Issuu

gairrhydd

EDITORIAL & OPINION

MAY.21.2007 OPINION@gairrhydd.COM

freewords the voice of gairrhydd

Est. 1972

Griffin Grinds Your Gears THE COVERAGE of Bath’s decision to withdraw their invitation of the BNP’s Nick Griffin has provoked some passionate views from Cardiff students, many of which can be seen on this week’s Letters page. It certainly is encouraging to see that fundamental issues still stir the campus masses, and interesting to observe the variety of views on display. Amid some of the criticism there seems to be an underlying belief that by letting the BNP speak Bath University would have been ‘encouraging’ their far-right political agenda. Many taking part in the website forums, along with those who have written in, feel that as a place of education and equality Bath University cannot promote extremism. It seems strange that anyone would claim to defend equality and education by refusing one group of people the right to inform society about their politics. The idea that we should not openly support the BNP by giving them this publicity misses the point that simply giving them a platform in not open support. No one in Bath would have been forced to attend the speech. Furthermore, if Bath had simply been allowed to quietly allow Griffin a platform, no such fuss and controversy would have arisen, the story would never had made headlines for the BNP, and the discordant weaknesses of the NUS would not have been exposed. But to those proponents of free speech, we hope the view from the high horse is good, because in the end, harbouring disparaging views about the ill-educated, senseless masses is as prejudiced a stance as the BNP’s.

Brown must deliver WHILE MANY environmentallyaware students will be happy that Brown is championing eco-towns and pushing his green agenda, others will be more interested in hearing what he plans to do for students. Blair’s Labour party gave us topup fees, years of debt and a more marketised higher education system. One wonders whether Brown will address this or simply let student hardship and lowering standards of teaching continue. After 10 years of allowing the education system to become market-driven, it’s time that Labour bucked their ideas up. Students deserve more from the government and, like the NUS is currently doing, we must do everything we can to ensure Brown puts students, as well as the environment, back on the top of Labour’s agenda.

Disagree? Let us know at www.gairrhydd.com

Hun-bashing

We just can’t let it go. Chris Croissant asks if it’s ignorance or just amusing to poke fun at the Germans

he Second World War ended over 60 years ago. We won. The world became a slightly more peaceful place after that. And yet we have never stopped rubbing salt into the wound. What is our obsession with mocking ze Germans? Whether it’s John Cleese imitating the goose-step, or Prince Harry donning a Nazi outfit, our scorn has never relinquished. The Independent recently published an article in response to Thomas Hüetlin, the recently installed London correspondent of Germany's Der Spiegel magazine. While the rest of Europe shows a collective admiration for the new progressive Germany under Chancellor Angela Merkel, Britain seems unable to shift from its German-o-phobia. British ‘Hun-bashing’, according to experts quoted by Mr Hüetlin, stems from the view that, despite losing the war, the Germans were the ones who, in the 1960s, began staying in better hotels than the British and then bagging their sun loungers. "Who won the bloody war anyway?" was the subsequent British cry. Mr Hüetlin goes to some lengths to explain "why the English cannot stand the Germans - even 62 years after the end of the war." It seems a little farfetched. A friendly poke at your old enemy isn’t such a bad thing. Personally, I’ve been to Germany, Berlin in fact, and it was fantastic. The city was dynamic, the people were friendly and the parties tested even the mightiest of men. Besides, any city that hosts a Love Parade of dance music and festivities is in my book, a pretty good place. But at the same time, this still isn’t going to stop me from putting on a German accent and telling my friends I’m going to “dance like a machine.” And I’m sure any German without a huge chip on their shoulder would see the funny side of it.

Any city that hosts a Love Parade of dance music and festivities is a pretty good place in my book According to Hüetlin, dislike for Germans (or ‘Huns’ as we apparently still call them) stems from a “folkloric pleasure that belongs to the island, like driving on the left.” Paradoxically, while he condemns our stereotyped view of German people, he goes on to pigeon hole Britain as a race of people that “drink beer with abandon, indulge in toe-curling displays of ostentatious wealth and hold the trashiest of women to be the epitome of glamour.” Well I’m glad you’ve made your point on racial discrimination Mr. Hüetlin, but

you seem to have shot yourself in the foot. Simply because the only display Mr. Hüetlin witnesses of Britishness is the bare-topped, sun-burnt, tattoo-loving football fans that make it over to German pastures, does not mean they speak for the rest of us. Britain is a country of great diversity, culture and history. Let’s not be misled by the popular press, displaying the rear ends of C-rate celebrities and the caked face of Victoria Beckham. This isn’t our culture. It is the pole of address that helps us realize all that we have got, and not what we aspire to be. Mr. Hüetlin goes on to list the dreadful habits of the British. These include the drinking of very much beer in a very short time, going for a walk without socks in winter, and the delusion that 42 years after its last win, the national soccer team belongs to a world elite. It is hardly a flattering portrait of 21st century Blighty. However, it does make you consider where we’re heading. Mr Hüetlin argues life in Britain "resembles a giant face-lift operation - look better, live better, cook better - paraded on endless TV programs. Understatement, charm and stoicism - once prime British values - have been replaced by a general desire for loads of money." He could be right, and it certainly brings a tear to my eye. But is this just a British development? Surely it is happening all over the world. While Mr. Hüetlin argues that Brits should abandon their post-war perceptions of

Germany, he seems quite happy to reinforce the very racial discrimination that he is suggesting we should subvert.

Germans bagging sun loungers. “Who won the bloody war anyway?” was the subsequent British cry Oddly, it is not just Britons that have a bad impression of Germans. The Swiss have recently been somewhat cheesed off by them. They have not yet started to ridicule their habit of bagging poolside sun loungers but the Swiss have let it be known that they are more than a little upset about a perceived "German invasion" of their once pristine Alpine state. "How many Germans can Switzerland stand?" demanded the mass circulation Swiss newspaper Blick. It went on to ask its 250,000 readers whether "they too" had had enough of " arrogant expressions" and Germans' "objectionable self-confidence".

Yet one point that Mr. Hüetlin makes that does stand out is that the “Hun is still enemy No 1 - even in the age of Osama bin Laden.” For all their wrongs, it does seem high time that we jumped off this island we’ve got ourselves on and open up to the European Community for all that it can offer and share with us. While love for your country is no bad thing, patriotism is detrimental once it starts to blind people to the window of the rest of the world. In an age of increasing terrorism, we should be looking to ally with our neighbors and not alienate them. We don’t have to be “shiny, happy people” about it. But we should embrace a modern Germany and shake off outmoded preconceptions, while, obviously, poking a little fun at them at the same time.

One point that does stand out is that the “Hun is still enemy No. 1- even in an age of Osama Bin Laden”