Originally posted in October 2015
"Da stand auf einem Transparent `Wir sind das Volk´, und daneben hat einer geschrieben `Ich bin Volker´. Den Mann, der das geschrieben hat, den brauchen wir in der nächsten Zeit. Es geht um die Stärkung dieser
Kräfte." - Heiner Müller
This year will see the 25th anniversary of Germanys reunification, but many are asking: Is there really much to celebrate?
Vast swathes of the former East Germany have turned into a Teutonic Mezzogiorno – the term used to describe Italy's impoverished south – and it has suffered from chronic unemployment almost since the day the Berlin Wall fell. Hundreds of factories and state-run collective farms were simply shut down after German reunification in 1990. The unemployed either went west or were given low-paid token employment under state-funded job-creation schemes which managed to hide a real jobless figure of around 60 per cent. One of the chief reasons cited for the economic failure that still blights much of Germany's east was Helmut Kohl's decision to bow to massive popular pressure and give the east Germans the Deutschmark at a one-to-one conversion rate. The move made east-German exports 400 per cent more expensive, destroying the region's economic base at a stroke. The dilemma was exacerbated by the government's Treuhand agency, which was given the job of privatising all of east Germany's state-owned industry. The upshot was a mass sell-off of east-German business to the west, which in many cases simply meant mass closures. West Germany's powerful trade unions, which took over in the east after the Wall fell, compounded the problem by insisting that their fellow workers in the east obtain equal pay.
Not all Germans were a fan of the (quick) reunification, many would have preferred a confederation, with maybe a 2-state solution or a "growing together" at a slower pace. Of course most of them felt happy that the rotten regime of the GDR got wiped away and the people in eastern Germany had more freedom now. However in this opinion a historic chance was missed to build a free and real democratic state with maybe a "3rd way" economic system.
Another problem was the rise of nationalism, which showed it's ugly face in progrom-like attacks in the beginning of the 90's.
This alienation would certainly be much less if we had more democratic participation here, a goal which many people in the east tried to reach 25 years ago - however the masses wanted quick wealth without realising that in a capitalist economy not all people are winners. This is also a reason where the nostalgy for GDR-times ("Ostalgie") comes from, which many in the East still have.
Tracklist:
01. Hard Pop: Katjuscha
02. Feeling B: Artig
03. Die Skeptiker: Dada In Berlin
04. Die Anderen: Gelbe Worte
05. Die Art: Sie Sagte
06. AG Geige: Maximale Gier
07. Der Expander Des Fortschritts: Der Fremde Freund
08. Hard Pop: Schlaflied
09. Mixed Pickles: Lied An Eine Ergraute Lehrerin
10. Rosengarten: Bessere Zeiten
11. Zorn: Touristen
12. WK 13: Sonntag
13. DEKA Dance: It's Time Goes By
14. Die Körper Der Einfalt: Sauba
15. Sandow: Born In The G.D.R.
16. Naiv: Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst
Die DT 64-Story, Vol. 7 - Pa-rock-tikum
(192 kbps, cover art included)
4 Kommentare:
Thank you for the write-up too, zero! Heiner Müllers retelling of the pun on the banner is maybe good for a short chuckle. Anyway, I wonder if the Fortschrittsexpander are referencing Christoph Hein, and if Rosengarten makes reference to Biermann. Maybe we're all still waiting for bessere Zeiten, aren't we?
Bessere Zeiten klingt gut! Kolossale Jugend? Knietief in der Referenzhölle!
Thank you for all your efforts running this blog. I´d love to hear this. Any chance of a re-up?
Of course, here it is... Greetings!
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