The British diplomat and novelist, Harold Nicholson, tossed off an essay in 1929 containing a short riff on the three great capitals of Europe.
asserted
diplomat → toss → Europe
“London is an old lady in black lace and diamonds who guards her secrets with dignity,” while “Paris is the woman in the prime of life to whom one would only tell those secrets that one desires to be repeated.”
asserted
one → guard → secrets
London, an old lady, the City of Lights, a woman, “But Berlin is a girl in a pullover without much powder on her face,” and not much concerned with secrets.
asserted
Berlin → concern → secrets
“One walks with her among the lights and in the shadows.
asserted
One → walk → shadows
A good chance that Berlin girl marched on the Left in the heady days of the Weimar Republic.
asserted
girl → march → Republic
She now goes by the clear and forthright name The Left party (Die Linke).
asserted
She → go → name
She won a smashing victory last Sunday.
asserted
She → win → victory
Berliners delivered her 25% of the vote in its state election against a fragmented opposition: Center-right Christian Democrats 19 %, hard-right Alternative for Germany 16%, Greens 14%, and center-left Social Democrats 12%.
asserted
Berliners → deliver → Germany
Who she might walk hand in hand with to form a coalition state government remains to be seen.
uncertain
walk → walk → government
The Left party’s leader, Elif Eralp, a 45-year-old lawyer of Turkish origin, is also the top contender to become mayor of Germany’s capital city (which is also a state for electoral and other purposes).
asserted
which → become → purposes
Eralp’s immigrant background helped her party’s chance of winning the election.
asserted
background → help → election
Almost half of Berlin’s 3.9 million residents have an immigrant background.
asserted
half → have → background
This includes an extremely large Turkish community.
asserted
This → include → community
Eralp’s heritage, along with her status as a social media star and her cosmopolitan edginess, catapulted her to a powerful victory.
asserted
heritage → catapult → victory
As the Financial Times reported: “She and other leading party figures have cultivated a recognizable style: sharp fringes, tattoos, hoop earrings and red lipstick.”
asserted
She → report → style
Drawing comparisons to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is irresistible.
asserted
Drawing → draw → Mamdani
Eralp welcomes this.
asserted
Eralp → welcome → this
“If a left-winger can win in New York, it can happen in Berlin,” she announced last November after Mamdani captured the mayor’s office.
asserted
Mamdani → win → office
The two radical leaders keep in touch.
asserted
leaders → keep → touch
“We’ve exchanged a lot of ideas,” she said.
asserted
she → exchange → ideas
Like Mamdani, Eralp’s most potent idea concerns housing.
asserted
idea → concern → housing
The Left party, which grew out of the socialist party in the former East Germany or German Democratic Republic, seeks to bring capitalist landlords under the control of government power not only by way of rent control, but also by going for the classic Marxist brass ring: expropriation.
asserted
which → grow → ring
In this case, liquidating any company that owns more than 3,000 flats.
asserted
that → liquidate → flats
This is an iffy power play since the city’s less radical previous administration tried a similar move in 2020 and the following year a federal court overruled the proposal (Teutonic judicial originalism?)
asserted
court → try → proposal
Still, with a chronic housing shortage a top concern among Berliners, especially young people who are more likely to swing to extremes on the Right or the Left, Eralp’s ringing Mamdani’s “affordability” bell is a political no-brainer.
asserted
ringing → swing → bell
In Berlin, 85% of households are renters, and rents have nearly doubled since 2014.
asserted
rents → double → 2014
What, then, is to be done with the capitalist real estate developers if The Left party’s expropriation gambit takes place?
asserted
gambit → do → place
What Lenin proposed for the bourgeoisie in a communist society comes to mind: They will be “cleaning latrines.”
asserted
They → propose → latrines
For those on the Left waiting to pass out sponges, latex gloves, and Lysol spray to the plutocrat cleaning crew, these are glorious days.
asserted
these → wait → crew
As Eralp said on the campaign trail, “The Red Town Hall must finally turn truly red.”
asserted
Hall → say → trail
Despite Eralp’s elation, Die Linke’s nemesis, the party furthest to the right, the AfD, came in third with 16% of the vote, almost double what it received in the previous election two years ago.
asserted
it → come → election
On the same day as the election in Berlin, in another state election, the AfD shot its wad across a big chunk of north-east Germany.
asserted
AfD → shoot → Germany
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD won overwhelmingly with 38% of the vote, more than doubling its share from the previous election in 2021.
asserted
AfD → win → 2021
The SDP came in a close second with 35%, followed by the Greens and The Left, both of which snagged about 6% each.
asserted
both → come → %
More stunning than the AfD’s win was the devastating wipeout of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, bringing in only 4.9%, just shy of the 5% threshold required for representation in the state parliament.
asserted
bringing → bring → parliament
In three state elections over the past two weeks, the CDU has given new meaning to the word “kaput.”
asserted
CDU → give → word
In the first of the three elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the CDU received only 17%, down from 37% in 2021.
asserted
CDU → receive → 2021
In that state in eastern Germany, the AfD made its best showing, winning 44% of the vote.
asserted
AfD → make → vote
With two out of three election victories behind it, the AfD’s momentum will likely continue.
asserted
momentum → continue → it
However, not so much for its anti-immigration, anti-elitist, and pro-Russia get-that-natural-gas policies as people think.
asserted
people → get → gas
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
