By Maxi Albrecht
German Language Intern

During the recent Martin Luther King Jr. week, I was asked to participate in the “Fighting for Your Rights: Civil Rights Movements Across the World” international student panel. I chose to speak on the topic of PEGIDA, which is a current anti-Islamic movement in Germany. This blog will recap some of the information I shared their, as well as some of my opinions on this issue. First off, however, I would like to make it very clear that I am personally saddened that this is even happening in Germany and was for quite some time, and especially so at the time of the panel quite worried by the prospects.

PEGIDA is an acronym for Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes, which translates into Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident. Many English press reports translate it into … Islamization of the West. I, however, argue that the translation with Occident is more fitting as it highlights the constructed nature of the argument. After all, Edward Said has said that the Occident has always (ab)used the Orient in order to construct its own image by pronouncing the former’s otherness.

Essentially, PEGIDA is a populist movement that is founded in both a general criticism of the current political administration and in targeted anti-Islamic sentiments and propaganda. PEGIDA was founded in October 2014 in Dresden by Lutz Bachmann in reaction to violent outbreaks between Salafists and supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Celle and Dresden during demonstrations against ISIS. What then started as a Facebook group by Bachmann against arm shipments to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, quickly turned to weekly demonstrations on Monday evenings. PEGIDA itself has dubbed these demonstrations “evening strolls.” The very first of these, held on October 20 in Dresden, was only attended by 350 people, but as this populist movement gained momentum, numbers began to increase. The slogans and rallying cries of the protesters focus largely on fears of religious war in Europe, vilify Muslims and stress the preservation of a ‘European’ or ‘German culture.’ December saw a drastic increase in protesters in Dresden, with 17,500 in the streets, as PEGIDA instrumentalized Christmas and Christian values to mobilize supporters against a supposed Islamic threat. The ‘evening strolls’ featured protesters singing German Christmas songs in December. Since, there have sprung up various other groups in other cities, such LEGIDA in Leipzig or FraGIDA in Frankfurt to name just two examples. The epicenter remains Leipzig, which incidentally has an extremely small number of inhabitants with an immigrant background, and an even lower number with Muslim backgrounds, compared with other German cities.

PEGIDA demonstration in Dresden. Source: Wikipedia

Another slogan frequently employed by the PEGIDA supporters was “Wir sind das Volk.” (We are the people.) As I have already said the demonstrations are held on Mondays. This is no coincidence. “Wir sind das Volk” is an iconic German slogan that has been used in Georg Buechner’s drama Dantons Tod regarding the French Revolution and also in Ferdinand Freiligrath’s poem Trotz Alledem during the Revolutions of 1848. It was, above all, the slogan the protesters of the Peaceful Revolution chanted during the famous Monday Demonstrations in 1989-1990, which contributed massively to the downfall of the GDR and to the unification of Germany as a democratic country. The political message and strength of employing such slogans in Dresden, which is located in the former GDR, cannot be understated. Yet, this also highlights the insidious adoption of a slogan symbolizing the fight for Civil Rights in the context of a movement that aims to deny said rights to a part of the German population.

Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 1 of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, our equivalent to the US Constitution) state: “Men and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and take steps to eliminate disadvantages that now exist. No person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith, or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavoured because of disability.”

The law is clear. In Germany, all are supposedly equal before the law. The fear-mongering and hate that PEGIDA intends to spread are in my opinion very problematic. Then again, there are those that say that freedom of speech is equally important. I will not attempt to settle that age-old debate, but I think the fact that this is happening in Germany, where the last century’s history has shown so shockingly clearly what this kind of hate and xenophobia and racism can lead to, the fact remains to be stressed, that all are equal before the law and it is precisely because of the historical past of Germany that has led to our current laws, that I personally think it should never be forgotten.

Luckily, there are quite a lot of people in Germany who agree on that. There have been various counter-movements to PEGIDA and co. When the Cologne offspring of PEGIDA was marching before Christmas, the famous Cathedral’s lights were symbolically switched off to demonstrate that there was no support to be had for them there. In many cities, whole streets switched off their lights in a passive yet symbolic resistance. There have been countless counter-demonstrations and marches all over Germany drawing up to 100,000 participants. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, has publicly condemned agitation against minorities and immigrants. Many politicians, celebrities, and common people have made their non-support clear. There has been harsh criticism from all strata of society. The debate has even taken over social media before Christmas. As winter was bearing down, the hashtag #schneegida was created. Schnee means snow in German. Tweets read ironic messages such as “#schneegida because I do not want to have to cover my face with a scarf” or “#schneegida, against the ICElamization of Europe.”

