Just Another Millenial Travel Blog

Time for another leightweight topic, but this essay might sum up some of the thoughts that I had during my whole trip, so I wanted to share. If you expect fluffy top ten recommendations what to do in Shanghai than this might not be your space.

First of all I clearly want to set a framework here. To me freedom, especially personal freedom, is a non negotiable value. As someone who was party member of the FDP (local politics is clearly not my cup of tea but that is another story) and read Hayek, Rand etc. my position within the political spectrum should be undeniable. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were the hero’s of my youth and watching their speeches after a bad day always is empowering to me. Fun side fact: I was reading Karl Marx with 13, luckily my political convictions changed afterwards, for the better.

As mentioned previously the combination of capitalism and democracy for me is one of the greatest inventions in the history of mankind and have really hoped that after the fall of the iron curtain we would have experienced the end of history. That is clearly not the case. Currently, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit‘s 2024 Democracy Index only 4.5% of the world population lives in full democracies and 45% of the world population lives in some sort of democracy. Doesn’t seem to be like the most popular state form at the moment.

So where is the state of the art in the west, and especially in Germany, where I do feel I can make the clearest verdict? First I want to shed a light on the freedom of speech in Germany. Clearly, due to our history, we have a certain constrain regarding freedom of speech with the article 5 of the basic law that guarantees freedom of expression with the limitation against hate speech, Holocaust denial and incitement of violence. Whilst debatable that is historically stringent. From the law there clearly exists, with the above mentioned distinct limitations, freedom of speech.

Nonetheless, and to me this alarming, currently only half of the population has the impression that they can openly articulate their political opinion. Other surveys come to the conclusion that only 40% have the perception of freedom of speech, which is the lowest value since 1953. The reasons given are concerns about marginalisation and the fear of negative consequences when opinions deviate from political correctness. Even though emotions are a difficult measure just imagine someone would state openly at work that they vote for AfD – even so I don’t do so (and I do not see AfD has the competency to deliver smart solutions) I wouldn’t do that or recommend that to anyone. As the party is elected by 20% of the overall population it is inevitable that in each company and club someone votes for them. In order to enable a dialog at all to me it is a foundation to be able to openly talk but I do see in certain circles a decreasing motivation to do so. In my option we are facing a severe issue here as freedom of speech is one of the foundational pillars for a democracy and it has to be concluded that there is some malfunctioning at the moment.

The second topic, and I clearly won‘t win a price in popularity with this posting, is inner security. First my five minutes to my perception in China than move on to Germany. I am a tall, very light skinned woman, with almost blond hair – so in Asia and especially also in China I am clearly a striking appearance. Additionally I do not speak or can read Mandarin. Did I feel insecure at any moment during my trip to Singapore or China? Absolutely not. Maybe this is due to my lack of being street smart but I always felt safe and comfortable. And yes I am aware that China is surveillance state and that this is, taking civil rights into consideration, is problematic, but the country in this aspect worked incredibly well to me.

So what about Germany? So the overall crime rate in Germany is decreasing but the violence against woman has significantly increased and especially the subjective sense of security (48% of people in Germany do not feel safe) has increased. When you walk through certain parks at night or go in distinct open-air swimming pools in big cities and compare it to the time when I was a child, and you are not a complete social romantic, than that should be clear.

So we have to tackle the elephant in the room here. And to be clear here as well: I lived and moved three times abroad in my 20s, I am absolutely in favour of migration and do think due to demographic development all Western countries urgently need migration and Germany needs to become aware of it in order to win in the war of talents (currently especially high qualified young Germans are leaving the country, obviously a trend victim here as well). When you live in a foreign country, and as a trained immigrant I can be very clear here, you work your butt of, stick to the rules/law and do anything possible to build a better life. That should be normal and is non-negotiable. These immigrants are and should be warmly welcome in Germany and all around the world and we should honor their archievments even more.

Germany not only incentives the wrong migration but also migration that is actively harming its social systems and inner security. That cannot work. And I do not feel entitled to discuss asylum in depth here, not my topic. From an economic viewpoint migration is only positive when the migrants work asap and earns above average. Than it is a good deal. Migration in Germany obviously fulfill non of the points and as especially young men are coming, from certain countries, these men are committing crimes about average. We need an open discussion here, as in my opinion we only make the problem worse, also for all the migrants that are well behaved, and especially for them, when we are not clear here. So here as well, whereas the things in the visited countries are working, and even me could leave the house unworried at night, I see a negative development in Germany but Europe in general.

Democracy in Germany also worked, after WWII, so well because of Wirtschaftswunder and as the Nazi culture was so unmistakably evil that the country literally had to keep its head down, forget the unimaginable crimes and accept whatever was coming. As the country became prosperous and blooming again, especially in the 50s and 60s, and peace and prosperity became normal it was easy to accept democracy. There have always been anti-democratic movements in Germany, like RAF and parts of the 68er, but as long as the economy was working well and people saw an upwards movement that was not a broader issue. To quote Helmut Schmidt the Germany remain endangered people when it comes to the stability of democracy and I clearly agree as I do not see the deep roots of a democratic culture that other countries clearly have.

Besides that Germany to me is not an old and stable democracy as Switzerland and the UK. Especially regarding the UK I still do have hope, and I am aware the Brexit was in short term a mistake, and here is why. Back then in student time in Newcastle I got to know the educational system in depth in my post grad. In Germany studying management mainly consisted, especially in the main study programme, out of learning models by heart and some, but minor, application. In the UK it was a 180 degree turn of that. I quote directly from my business ethics professor: if I read one thought in your final essay that is not distinctly your own you have no chance of getting an eight (which was the grade that was required to graduate with distinction). So a country where the development of own thoughts in its educational system is so highly valued might have potential, right? Also debating culture, which I could experience on my own as joining the debating club in Groningen a couple of times, is deeply rooted in those countries. If you had once a classical structured debate where you had to represent the viewpoint that is in complete opposition to your own convictions that is extremely helpful for the debate culture itself. Germany unfortunately does not has a strong traditions neither in essay writing nor in debating clubs, what a pity.

So first of all us in the West, and especially in Germany, should clean up our own problems and even if all of them are soluted (which I do not see at the moment) we have not right to interfere in the inner affairs of China or any other country in the world. Even though some still might feel still superior and even pretentious towards Asia, and especially China, they are just on their way to overtake us. China won‘t need as anymore very soon in my prediction but we will need China. Taking the massive lack of education about China in the West into consideration, and I have tried to fill the gaps as good as possible in the last weeks, we would be well advised to act humble.

East Asia, and especially China, will go its own way and we have to accept it whatever direction they choose. We should clearly ask ourselves how free we are still in the West, taking the examples of economic decline, freedom of speech and inner security into consideration and do not feel entitled to criticise a government that has enabled its people to eightfold their income within two generations. Would you seriously criticised a government when you have experienced nothing but a massive improvement in your standard of living, especially in the last two decades, and the sheer visibility of the rejuvenation of a nation? We urgently have to to fix our own problems now, need change and someone who has the courage to truth and uncomfortable reforms.