I met Joschka Fischer on Monday to talk about an idea that I had a few years ago: the creation of a new European Party. Joschka Fischer did not think this is a good idea. I still think that there are two forces in Europe that could need support, one is the Pro European forces and the other ones are the Pro Diversity forces (or anti nationalist forces). There are a lot of people in Europe who think Europe is a great idea. Especially during this crisis. And there are a a lot of people in Europe who are negatively rubbed off by nationalists, like myself, and who think humanity is a concept that is as or more important than nationality.
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Martin Varsavsky on October 23, 2008 ·
@ Uri L.:
Joshka Fischer was very polite during our meeting. What he did is to explain in great detail how difficult it was to rally the people of Europe along the idea of getting along with the planet (i.e. the Green Party) and that he thinks it would be even harder to rally the people of Europe along the idea of getting along with each other.
Paul RODTS on October 23, 2008 ·
In Belgium both green parties (Groen! = flemish green party and Ecolo = brussels-walloon green party) now vote against each other on nationalistic issues… And the strange situation is : from their own cultural view point : both are right…and both are working together in the European Parliament though…
I think we have to respect our cultural differences and this will be difficult in one party.
I was a member of the city council for the flemish green party in Leuven and we had good relations with die Grünen in Germany…
I know a few people that met with Joshka Fischer,
and he became a nice career politician with great ideas, but he will only search change if it can be achieved. In the good German tradition, he will seek results. He has a sixth sense for what’s possible..
George on October 23, 2008 ·
Martin.
My theory is this:
The more wealthy societies are; then more tolerant (to immigration, social pluralism, etc) they become. Tolerance is directly proportional to wealth.
(most) People just don’t care about ideals any more. All they want is a job, a house, a car, and good free medicine and education. Give people this and I bet my silver dollar Arabs and Jews, capitalists and socialists, Germans and Peruvians, will send their kids to the same school and share a barbecue on Sunday.
The more parties participating in the government the more messy things become (see Argentina as an example). You get presidents voted by 20, 25%?
Rather than starting a new Party, I would fuel up Safe Democracy Foundation with more budget to enlighten people on the benefits of better education = more wealth = more tolerance. And find a party/politician who share this, and vote for him.
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Uri L. on October 23, 2008 ·
hi,
interesting debate. Is it possible to elaborate on what was behind Fischer’s arguments? Is it in the functional aspect (actually getting such a party to work) or in the ideological?