In either case, I think that it is sad and horrifying to see how things such as religion are instrumentalized to increase hate and to advance views that are in my opinion inhumane. Germany has become a multicultural country and while that of course brings its challenges with it, I hope that people can also see the opportunities there are in it. After all, I am writing this as a German in a foreign country.

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Last week I attended (half of) a brown bag about International Mother Language Day. I was kind of upset I didn’t find out earlier about it, because the half I could attend was incredibly interesting. I got to know more about Urdu and its conflicted history; I got to hear poems in languages that sounded so beautiful I didn’t even need to understand what they actually meant; finally, I got to think about my own mother language.

In the past couple of weeks there has been a massive campaign (#dilloinitaliano) against the “Englishization” of Italian, a phenomenon that is rapidly infiltrating our language mainly through two backdoors: lazy, uneducated businessmen and bureaucrats who want to coat their usual mischiefs in a novel, exotic jargon that is supposed to sound innovative to people — following the eternal Italian curse that author Tomasi di Lampedusa proverbially describes as “Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi” (if we want everything to stay the same, we have to change everything). People use more and more English words when they speak Italian, and it’s painful to hear: they do it because they can’t think of an Italian equivalent to express their thoughts, or because they think it sounds cool (as happens in Japan with katakana, apparently), but if you can’t speak your mother tongue there are good chances you’ll be awful at any other language… Which is why the people who indulge in this habit are usually also those who speak the worst English. Expressions like asap, audience, austerity, background, benchmark, benefit, brand, cash, customer care, deadline, engagement, fashion, feedback, gap, jobs act, like, mood, outfit, packaging, partnership, storytelling, teamwork, wellness are thus replacing the perfectly legitimate al più presto, pubblico, austerità, contesto, raffronto, beneficio, marchio, contante, servizio clienti, scadenza, coinvolgimento, moda, commento, divario, legge sul lavoro, mi piace, umore, abbigliamento, confezione, collaborazione, narrazione, lavoro di gruppo, benessere…

I am honestly surprised, and excited, by the attention this campaign has obtained on Italian media. Few foreigners know that Italy has a questione della lingua that started (at least) with Dante and was never really solved: Italy’s official language (if there ever were one) has been spoken for centuries only by literates and member of high society, while the people in different regions spoke dozens of very different dialects. Only with the advent of mass media we went beyond regional languages: one of the first TV programs post-WWII, Non è mai troppo tardi (It is never too late), starred an elementary school teacher who taught Italian to the millions of people who didn’t speak a word of it (and were often illiterate).

Today, according to the most recent data, more than 7 Italians out of 10 speak exclusively or predominantly Italian; 2 out of 10 switch between Italian and a local language (16% speak their local language at home); finally, “just” 5% of the population can only speak their local language. Many dialects face extinction, including mine (a version of Venetian): having been raised in the countryside, I am one of the very few young people who can still speak it, while many of my friends consider it a thing for peasants. For me, it was the only way I could comunicate with my grandparents and most adults from my hometown. In my family, Italian and dialect are both spoken; now that I think of it, the way we mix the two says a lot about who we are, what our roles and relationships are in the family, what were the different expectations from each sibling, and so much more… I’m sure studying the residual usages of dialects in Italy would be a goldmine for anyone interested in analyzing our changing society.

In the end, we managed to achieve a true national language, and even the most separatist political parties today seem to have moved their rhetoric outside national borders (now they want Italy out of Europe, rather than Northern Italy out of Italy). Many differences remain between regions, and many Italians are still alienated by the idea of an “Italian nation”; however, I believe the linguistic question has periodically caught fire in times of strengthened unity… This #dilloinitaliano campaign might, after all, be a good sign for Italy.

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By Vika Abramova
Russian language Intern.

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015 we had Russian Club First Meeting. Thank you everyone for coming! 

The Russian club meetings haven’t been held at Colgate for several years. The REST program is excited at the revival of the Russian Club. The first meeting was really important. The club leaders Jacob Ellison and Jacqueline Singer did a wonderful job with everything! They set the tone and direction for the group meetings. They set the scene with a very brief introduction of what the club is about. That group participants felt welcome through introductions. 

Jacob and Singer served us Russian traditional Russian dishes – blini and pelmeni and many other delicious things. The first meeting was a lot of fun! It all went so well.

