Back to the ‘Baad’ old days? (Germany)
Glancing at the news on Germany’s English-speaking The Local, we came across this interesting opinion piece. Recently, arsonists caused huge damage to a military base in Dresden and Berlin is gearing up for the annual May Day riots. So as anarchists spray acid in bars and destroy cars in East Berlin, and local bohemians start to rethink just how edgy they like their cool, is Germany on the edge of mass unrest?
The writer thinks not. But as Bookpacking has previously mentioned, things are bubbling on the continent. One only has to look at all the banners on display outside French universities, or attempt to access the Eiffel Tower on a public holiday to see that there’s a steady simmer of discontent as the economy bites and purse strings tighten. Some French employees have even resorted to ‘kidnapping’ their bosses. This generally involves barricading them in their office, rather than bundling them into a car boot.
Reading on The Local that a “socialist firebrand” had called for similar activity in Germany, Bookpacking thought this was perhaps a little tactless: over there ‘abducting industrialists’ brings to mind the infamous fate of the kidnapped boss Hanns-Martin Schleyer. His body was dumped in a French wood on 19 Oct 1977 by the Baader-Meinhof gang as they waged war on the (then West German) establishment. It may be 32 years ago, but it still exercises a hold on the nation’s imagination. As a whole heap of anniversaries roll around in 2009 including WW2, the Weimar Republic and the Berlin Wall’s demise it promises to be an interesting year.