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November 25, 2004
Anti-Americanism in Germany Twists Two Ways
Despite close cultural and economic links between German and the United States, anti-Americanism and U.S. bashing run rampant in Germany. Common refrains this election season were: every American is responsible if Bush wins, Bush supporters are ignorant and short-sighted, the country is going to hell in a handbasket and American voters are too stupid and ill-informed to stop it. (For articles and commentary on the trend see the excellent blog Davids Medienkritik.)
The drum-beating actually started during the first Gulf War. I could never get through a party in Berlin in those days without at least one person challenging me on our actions. These were educated, engaged people who were outraged by what they saw as American imperialism. They wanted to vent at me about Iraq (and even Vietnam!), not discuss the problem.
It grew wearisome, so I mounted a defense. “I’m happy to talk about the Gulf War, but let’s put it in context and start with WWI and WWII, and Germany’s role in both,” I would say, and the would-be combatant usually lost interest in the conversation.
Now this unidirectional criticism has reemerged during the 2004 election, while Germans have trouble brewing in their own back yard.
In the middle of the U.S. campaign battle this fall, something startling happened in Germany. Neo-Nazi and Communist parties made big gains in September in German state elections, while mainstream parties like the SPD and CDU lost votes. Commentators claim that voters, especially disgruntled eastern Germans, are fed up with attempted welfare reforms and feel that the nation is stagnating.
A Guardian article from that week (“Neo-Nazis set sights on disillusioned Germans”) showed how anti-Americanism can be twisted to fit any agenda, even that of the neo-Nazi NPD party that gained votes:
The NPD's virulent form of anti-Americanism, which condemns the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, enables it to draw a parallel with the bombings of Hamburg and Berlin in 1943 and 1945, commemorate the martyrdom of the German people, and connect Germany's present travails with the tragic past. It is a novel approach, but one that pays off: last August no fewer than 7,000 people gathered at the NPD's summer festival at M¿cka, near the Polish border.
Bashing the United States stems, I believe, from a very understandable facet of human nature: the need for a scapegoat. Anti-Americanism is a convenient outlet for venting feelings of frustration and anger over global political change. Since Germans can’t vote here, it is easier to criticize Americans than to take a hard look at what’s happening inside their own country. Germany and its recent growing (re?)turn to a radical right agenda seems a perfect case study of this.
Davids Medienkritik, a blog that casts a critical eye on German media put it this way in a September 19th posting:
For the past year, the German media has dedicated an enormous amount of time to covering US politics and the upcoming presidential election. At the same time, that same media has under-reported troubling political changes going on right in their own collective backyard... With all of the concern and wringing of hands going on in the German media and the nation at large about the US elections, perhaps it is the US media that should be worried about the trend towards extremism manifesting itself more strongly with each passing day in German politics. The German media would also be well advised to pay greater attention to internal political affairs and the failings of Germany's leaders. Granted, it certainly wouldn't be as profitable as bashing George W. Bush and the United States, but it might save the nation from future election embarrassments.
And these embarrassments stem, in part, from American confusion and disbelief over the victory of these parties in Germany. Although coverage of the upset was light here because of the election, Der Spiegel hit the nail on the head when they wrote on September 20th that a victory of extreme right parties would confound Americans and make them less likely to want to visit or invest in Germany in the future.
Now that the election is over, and the consequences of the political choices of both countries are at hand, I would have expected a change in tone from German media. That has not happened. Instead, the leading organizations have simply moved on to stories on Arafat’s death and the Ukrainian election upset—as if the two elections never even happened.
Posted by Lauren Hertel at November 25, 2004 1:34 PM