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Public
affairs
-
the "res publica,"
the
chose publique,
or
öffentliche Sache -
should
be decided
by
all, not by
a
few... |
Change
comes slowly.
Sometimes it accelerates, in a surprising
way.
It is under the pressure of situations
that people can be awakened by circumstance
and begin to take an interest in their
own affairs,
“public affairs.”
The CULTURE of a society
can either discourage or encourage this.
CIVIL SOCIETY, as we see it, requires
a CULTURE of participation, where as many as possible are committed,
engagé, engagiert. To be committed
means also to learn, to communicate. It means to act, to intervene. |
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Urban
Self-rule
"Yes"
or "no"? And if "yes" -
From
"below" or from "above"? By the many or by the few? |
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Another
German debate – though not necessarily a debate restricted to the German
context – concerns what has been called “the endangered municipal self-rule”
of German towns, threatened, some say, by numerous political decisions
of the States, the Federal Government, and the European Community.
Stephan
ARTICUS, the managing director or ‘caretaker’ (Hauptgeschaeftsfuehrer)
of the German municipal association, the STÄDTETAG, recently alluded
to the fact that 70 percent of all decisions taken by the European Commission,
the federal or state governments in accordance with European rules and
regulations are affecting the cities.
And
Petra Roth, the Christian Democrat mayor of Frankfurt (Main) expressed
her concern that, on the local level, the citizens are “losing influence
when it is being left solely to the market how they are supplied with energy
and water.”
Partial
privatization of public utilities might in fact lead to cost-saving, she
claimed. But in this way, the ability of the cities to formulate and shape
urban development would be reduced.
Let’s briefly look back:
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It
was in the nineteenth century that liberal reformers and social-democratic
reformists teamed up to create municipal water works, tram companies, bus
companies, and power plants.
The
thrust at the time went not in today’s main direction, but in exactly the
opposite direction. Private utilities and transport companies had been
formed in many major cities on the European continent, often with foreign
capital. No matter how important their contribution may have been for some
time, they soon turned out to be more interested in reaping a considerable
profit on their investment than in improving services, at reasonable rates.
As
with railway companies, which were “nationalized” for similar reasons (in
Britain, Germany, France, and so on), the municipal transport, water,
and energy “market” proved not as effective as promised and was largely
taken over by city governments.
It
is only at a time of extremely neo-liberal “monetarism” that towns, subjected
to the pressure of federal budget cuts, tax reductions, shrinking allocations
of federal tax money to municipalities, and a destructively enforced compulsion
to “tighten their belts” and reduce expenditures, have begun to sell transport,
energy, and / or water companies (as in Berlin).
With
tight budgets, the priority seems to be “cost cutting.”
Theaters
are closed or their budgets shrunk, so as to make the work frequently next
to impossible. Schools and universities have faced cuts and personnel shortages
for years, already. And more cost-cutting is due. Among those hardest hit,
we find all those university institutes that are not deemed immediately
beneficial for the economy, that is to say, the interests of big business.
And since 1991, there was a wholesale closure of publicly supported youth
clubs (especially in the “new” German states that once formed the G.D.R.).
The upkeep of vital health and traffic infrastructure is poor if not scandalous,
promising huge repair bills once the time comes that such repairs can no
longer be postponed. All this has happened in one of the richest countries
on earth, in a country were private wealth – in a few hands – is amassed
at an accelerated pace and in historically unparalleled proportions.
Public coffers are empty and vital services cut because it is deemed essential
to strengthen the competitiveness of German capital by reducing taxes.
At the same time, the government is exerting pressure on trade unions to
accept wage restraints and it is encouraging a relaxation of labor laws
that limit night shifts as well as work on Saturdays and on Sundays. German
corporations, although financially sound, need more money, the reasoning
goes, to invest in the modernization of the ‘productive sphere’ and increase
productivity. All this is to counteract the ‘profit squeeze’ due to international
competition among major globally active corporations. The result is that
with productivity increases, people are made redundant – often at a faster
rate than new, and better-paying jobs are being created in new sectors
of industry. The rest is expected to take up unqualified, badly paid “service
jobs“ (think of McDonald’s, etc.). Or accept long years of being on the
dole. Needless to say, a considerable proportion of the added financial
resources German capital owes to this policy of redistribution from public
to private coffers (and from those at the "bottom" to those at the "top",
from middle and lower income brackets to corporations, large-scale shareholders,
and extremely well-paid managers) goes into speculative ventures.
Rather than in the sphere of production or in the important commercial
sector (international trade, etc.), it is above all in the 'area'
or context of property speculation, currency speculation, the stock market
etc. that the really big profits seem to be made – although, of course,
in cyclically varying fashion.
(cont.)
go
toPart
2
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Your
contribution to the debate /
Your ideas and suggestions:
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mail us! e-mail: urbandemocracy@aim.com. |
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