|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Germany’s new Green divide
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Container
|
| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Nov 24, 2018 11:01am |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | General |
| Author | Zia Weise |
| News Date | Friday, November 23, 2018 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Historians trying to trace the collapse of Germany’s Social Democrats would do well to look at the neighborhood of Haidhausen in central Munich.
For centuries, the area was known as the “poorhouse” of the Bavarian capital; after post-war reconstruction, it became a dilapidated workers’ quarter, described as a “district of broken glass” for its rundown condition. “About half of all apartments had no bathroom and no hot water,” the magazine Der Spiegel wrote in 1980. Even fewer had access to central heating.
Over the past few decades, however, the neighborhood has flourished — thanks in no small part to a large-scale redevelopment plan initiated by the SPD-led city government in the early 1970s. Gentrification has taken hold. Residents are younger and rents are higher than the Munich average. Trendy cafes, expensive bicycles and organic shops cluster around the district’s picturesque squares.
Given Haidhausen’s history, it’s no surprise that the Social Democrats were the dominant party in this area for decades — at least until recently. In Bavaria’s state election in October, the SPD suffered a colossal defeat in the Munich-Mitte constituency to which Haidhausen belongs, its vote share shrinking by two-thirds. Instead, the constituency’s residents flocked to the Greens, handing the former protest party a near-majority with 42.5 percent of the votes. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
