nice EU country. Whatever will happen when the citizens of nasty EU countries are given German passports and set loose! The end is near!!! Run and hide!!

I refrain from mentioning any of this, preferring instead to wait and see where this all goes….

19.53

‘Interesting’ argument from the Prince of Darkness. He’s now arguing that including Turkey is so important that we must not make any decisions at all about EU membership and instead move ahead with a privileged partnership.

19.57

Older Chick has managed to get a word in, and has compared the CDU’s penchant for privileged partnerships with the CDU’s attitude to multiculturalism: nice people, but I wouldn’t want to have them next door. Ooh, is this a veiled accusation of CDU racism? What would make anyone think that CDU voters aren’t fans of the multi-cultural society?
19.59

The Prince has taken umbrage at older chicks comment. He proceeds to explain that the CDU led German contribution to the invasion of Afghanistan proves that the CDU like Muslims. Huh?

20.01

Eureka! I’ve finally figured out what I want for dinner – wholemeal pasta with that amazing walnut pesto I made last week. Finally, the decision has been made…

20.05

A bizarre comparison between not letting Turkey into the EU and Russia not wanting to be in the EU concludes the Prince of Darkness’s statement. He gets some really rather pretty flowers then sweeps out to attend a prior engagement.

20.08

Older Chick compares the CDU’s stance on Turkish membership of the EU with their stance on gay marriage. She is SO sorry he’s still not there to respond.

20.12

Cem tells us a little more about just how little respect the Bulgarians have for the legal changes the EU insisted upon before allowing membership. Bulgarians now mentally place laws in two catagories:  Category A being ‘Real Laws’, Category B being ‘Silly laws those people in Brussels want’. Hmm. I as much as suspected this but it is another thing to hear it coming out of his mouth. He does seem to know what he is talking about

20.17

Cem gets no love from the Turkish nationalists! Even with the Turkish blood and parents. Apparently, they really feel comfortable talking with other people who share their ideas more broadly, like the CDU, Nicholas Sarkozy and the Austrians. They just think he’s some bizarre feminist loving eco-weirdo!  Poor Cem!

20.29

And we’ve reached the question point of the evening. An older gentleman, who appears slightly irate wants to know what happened at the Bilderberg conference that Cem attended and why Cem did not post it to the Green Party website. In response, Cem gives us his take on Obama: in relation to Turkey Obama is not behaving like previous democratic presidents and going through the EU but rather going straight to the Turks. He realises that on this issue going through Merkel and Sarkozy gets you nowhere. Interesting….

20.31

And about website updates? Cem posted it to his Facebook page!

Cem is on Facebook!

I wonder if accepts friendship requests…..

With that Cem accepts his bunch of flowers and leaves. His route out means that for one brief second he passes within two metres of my table. Comparing him to the only other Green politican that has swept passed me, Eamon Ryan, I admit that Cem is less dashing. He has something, though. All I can hope that he has more substance. Na, mal schauen, that’s all I can do….

 I disappear up Karl-Marx-Straße, past the shisha cafes and kebab places to my hinterhof home …..  


Eamon Ryan is the Irish Green Party parliamentary representative for Dublin South. He is currently Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Cem Özdemir is the leader of the German Green Party. He is many firsts; the first Turkish-German leader of a political party, first ethnic minority leader of a political party and first muslim leader of a political party in Germany. 

Kreuzberg Girl is a peniless unemployed translator and sometime writer. Please give generously!