‘The times they are
a-changing!’ Really? Remember the old Bob Dylan song? Well, that is
exactly what has happened last weekend in the southern German state of
Baden-Wuerttemberg. In what must be a historic turning point, the
German Green Party is the winner of regional elections, and Winfried
Kretschmann thus becomes the first Green Minister-President in Germany.
This victory, which
has dislodged the Christian Democrats (CDU) from an ancient fortress of
conservatism, comes at a time when its significance is amplified in
view of developments in distant lands. Fortuitous, as cynics believe,
or not, the recent environmental disasters from tsunamis in the
Pacific, and more especially the related fate of the Japanese nuclear
reactors, virtually decided issues in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Some voters,
naïve, as they were classified by others, worried over the
proliferation of international conflicts, and preferred to pitch their
tents with traditional peacemakers.
The question is
often asked, and not only in Germany, whether serious politics should
be played around ecological issues and the vagaries of natural
disasters. Why not? What’s so sacrosanct about politics? Politics is
not about life on another planet. It’s what’s going on around the
house, in forests, lakes and rivers, in the environment we live in.
When the line
between anthropogenic and natural occurrences becomes blurred and
governance turns a blind eye to environmental crimes and injustices,
such as the continued reliance on the horrors of nuclear energy, a
decision could be made at the polls. Ecology must become one of the
basic parameters of human development, a clear message from Stuttgart
that must resonate in Berlin and around the rest of our world,
industrialised or not.
Like Nigeria,
Germany is a federated state, made of 16 Laender (singular: Land).
Baden-Wuerttemberg, (capital Stuttgart), with slightly over 10.5
million inhabitants, is the third largest state behind North-Rhine
Westphalia and Bavaria. This area in southwest Germany is extremely
wealthy. The streets in Pforzheim are practically paved with gold!
Little wonder the state’s coat-of-arms is almost identical to the icon
on the bonnet of a Porsche.
But
Baden-Wuerttemberg is perhaps more famous as the home of Mercedes-Benz,
the old and prestigious universities of Tuebingen and Heidelberg, as
well as the tallest cathedral in the world at Ulm, not forgetting the
famous canine from the little town of Rottweil. Not exactly the kind of
place you’d expect change. The events last week in Baden-Wuerttemberg,
however, demonstrate that people need new knowledge the world over, and
will always listen to new voices, given the platforms and opportunities
that constitute the architectural columns of a democracy.
Germany’s states
are mostly parliamentary republics, governed by a unicameral
legislature elected every four or five years. The chief executive is a
minister-president heading a cabinet. The Greens of Baden-Wuerttemberg
will be carefully watched; their performance scrutinised for daily
cracks and failures, as they wash the champagne glasses and take their
seats in parliament beside a difficult coalition partner, the Social
Democrats (SPD). There will certainly be no bed of tranquility awaiting
them at the Landtag.
Critics are quick
to cite political inexperience of the Green Party. This is often
predicated on the cultural misunderstanding of green politics as the
domain of ageing hippies and frustrated communists from the 1970s,
leading young students hankering for the sheer fun of alternative
lifestyles. Desperate allegations of bad losers?
The election
results show how far the Greens have come, how hard these women and men
have worked with unrelenting intellect and an abiding instinct for
fairness, in providing the world with examples of innovative practice
in sustainable development.
