Germany ← Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

Things Are Good: Berlin, Sponge City

Aug

31

2017

Germany’s capital is becoming a sponge to stop flooding. It might seem counterintuitive to want to gather more water in order to stay dry, but that’s exactly the plan. Currently the city of Houston is suffering some of the worst flooding that its ever seen thanks largely to poor planning around water (like using highways ...

Things Are Good: Germany’s Transition Away From Coal Helped Jobs and Culture

Aug

30

2017

For years Germany’s transition from coal to sustainable energy has impacted communities. Many feared that jobs would be lost during this transition so plans were put in place to help workers and communities transition too. Throughout the Rhine valley coal plants have been closed down and their place new sustainable energy jobs have popped up ...

The Disaffected Lib: For Years Canada has Outsourced Our Foreign Policy to the U.S. Why Not Let Germany Have a Turn?

May

4

2017

If you want to know who is steering Canada’s foreign policy look no further than Canada’s voting record in the U.N. General Assembly whenever a resolution concerns Israel. Under our fundamentalist prime minister, Harper, it was no surprise that Canada was blindly loyal to Israel against all comers. Less expected, however, was that the current ...

Parchment in the Fire: Merkel wrongfoots Left opponents (again) – POLITICO

Nov

23

2016

The center-left is holding off on naming its candidate for chancellor in next year’s election. Source: Merkel wrongfoots Left opponents (again) – POLITICO Filed under: Europe Tagged: Germany, Merkel

PostArctica: Marguerite Duras – The War, A Memoir

Oct

14

2016

A friend recently told me that he likes to save texts, not quotes but texts, larger pieces, that he finds interesting. I am reading this book and thought this was a powerful passage. It is the end of the Second World War and she is wondering if her husband is still alive, thousands reenter Paris ...

Things Are Good: Portugal Joins Other Countries by Running Only on Renewable Energy

Sep

29

2016

Portugal reached a very significant milestone on its path to being fully powered by renewables by consuming energy only from sustainable resources for four days. Other countries are on similar paths. In 2012 Germany got 50% of it’s power from renewable sources, Scotland powered itself exclusively on renewables for a week earlier this year, but ...

Parchment in the Fire: Tipping point for the German far right – POLITICO

Sep

3

2016

Alternative for Germany vying for first place in regional election. Source: Tipping point for the German far right – POLITICO Filed under: Europe Tagged: far-right, German Elections, Germany

Alberta Politics: News Satire: U.S. will not tolerate foreigners acting like Americans, officials say

Jul

31

2016

ILLUSTRATIONS: A map showing some of the countries in which the United States has interfered in the political process (grabbed from Geology.com). Below: U.S. CIA Director John O. Brennan, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. The United States will not tolerate the countries of the world acting like the United States, ...

Alberta Politics: As assumptions give way to knowledge, we have an opportunity to learn from the shooting in Munich

Jul

24

2016

PHOTOS: Into the evening Friday, the mood in the Bavarian city of Munich was surreal (Polizeipräsidium München image). Below: The scene of Friday’s shooting in Munich. The person I know best in Munich described the mood in the Bavarian city Friday as “surreal,” so it seems fitting the Tweet from the Munich Police that night ...

Alberta Politics: A timely reminder on this historic day: The hammer of D-Day crushed Hitler on the anvil of Russia

Jun

6

2016

PHOTOS: Canadians soldiers storm ashore at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, 72 years ago today. Below: The late University of Victoria Professor Reginald H. Roy, author of 1944: The Canadians in Normandy. It’s now been two years since I wrote this piece on the intersection of Canadian politics and the history of World War ...

Dead Wild Roses: Legalized Prostitution – Welcome to Paradise…

May

19

2016

This excerpt from the article in The Telegraph – Welcome to Paradise. “You can’t give orders to your employees. It’s not allowed,” he says. Actually, says Knop, managing prostitutes is completely legal. The problem is making sure you don’t cross the line between “managing” them and “exploiting” them. Helmut Sporer, Detective Chief Superintendent ...

Parchment in the Fire: Germany’s extreme right continues to gain ground

Apr

29

2016

It is the rising party of the radical right in Germany. Like the Front National (FN) in France and UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) in the United Kingdom, Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) is gaining ground at the polls with its anti-system, xenophobic and ultra-conservative positions. The regional elections held in March in ...

