For Harald Juhnke there was nobody who wanted to name a square or a street after him. Rio Reiser, on the other hand, did it. But he was also one of the good guys.
Wonderful! Did you see it too, the finale!? Great. Our women. And so many. All with good technique and heart. This fight to the last woman. That's when you get excited. An "undreamt-of euphoria was kindled," as everyone said, because of the sensation that Germans were able to marvel at on television that women can do something that men can too. For me the final proof: The world works without men. That was the real message of the EM.
What do I care about victory or defeat? We also have hearts and treat the country of football to it instead of moaning about the Ukrainian referee and, like one coach, lamenting a "little bitter aftertaste" because "a possible penalty and a possible 1-0 would have changed the game". Other possibilities, think of a lightning strike at Wembley Stadium or a nuclear war, might have changed the game too, possibly in favor of the German women. Anything could have been possible.
Old white men on the right-hand side of the field smell fraud on German national bodies in the form of women, because DAS HANDSPIEL was not shown in TV replays during the game, but only afterwards. intention, call them! Orwell sends his regards, they discover. Why do we have the video evidence? Another question: Why weren't "players" shown in the audience - the counterpart to "players' women", for me one of the most stupid terms in the German language, at least as stupid as "doctor's wife". Women as mere appendages - reduced to the man's profession - a very do-gooder like me can't stand that.
What men do in the fields is dirty because it has been corrupted by money, while what women do is noble and pure. The men should take an example, old men dream, who want everything to be as pure and good as it was before, when the world was still in order. Why are men the benchmark for women? Does Martha Argerich smack Grigori Sokolow on the shoulder after a prelude and say: "Well played"? Is not known to me. I think both are great.
I beg your pardon for the apparent clumsiness with which I brought up the subject of music. I couldn't think of anything better. Heinrichplatz in Berlin-Kreuzberg is renamed after Rio Reiser. Since April 7, 1849, he bore the name of Prince Heinrich of Prussia. When leftists hear "Prussia," they think of war and cadaveric obedience. So the prince is exchanged for a singer who dreamed of becoming "King of Germany". If Heino had sung it, he would have been accused of being an arch reactionary.
But "Rio" was on the right side, wanted to "travel to the USA, bite Ronny (Reagan) in the calves like Waldi", if he were "Rio the first, Sissi the second", which is a funny allusion to his sexual meant orientation. On the other hand, street renamers should consider that "the Rio" laid claim to "200 locks," which would only have exacerbated the housing shortage.
"König von Deutschland" came out in 1986 and was played constantly. In the Leipzig punk and new wave scene, in which I romped around at the time, the song was one of the most embarrassing favorite songs. A catchy tune, but still not my thing. I liked - today I can admit it - "Let us 'n Miracle Be" by Ton, Steine, Scherben from 1983 because it wonderfully described something like an ideal love relationship. Rio Reiser's humanity moved me, too. Honor where credit is due.
And yet it is unfortunate that historical street names are disappearing and, as in this case, are being replaced by the name of a singer that hardly anyone in the younger generation knows. It is strange that the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, which has been governed in an absolutist manner by the Greens and Leftists for ages, is ignoring the decision of the local parliament in 2005 to only name squares and streets after women until it says fifty-fifty. It will take light years.
According to the RBB, Oliver Nöll, a fairly old white man and deputy district mayor from the left, insisted on the "exception" because Rio Reiser had "merited for the left-wing alternative image of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg" and "was self-confessedly gay at a time when homosexuality in Germany was not yet taken for granted and thus gave many young people the self-confidence to fight for their rights".
A politically incorrect statement will cause trouble. Because homosexuality was an absolute matter of course even back then, just coming out was anything but commonplace, the crazy paragraph 175 still existed. Apart from that: Rio Reiser as a role model for young people? A guy who drank heavily and did drugs? I do not know. And was there really no woman who was politically correct, could sing well and liked to drink and smoke weed?
One could finally name a street in Berlin after Harald Juhnke, like Reiser, who was a drunk but not so popular with progressive parties, although he sang: "I'll stay green forever." Marc Schulte, still a city councilor in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, where the entertainer was born, told the "Tagesspiegel" in March 2012 why no one wants a Juhnke street or square: "Despite all the performance, he's still with the negative consequences of alcoholism."
Maybe something will happen now and Berlin will rename its Afrika Strasse to Harald-Juhnke-Damm. Because as far as I know, Juhnke was politically correct, tolerant and not a colonialist.
