Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a frequent opinion contributor to CNN and The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own.
It’s easy to see when a politician is playing games, but it can be difficult to stop him – even when he’s violating the constitution and sowing divisions to win votes. That’s most transparent today in Germany, where the local government has ordered that every public building in the southern state of Bavaria hang a cross on a visible location near its entrance.
Most Germans reject the so-called “Kreuzpflicht,” or crucifix mandate, but in Bavaria, where over 75% identify as Protestant or Roman Catholic, the new rule seems to be an attempt by the Christian Socialist Union, or CSU, to hold on to power in the October elections.
Populism today is all the rage, and the reason is easy to detect: It wins votes.
Bavaria is particularly vulnerable to the divisiveness of populism. It is one of Germany’s most conservative states, and it lies along a preferred route taken in recent years by more than a million migrants, many of them Muslim, who settled in Germany.
State Premier Markus Soder, of the rightist CSU, moved into the top job in Bavaria last March and within two weeks introduced the Kreuzpflicht in a transparent move to stem the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, the AfD, which runs on an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim platform. The AfD has been eating into support for the CSU, which had its worst performance ever in last fall’s election.
The rise of extremist parties erodes moderation even among centrists. The right-of-center CSU, partner of Angela Merkel’s CDU, is moving further to the right. If that means violating the constitution’s demand that the government remain neutral on religion, Soder has some wordplay to fight back. The cross, he said, is not a religious symbol but a cultural one. Christian leaders rolled their eyes.
The top religious authorities in Germany rejected the rule. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and president of the German Bishops’ conference, said if Soder thinks the cross is not a religious symbol, then he doesn’t understand it, accusing the premier of using it to foment, “division, unrest and animosity.” The head of Germany’s Catholic organization, Thomas Sternberg, said the crucifix should not be used “for election purposes,” and countless religious scholars and clerical leaders rejected the move as a patently political one.
But Soder, who met with the Pope as the decree went into effect, has reason to be optimistic that his play will pay off. A national poll showed just 29% of Germans support his Kreuzpflicht. But in Bavaria, approval has reached 56%. And among supporters of Soder’s nemesis, the AfD, 77% liked the rule.
The rise of divisive political demagoguery is troubling everywhere, but it has a special resonance when it emanates from Germany – the country that showed the world during World War II just how catastrophic identity politics can become.
Fortunately, Germans understand the responsibility of that legacy, and most reject Soder’s unsubtle nationalist dog whistle.
Within Bavaria, many who oppose the decree are resisting it. The president of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts said, “We have nothing against crosses … but they should only hang where they belong: in church.” The Neues Museum in Nuremberg said it will not obey the decree, as did the town council in Coburg.
A local newspaper found that many institutions are undecided about whether they will follow the order. (I offer my suggestion to resisters: Hang up a cross, and a Star of David, and a crescent, and a symbol of every religion that comes to mind, along with symbols for secularism and atheism.)
Bavarian authorities are backtracking, saying museums, theaters and universities are not required to follow the rule.
The recent wave of asylum seekers triggered a fierce debate about what it means to be German and it challenged the liberal consensus of tolerance and equality. Whatever Soder claims, the crucifix decree strongly suggests that being Christian is seen by some as a requirement to be a “true German.” That’s a disturbing message for those want to see their country treat all its citizens equally and are working to defend that secularism and tolerance.
Germans were shocked last month when they saw a video of a man being assaulted in Berlin while wearing a traditional Jewish skullcap, or kippa. Although he was not Jewish, the kippa was a gift from a friend who cautioned that it was not safe to wear it in public. It turns out his friend was correct.
The German Central Council of Jews had warned Jews to cover their skullcaps to protect themselves, a warning that angered Jews around the world. After the video incident drew attention, hundreds of Germans of all religions wore Jewish skullcaps at a demonstration. Berlin Mayor Michael Muller declared, “Today the kippa is a symbol of the Berlin we would like to have.”
There is no question that Germany has a problem with tolerance. Some of the newcomers espouse prejudices from their native lands. But stoking resentments and fears, highlighting divisions, is precisely the wrong way to combat the problem. The Bavarian premier is making the problem worse for personal political gain.
That’s the game of populist politicians. They win. Their people lose.