Parchment in the Fire: Rightward shift in Regional German Elections

Mar

19

2016

Filed under: Europe, Fascism Tagged: far-right, German Elections, Germany

Things Are Good: Using Art to Critique Government Spying of Citizens

Jan

26

2016

Thanks to the efforts of Edward Snowden we know that illegal, immoral, and downright creepy spying by governments has been going on for years. It turns out that democratic governments around the world regular do mass surveillance of their people, something that authoritarian states are known for. Citizens have fought the spying in courts and ...

Things Are Good: Germany Opens Its First Bike Highway

Jan

5

2016

Germany knows that their autobahns, which are famous for not having a speed limit, can only handle so much traffic. To alleviate pressure put on their highways they have built a highway just for bikes! The 100km long bike path runs through 10 cities. The bike path is fully lit, cleared of debris, and even ...

Parchment in the Fire: Germany: Refugees today, the exploited workers of tomorrow? – Equal Times

Jan

1

2016

Wajdi arrived in Germany a few months ago. He had studied law in Syria. But he was not able to bring his diplomas with him. The only things he still has with him from his home country after his long journey across Europe are his passport and his smartphone. Over a million migrants and asylum ...

Alberta Politics: In Flanders Fields? It’s time to encourage another generation of school kids to read some better poems from the Great War

Nov

11

2015

PHOTOS: In Flanders Fields? The reality of the Great war’s battlefields: squalor, incompetence, mechanized industrial death. Below: John McCrae, and a Great War poet still worth reading, Wilfred Owen. A civilization that forgets its poetry is barely worthy of the name. Like fiction and unlike non-fiction, poetry is how a culture’s most profound truths are ...

The Disaffected Lib: Could Syria Become the 21st Century Sarajevo?

Oct

14

2015

There were plenty of proxy wars during the Cold War only back then the principals had enough sense to avoid direct clashes. That was then, this is Syria where today we find the rival superpowers circling each other inside the same phone booth. You could search the world over and never find one place where ...

Eclectic Lip: Dieseldammerüng

Sep

27

2015

image taken from despair.com’s latest t-shirt Before we get to this message’s main event, I’ll throw another brief shoutout to Pope Francis. Sure, he leads one of the world’s socially most regressive organizations, but he seems to be pulling in the right direction, and ultimately, he’s not in fact that powerful — his level of authority is more ...

OpenMedia.ca: Aphabeatic: Germany’s broadband plan shames Canada (again)

Sep

9

2015

Germany will have affordable internet connections of at least 50 Mbps by 2018. The Harper government promised 5 Mbps by 2019. Enough said… Which party do you think will do a better job at ensuring Canadians get faster, cheaper Internet? Let us know in the comments below! Article by Peter Nowak for Alphabeatic read more

Alberta Politics: The refugee crisis: Harper Conservatives just can’t spin it both ways

Sep

6

2015

PHOTOS: Refugees from the Syrian civil war clog a road near the Syria-Iraq border. (UNHCR photo.) Below: Saskatchewan Conservative MP Kelly Block’s constituency leaflet; Ms. Block herself; Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. For several years, the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has played to the worst instincts of a significant portion of its political base ...

Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney sails close to the wind on Anti-Terrorism Act at picnic visit

Aug

19

2015

PHOTOS: Liberal candidate Adam Vaughan’s photo of the Kurdish Peace and Cultural Festival in Toronto Saturday, with an image of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan visible in the background. (Grabbed from Twitter.) Below: Defence Minister Jason Kenney, who bragged about being at the event, and Mr. Vaughan. Jason Kenney, who notwithstanding the dissolution of the House ...

Parchment in the Fire: Germany, not Greece, should say goodbye to the euro | Comment | ekathimerini.com

Jul

17

2015

Germany, not Greece, should say goodbye to the euro | Comment | ekathimerini.com. Filed under: Eurozone crisis Tagged: Euro, European Union, Eurozone Crisis, Germany

Parchment in the Fire: Germany won’t spare Greek pain – it has an interest in breaking us | Yanis Varoufakis | Comment is free | The Guardian

Jul

10

2015

Germany won’t spare Greek pain – it has an interest in breaking us | Yanis Varoufakis | Comment is free | The Guardian. Filed under: Eurozone crisis Tagged: Austerity, Euro, Eurozone Crisis, Germany, Greece

Sketchy Thoughts: The Deep State: Germany, Immigration, and the National Socialist Underground

Jun

5

2015

A weakness of large parts of the “left” opposition and the radical Left becomes apparent: after the pogroms of the early ’90s many abandoned the working class as a revolutionary force. They could therefore only turn to “civil society” and thus ultimately the state as an ally against the Nazis. This ally supported fascist structures ...