In conlucion, we watched Russian romantic comedy, Piter FM (Питер FM, 2006) with subtitles. The club participants learned about contemporary Russian youth culture while acquiring Russian grammar. This is a lyrical story about two young people who have to decide what is really important to each of them. Masha is a DJ at one of the most popular St. Petersburg radio stations. Maxim is a very promising young architect. Masha is preparing for her wedding with her former Kostya, and Maxim gets an invitation to work in Germany. But both of them aren’t sure that they want their lives to be like that. Maxim doesn’t want to leave because of the girl who left him, and Masha isn’t sure that Kostya is the right thing for her. Who knows what would become of their lives, were it not for the happenstance: Masha loses her mobile phone, and Maxim finds it. He wants to return it, but each time they try to meet, something happens to waylay their plans... The film is full of interesting cultural details that demonstrate the rapid changes in contemporary Russian culture and provide teaching moments for a type of culture that is not usually addressed in language textbooks. Piter FM was nominated for 6 different awards at the MTV Russia Movie Awards, 2007.

This semester, the club has planned club movie nights and meetings with professors from the Russian Department for discussing important issues facing Russian society. 

You can learn more about the Russian Club by contacting Jacob Ellison jellison@colgate.edu or Jacqueline Singer jsinger@colgate.edu

We will keep it up. 

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By Ruiling Feng
Chinese Language Intern

Some people call it Chinese New Year; some people call it Lunar New Year and some people call it Spring Festival “春节”. The first one is never my favorite way, as this festival is celebrated by several other countries, too; the second one is merely an explanation of what it is; the third one is the most touching one for me, because it is more beautiful, more commonly used to describe this festival and more related to my life in China. If asked how important it is to Chinese people, I’d like to take myself as an example. This is my first time in my whole life that I didn’t celebrate it with my family.

In China, both Solar Calendar and Lunar Calendar are widely used, but the latter is mainly popular for farmers. Although Spring Festival, more specifically speaking, refers to the first day of the lunar new year, the real celebration begins from the last day of the old year and lasts to the Lantern Festival which falls on the 15^th day of the first month of Lunar Calendar. Unfortunately, most people in cities have to say goodbye to the holiday and begin to work around the 6^th of the first month.

I have been asked many times what the most common custom for the celebration is. Apparently, eating is absolutely one of the right answers. Family reunion dinner, party with friends, visiting relatives, etc., all center around eating and talking. Every year, when the Spring Festival is coming, my parents will prepare a lot of vegetables, meat, drinks, snacks, while waiting for their children to come back. However, people in different regions may prepare different food. Dumplings are well-known worldwide, which doesn’t need further details. Many people are confused why Chinese people like connecting fish with the Spring Festival. There is actually an interesting custom about it. The Chinese idiom 年年有余 “Nian Nian You Yu” can vividly reflect this tradition. The pronunciation of “余” (surplus) is the same with that of “鱼” (fish), so the fish for the New Year Eve family reunion dinner will not be finished completely, leaving some for next year, indicating the wish “May every year ends with ample surplus”.

There are some popular decorations for Spring Festival, for example, couplets, paper-cut and New Year painting, kumquat trees, red lantern, upside down ‘Good Fortune’ signs. Speaking of kumquat trees, although it is basically more popular in Cantonese, there is an amazing story happening between Brother Orange, a Chinese man, and Matt Stopera, an American, there this year. Matt is probably the most well-known foreigner for Chinese citizens during this Spring Festival celebration. The story is about Matt’s lost IPhone that was bought by Chinese man who took some selfies, and Matt accidentally saw these photos on his new IPhone probably because they share one iCloud account. Anyway, a touching and exciting story began because of a lost IPhone. You can get more information about this story here.

For children, red envelope money is definitely one of the most exciting presents for Spring Festival. It is called “压岁钱” (yasui qian ) which means “suppressing ghosts money” and is normally given by the married to unmarried, but not necessarily so. I already began to give my nephews and nieces money for Spring Festival when I began to work, just to show my care and love. The receivers are wished safety and peace in the new year. In the northern part, the money can also be given without the red envelope. Red, nevertheless, is always the most common and popular color for Spring Festival celebration, reflecting people’s wish for happiness and prosperity.

Spring Festival in China is always associated with the Spring Festival Gala produced by Chinese Central Television, which is a necessary part of the celebration for many people. And it is often widely analyzed and commented by citizens after the show, which itself has also become a custom and entertainment these years.

As it is so widely celebrated in China, to mention every custom in one article is impossible. No matter how differently people celebrate it in different places, the themes of family reunion, friendship, worship of nature, love of peace, wish of happiness and prosperity, respect of traditions, etc. are commonly shared. That’s exactly the charm of this old yet developing festival and culture.

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