Further PDS advances in Berlin

[Johannes Schneider]

Dennis wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Oct 1999, sven.buttler crossposted:
>
> > Drittens: Verbindende Klammer in Ost und West ist das deutlich gewordene
> > Profil der PDS als Partei der sozialen Gerechtigkeit. Sie ist eine
Partei,
> > von der viele Menschen konkret erfahren haben, dass sie die Mauern
zwischen
> > Ost und West genauso bekämpft wie die zwischen oben und unten und
zwischen
> > Deutschen und Nichtdeutschen.
> > Dies ist die Mailingliste Pressemitteilung der PDS-Online. Weitere
> > Informationen erhalten Sie unter:
> > http://www.pds-online.de/presse-abo/index.htm
>
> Rough translation: "The common thread running through the East and West is
> the sharpening of the PDS' profile as the party of social justice. It
> is a party which has concretely proved its commitment to battling the
> walls between the East and West just as much as those between the
> upper and lower classes and between Germans and non-Germans."
>
> Class struggle runs deep in German culture; the German version says just
> "oben und unten", literally, "above and below". A German reader would
> instantly understand the reference to social polarization. Also, "sozialen
> Gerechtigkeit" has a far greater resonance than "social justice", it has
> a revolutionary ring to it ("social juridification" would be a crude
> transliteration). Give the Eurocomrades credit, they at least seem to know
> what they're fighting *for* -- unlike the US, where the Left is just
> beginning to figure out what it's fighting *against*.
Dennis,
I have to make a few objections here:
'oben und unten' is used when you want to avoid such dirty words as
'Arbeiterklasse' (working class) oder 'Bourgeoisie', which clearly a have
marxist conotation. Thus your English translation inerting 'classes' is
bending the stick a little bit.
'Soziale Gerechtigkeit' does not sound revolutionary at all in German. More
or less anyone would agree that their should be some justice in society.
Politically it is a very vague concept. So I dont think, in this repect
there is so much difference between America and Europe.
Johannes