ON MY MIND
I LIKE ideas. One of my favourite cities is Berlin, the iconic centre of clash of ideas. It has witnessed militarism and enlightenment culture under Frederick the Great; the nationalism and imperialism of Bismarck; the communism of Marx; the national socialism of Hitler and the capitalism of the west.
In November 1989 I had my first ride in a Trabant (jokingly called “a spark plug with a roof”). I went with my friend Klaus, an East Berlin pastor watched by the Stasi, to grab a piece of the fallen Berlin Wall. I still have it. Previously the authorities in West Berlin used to encourage people to visit the east and compare the restrictive life under communism with the glitzy consumerism of the west. Now the city is one and the recent German election leaves the Social Democrats holding most of the bratwurst and looking to share it.
The struggle between left and right ideology is a feature which pervades many aspects of society, raises its head in traditional party politics and simmers in party conferences. The terminology arose during the French Revolution and the seating arrangement when supporters of the king were divided to the right by the president of the National Assembly and supporters of the revolution to his left. Now the terms are unhelpful: for what if the Right are sometimes wrong, the Left are right, the right thing to do is to oppose the Left, and the radical approach is more Right. In other words, like my marital status on Fakebook – ‘it’s complicated’.
It might be used in political combat but studies have shown that the political spectrum language is meaningless to most people and inconsistent. Germany, similar to 39 other European countries and of course Wales, uses some form of proportional representation. The absurd ‘winner takes all’ system produces the kind of confrontation politics we now tolerate in the UK. My piece of the Berlin Wall only reminds me that meaningful debate about ideas and achieving consensus in policy making are best done by working together respectfully and probably in coalition.