Today, we are busy with the election in Canada, with an anniversary from Willy Brandt and with the shadows of prizes for Peter Handke and others.
Lightformer I
Don MacKinnon / AFP
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Issue 43/2019
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Canada is voting today for a new parliament, and nobody says anymore that this is an opponent of Donald Trump. As such, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was considered to have been elected to the post after his first election. For a short time, the liberal part of the West hoped to have found a figure of light, so radiant, so liberal. But then Trudeau was just a politician who did some things well, nothing else, he was haunted by scandals, and now he has to worry about his majority.
If you want to be positive: Democracies are barely able to produce lights, because the public is so vigilant and most of the mistakes come to light. Moreover, the parliamentary process, with its disputes and compromises, does not allow a permanent glow.
- Justin Trudeau before elections in Canada: The disenchanted Prince
Light figure II
AFP
But there is Willy Brandt? Today, 50 years ago, the Bundestag elected him Federal Chancellor for the first time. He did some things well, not others, was struck by scandals and resigned after only five years. But for many, he is still a luminary. What could Trudeau learn from him?
- It takes a big sentence: "We have to risk more democracy."
- You need a big project that you can not resist: Ostpolitik .
- You have to come from a time that many saw as dark: the Adenauer years.
- You need a grim enemy in your own ranks: Herbert Wehner.
- You need a moving private life that affects many people in some way: women, children, alcohol.
- You have to target a dark power: the GDR spy Günter Guillaume in Brandts environment.
- You have to leave early, because the political operation in the long run disenchanted everyone.
These are the main components of the light figure Willy Brandt. One as he is missing.
- Video: 50 Years of Chancellor Willy Brandt: The Last Superstar of Social Democracy
Farnvordringlichkeit
JULIEN DE ROSA / EPA-EFE / REX
Until the Bosnian war, I read pretty much every book by Peter Handke. But his partisanship for the Serbs, his attacks against journalists have triggered an internal call for a boycott. Nevertheless I read in 1996 "Summer supplement to a winter journey", because I wanted to know, what he writes to the massacre of Srebrenica . There he had traveled among other things.
In the book I read scornings against journalists, I read a passing by the massacre. I read the word vigor. I canceled my boycott and until today I am thinking of walking on that word, which expresses so beautifully how the fern cheekily grabs the forest trails.
Peter Handke I read with the mind, let myself be overwhelmed by his poetry . In the political questions, my mind still leans against its views. I can endure this ambivalence and understand the Nobel Prize for literature as a prize for poetry, which does not always have to do justice to the intellect.
- Sasa Stanisic vs. Peter Handke: A novel that is made live
Loser of the day
Tobias Schwarz / REUTERS
The Human Dignity Award will not be awarded today. The Roland Berger Foundation has postponed the appointment indefinitely. Reason is research by "Handelsblatt" on the father of the management consultant. He may not have been a victim of the Nazis, as suggested by the son, but a profiteer. Berger now wants to have this clarified by renowned historians.
It's such a thing with the prizes: sometimes the contestant is dubious, sometimes the founder or the jury (as formerly in the Nobel Prize for literature). Probably, I think with a certain pain, this whole attempt to determine the best is wrong, because it suggests clarity: there are best, and the jurors or price-raisers have the moral authority and the higher knowledge to determine those best , These assumptions break down regularly (even with journalist prices). Roland Berger is my loser of the day. Because who wants to honor human dignity, must be very sure of his moral authority.
The compact news overview in the morning: current and opinionated. Every morning (weekdays) at 6 o'clock. Order directly here:
The latest news from the night
- Turkish offensive in northern Syria: German politicians accuse President Erdogan of breaching international law - and aid organizations complain about the suffering of civilians
- Hillary Clinton trolls the US president: By spreading a satire letter, she makes fun of his letter to the Turkish president
- Evo Morales must be in Bolivia probably in the ballot: The left-wing leader is according to preliminary results in the presidential election front. For victory, it is not enough according to previous status
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
- Uncontrolled return of IS fighters: "The German government is afraid of people like Kadir, I can understand that"
- Four Eastern women in top jobs: "Those who lead strong, are considered cold-hearted, who consensual leads, as weak leadership"
- New EU Commission President: Ursula von der Leyen underestimated the power games in Brussels
- Janae Kroc in an interview: The strongest man in the world is now a strong woman
- "Today Show" author on his obsessive-compulsive disorder: "Every time I walk around, I see something dangerous"
I wish you a good start into the week.
Your Dirk Kurbjuweit
