Merkel
And Corbyn: There’s Room For Decency In Public Life
Saeed Naqvi
Two developments in Europe this week have
brought cheer. First, Angela Merkel has held onto her job (even though only by
the skin of her teeth). Secondly, the very citadel of western capitalism, The
Economist, has editorially welcomed Jeremy Corbyn, a socialist in the Michael
Foot mould, as Britain’s next Prime Minister, whenever elections take place.
There is a stamp size photograph of Corbyn standing at 10 Downing Street,
without a neck tie, ofcourse.
It is maliciously reported that smoke
billowed out of Lord Peter Mandelson’s ears after he read the editorial while
holidaying on an oligarch’s yacht. Tony Blair’s favourite sidekick and one of
the architects of the now defunct New Labour, had sworn in 2015, that he would
work hard to “undermine Corbyn”.
It is not that The Economist has suddenly
turned pink. It is doing the best it can to cope with altered circumstances: if
you can’t beat them, join them.
The trophy for prescience must go to Chris
Mullin, writer and former Labour MP. In 2015, Mullin wrote an imaginary piece
in The Guardian under the heading:
“All hail the Bearded One! The first 100
days of Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister”.
“To general astonishment, among the early
visitors to Downing Street is a grim-faced Rupert Murdoch. He is closeted with
the new prime minister for more than an hour, at the end of which the following
announcement is made.”
“First, that the Broadcasting Acts are
amended, requiring Sky to compete on a level playing field with the main
terrestrial TV channels. And secondly, that he relinquishes control of all his
British newspapers which will, in future, be managed by a trust in which no
single shareholder will have a controlling interest. Mr. Murdoch has accepted
these conditions. Our discussions were amicable.”
While Corbyn is still in the realm of
speculation, the historic German elections have stirred up the heart of Europe.
From the wreckage around her, emerges Angela Merkel as a fourth term German
Chancellor, testimony to the compelling power of decency in public life. If she
were not a hardnosed politician also she would not be where she is – a titanic
figure in world affairs. But a premium she places on moral and ethical values
in decision making, shines through. This fourth term is her trophy on that
count.
Daughter of a vicar in East Germany, her
background has been something of an asset for her. It is the abiding Christian
in her, in the highest sense of the term, that enabled her to rise above the
din and keep compassion as an ingredient in her decision to accord hospitality
to hapless Arab and North Africa migrants – totally against the prevailing political
current.
She is too intuitive not to have known
that she would be made to pay a price for her decision. As a consequence, the
Bundestag will have for the first the ultra right wing AFD (Alternative for
Germany) with 94 seats, making it the country’s third largest party much of it
at Merkel’s cost. Marine Le Pen in France or Geet Wilder in the Netherlands also
represent narrow, anti immigrant Xenophobia. In Germany the AFD resonates more
frightfully. It stirs images of Nazism. But it would be a mistake to paint all
the one million voters who moved away from the ruling Christian Democrats, with
the same brush.
Let me add in parenthesis: voters moved away
from CDU and its Bavarian partner, CSU, but, please note, much the largest
number of the vote did not shift. They stayed with Angela Merkel. It must be
put down to Merkel magic that in a House of 709, she still has 246 seats
despite her immigration policy. But she is still 109 short of a majority. “One
thing is clear” she announced with good natured mischief in her eyes. “They
can’t form a government without us.”
By the same token, she cannot form a
government without them. The Social Democrats who were with her in a grand
coalition in the outgoing government, have been decimated. They have decided to
sit in the opposition.
If Merkel lost 8.5% of her vote because of
her calculated decency, Martin Schulz of SPD is kicking himself for having lost
5.2% of his vote for the sin of looking like CDU’s B team. The fate of the
Spanish Socialist party leader Pedro Sanchez must have haunted him. After two
deadlocked elections, Sanchez was persuaded to abstain from a vote, enabling
the Peoples Party Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to sail through. Sanchez now
looks a cipher in public life. Schulz wishes to escape that fate. There is
accidental altruism in his decision too. By choosing to be in the opposition with
153 seats, he has effectively blocked AFD from taking the pulpit as leader of
the opposition.
All of Merkel’s negotiating skills will be
brought into play to forge what in German parlance is called a “Jamaica”
coalition – black, yellow and Green representing the colours of CDU, FDP and
Green. The combination happens to be the colour of the Jamaican flag.
How will Merkel reconcile her gentler,
market approach to the Liberal, FDP leader, Christian Lindner’s unbridled
capitalism?
Will there be difficulty striking a
rapport with the Green’s Katrin Goring-Eckardt on environmental issues? Merkel
did not hesitate calling off nuclear energy for Germany quite instinctively as
soon as she witnessed Japan’s Fukushima disaster.
She will also work very hard to retrieve
the million or so voters who drifted away from her because of her being “soft”
on immigration. A hunch on Merkel is that she will not compromise on her core
beliefs. One such belief concerns immigration. Refugees fleeing from the post
9/11 West Asian wars strike a very Christian chord with her.
Being practical, she will not accelerate
migration; she will facilitate migrant leaders, NGOs, in establishing model
migrant settlements. Unnecessary gestures unpopular with the electorate, will
be discarded. She has already spoken with her usual honesty that talks with
Turkey should be suspended on European entry. Where is the point in sustaining
a dialogue with Turkey when nobody in Europe is willing to give up the medieval
aversion to the “Turk”. Decades ago, French President Giscard d’Estaing
declared with stunning candour: “European civilization is Christian
civilization”. In it there was no room for a Muslim Turkey. Those were days
when Turkey’s case could be supported because it still donned the secular cloak
of Ataturk. Now Europe considers such support untenable: Turkey is quite
transparently, Muslim Brotherhood.
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