Over the course of my time in Germany I have seen political parties such as the SPD (Sozial-demokratische Partei Deutschlands), CDP (Christlich Demokratische Partei), and the NDP (Nationaldemokratische Partei) set up booths around cities and distribute information, and other things (like roses!) or just try to get attention at the main squares. I have also had the chance to bring up discussions with some of my colleagues about German culture, history and current affairs. Not everyone was open to talking with me about some of the deep-seated issues I was interested in learning about German society, but a few did share their somewhat less held back opinions. It is fascinating that when the issues of immigration and cultural diversity are brought up here, as in many other places, not many folks are open to discussing their thoughts either in general and in particular, not with a foreigner. But I wanted to create an unbiased open dialogue to really understand how people feel on issues such as immigration, welfare, crime, education, right or left wing issues. In general, I have not gathered enough information, as in a survey, to convey the trends/opinions among age groups, regions, or socio-economic groups, so will gather some numbers and simply present facts from some reputable sources.
I have often referred to different media to learn about issues in Germany and Europe. Here are my favorite sources so far on current affairs and cultural issues in German news: (1) of course there is Deutsche Welle which broadcasts the daily news and has cultural spotlight shows. (2) New Europe is more economically and politically focused and comes out of Brussels (the EU capital), (3) I recently found a great cultural journal called perlentauschen and its satellite website at www.signandsight.com which really deals with cultural and society perspectives on major events in Germany and Europe.
For a list of the major political parties in Germany see:
http://www.kibou.de/gozer/wahlen/parteien.html
No comments:
Post a Comment