Frankfurt;: The Greens’ fear of the FDP
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fromGeorge Leppert
shut down
The debate about the ban on the N-word shows that coalition discipline is paramount in Romans. An analysis.
Frankfurt – Mirrianne Mahn is ill. What she has is not publicly known, and it is no one’s business. In any case, the city councilor of the Greens is not present at the plenary session in the Stadtwerke Casino late on Thursday evening (January 27th, 2022) when her application is being discussed. Otherwise there might be an escalation, perhaps even a genuine coalition crisis. This is speculation. But the damage for the Greens is great enough. It is damage that the faction has done to itself and above all unnecessarily, as an analysis of the events shows.
In fact, everyone in the room agrees. One does not use racist terms such as the N and M words for black people. Even the representative of the AfD thinks so, who otherwise gives an extremely simple speech and is dubbed a “Nazi” by the Ökolinx city councilor Jutta Ditfurth. The problem, however, is Mahn’s request that the city of Frankfurt please ban racist terms such as the N and M words. The FDP thinks nothing of that. Racism will not be overcome if a city outlaws certain terms, which in any case only has a symbolic effect, FDP parliamentary group leader Yanki Pürsün told FR in December.
Frankfurt: The Greens do not stand by their own application
Mahn’s motion, which already bore the signatures of Green party leaders Tina Zapf-Rodriguez and Dimitros Bakakis, was therefore rejected in the coalition round in the autumn after an emotional discussion that was in part insulting to Mahn. He should have disappeared into oblivion, because if a faction in the coalition opposes it, an application will not be made. That’s the rule. But somehow the submission ended up with Nico Wehnemann from the faction “Die Faction”, which is at home between satire, beer bliss and serious left-wing politics. The fact that Wehnemann got hold of the text is one of the many indiscretions that occurred in this case. In any case, he did what the Greens considered the worst possible accident. He submitted the application verbatim on behalf of the “fraction” and announced a roll-call vote in the city parliament.
Then there was that too. Not about the application itself, but about the question of deferral, which the coalition had demanded and also enforced with the votes of the Greens. But the effect is the same: the Greens do not stand by their own application.
Frankfurt: Bakakis feels presented by Wehemann
Zapf-Rodriguez and Bakakis had a chance to emerge unscathed. You should have said to the FDP: Listen, the situation is stupid, but the fight against racism is part of the DNA of the Greens, we & our own motion to vote, we approve the vote. This would have lifted coalition discipline and all city councilors would have voted according to their conscience. The motion would have found a majority. And the Frankfurt Greens would have broadened people from the left spectrum, who have long claimed that the party betrays its ideals in coalitions in order to somehow have a say in government. For them, the debate about the N-word fits in perfectly with the behavior of the Greens, for example in the Dannenröder Forest or in the construction of Terminal 3.
Zapf-Rodriguez and Bakakis did not choose this path – presumably because the coalition is still very young and the FDP would have been extremely upset. The new tactics are finally fixed on Wednesday evening at a parliamentary group meeting, which was hectic and constantly received information from people from the FR who were not accepted with the procedure. The language rule is: The application is only extended by a few points that the coalition agreement mentions in the chapter on exclusion and racism. That’s what Bakakis said in his speech, in which his anger was sensed right down to the press benches. Bakakis, who was actually very good and even righteous for a faction leader, was pissed off because he mentioned himself to the constantly smirking Wehnemann.
Frankfurt: Volt also agrees strangely
But none of that was convincing. Firstly, in the fall, the FDP had made it very clear that they simply did not want the N and M words to be outlawed. On the other hand: Why can’t one simply decide to ban racist terms and later add concrete measures against racism? Volt’s county board put it succinctly in a press release: “This deferral of the application is very harsh for Black people.” Curiously, that didn’t stop their own four city councilors from voting to defer. Coalition discipline is currently everything in Romans – even if it hurts people.
People like Mirrianne Mahn, who came from Cameroon and regularly denounces racism. For example, in a video that she shot in a hospital, where she was apparently treated badly. Or at the presentation of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, when she stormed the podium in the Paulskirche. Mahn should now be wondering why the good relationship with the FDP is more important to the Greens in Römer than their own city council. There was no answer, at least on Thursday evening. (George Leppert)