Reflections on Elections

I did, of course, vote in the Norwegian election. But having been away from Norway most of the time for more than 1,5 years now, I felt more insecure about my thoughts about the Norwegian election than I have before. The political news from Norway are not that often spoken of in German TV or radio, and after all this time I somehow lost a bit of the “gut feeling” about the political situation in Norway. I somehow couldn’t help feeling a bit outside of it all. If some political changes were to happen in Norway now, it didn’t feel like it would really affect me. I’ll probably be staying in Germany for the next four years, so as long as they don’t close the borders so that I cannot visit my family – does it really concern me that much?

Of course it does.

Being able to affect the development of my own country will always be important. Therefore it was also quite strange to witness the German election. In this country where I now live, where the political questions are closer to me, I don’t get to vote. I still have an opinion of how the country could be developed and improved. It’s just that when it comes to elections, I don’t have a voice. Which is fair enough, I would say. I do realize that you can’t just give a vote to anyone who decides to stay a few years in a country. And there are thousands of other things I can engage myself in which would make it possible for me to make an impact on my surroundings. However, it did make me feel on the outside.

And it also made me learn a bit about the people around me. I have been working and living in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, an area where the NPD (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands) has a very strong position. Before the elections I must say I have noticed little of the sort, and thought the whole thing a bit exaggerated. But around election times, political issues are more spoken of, and all of a sudden I have heard expressions of thought that are far beyond what I imagined my acquaintances perspectives to be. This was a hard, because a situation like this really shackles your way of viewing things. We humans like to group things. We like things to have rules, and we like to separate things into good and bad, right and wrong. And now, all of a sudden, I was faced with persons in my head classified as “nice people” group, saying things that only people in my “bad people” group would say!

To cope with this, I have tried several things. I have tried blaming the parents. I have told myself that they probably just haven’t “thought things through”, and that in time, they will change their mind. “When they just understand”. “When they just see the world a bit different”. That it’s probably more talk than action anyway. When they only start seeing things MY way, they will understand that they should think differently. But maybe they won’t? All in all, a political conviction can be very strong. You believe that if a certain set of rules would be followed by the society, your world would be a better place. And then it doesn’t help to say “you’re wrong”. Because it cannot be proven, and they can just say “no, YOU’re wrong!” and you have an endless discussion that doesn’t lead anywhere. And I also don’t believe in treating them with disgust. In fighting them, or pushing them away. That will only increase the borders, the feeling of difference and indifference to each other.

I believe in trying to get them to think. Sometimes it works. Like when a youngster said to me that foreigners were assholes stealing all their work. “Am I such an asshole?” I said. He looked at me “No! Not at all! You’re cool!” “But I’m a foreigner. And I’m working here. How am I different?”. He looked down for a bit, and he had really lost the decisiveness in his voice when he said “I don’t know… You.. You just are.” “How?” I asked. He couldn’t say.