This time George Bush is not visiting Berlin. His last visit here in 2002 resulted in an unfriendly demonstration of close to 100,000 people from all over Germany. Although he was carefully kept away from the crowds (on Berlin’s famous Unter den Linden boulevard) he certainly heard about it.
That is why he chose Mainz this time. Mainz, a small city on the Rhine river with about 300,000 people, has a big advantage: it is across the river from Wiesbaden, right in the middle of a concentration of US troops. They can provide as friendly and safe a backdrop for Bush as they did yesterday for Laura Bush, who carefully chose the US Army high school as a venue.
But Bush and his backers, American and German, want to play it very safe, and this has become a nightmare for the people of Mainz. All air traffic to the nearby Frankfurt airport is being suspended for part of the day (today, Wednesday). Boat traffic on the Rhine will be suspended despite all economic losses involved. The autobahns surrounding the city and connecting it with the airport will all be closed to traffic.
That is still just not safe enough for this popular statesman and his giant entourage. Every manhole lid along the route has been soldered down tight. No terrorist rats will be tolerated this time. All mail boxes along the route have been carted away. Cars must not only be removed from along the route but also from garages of people living along the route. Windows must be shut and no one is allowed to stand on the balcony to wave. There won’t be much waving anyway, it seems, and the police have issued severe warnings: Anti-Bush banners or slogans must not be visible anywhere along the route, and no "insulting" banners will be allowed anywhere. There’s a law to take care of that matter. All traffic, vehicles or pedestrians, will be restricted in the areas George Bush is planning to visit. And if anyone crosses this stretch he better not forget to have his full ID ready at hand, although even that may not help him. Mainz is to be kept free of terror and terrorists! It looks like a jolly time ahead.
But a fair number of demonstrators had already gathered the day before to protest Bush policies and oppose the present or any future wars – and the first arrests have been made. Much larger crowds are expected to go to Mainz today – or to try to go there. Meanwhile, despite the cold and snowy weather, anti-Bush demonstrations have been planned – or have already taken place – in a hundred German towns and cities from Berlin in the east to Aachen in the west. But don’t expect any crowds throwing welcoming flowers. No, not in Mainz either.
Victor Grossman is an American who fled to the East German GDR during the McCarthy years and have been living in Berlin as free-lance journalist and writer for over 40 years. wechsler_grossman@yahoo.de
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