Bavarians
are considering leaving Germany. What is it with the European nations
that their most productive citizens want
to leave?
[A]
new survey looks to bolster the Bavarian Party's hopes for a true Free State of
Bavaria (the state's official title). A YouGov poll with Bild tabloid,
published online on Sunday, showed that one-third of Bavarian respondents
agreed that "my state should be independent from Germany".
Bavaria
is an anomaly in Germany. Germany was historically chiefly Protestant.
Bavaria was mostly Catholic. Most of Germany avoided Roman
occupation. Much of Bavaria didn't and was incorporated into the
Roman Empire. Germans are...well, Germanic. Bavarians have a large
amount of Celtic in them.
A
Bavarian is half-way between an Austrian and a human being. –Otto von
Bismarck
When
one thinks of Germans, one thinks of goose-stepping, orderly Prussians.
When one thinks of Bavarians, one thinks of Oktoberfest and
beer-swilling, pretzel-eating admirers of Hofbrau
Frauleinen. A completely different world image. One should take
a minute to listen (click
here).
Compounding
Germany's dilemma is that Bavaria is the second richest region of Germany and
is an
industrial powerhouse, with a well above average per capita output.
Think of BMW or Audi.
The
region around the state capital, which generates a third of Bavaria's total
output, is home to heavyweights such as BMW and MAN, but also hundreds of
smaller biotech, IT and environmental technology firms that have sprung up in
the past couple of decades, as well as 550 US IT firms. Recent start-ups
include Linguatec, which produces automatic translation software and
dictionaries, and Greenrobot, which creates mobile apps such as Quick Search
and GroovieMovie.TV.
Historically,
the Bavarians are probably closer to the Austrians. Austria has been
majority-Catholic like Bavaria. The Bavarians often sided with Napoleon
during the Napoleonic Wars, and with Austria during the Austro-Prussian Wars.
Much
of Northern Germany looked down on the Bavarians.
The
Bavarian will not budge before you actually walk on him. –German saying
When
Bavaria was eventually absorbed into Germany, it was given particular local
considerations and more autonomy than other states. Basically, the
Bavarians do have a
legitimate claim on a separate nationality.
[I]f
you live in Germany, you soon work out that Bavaria is essentially the
country's Scotland. Just like Britain's northernmost nation, it is an ancient
kingdom full of breath-taking mountain landscapes that held its own for
centuries, only joining a larger German state in comparatively modern times
once it had become a bankrupt backwater with no other recourse.
One of
the chief issues for this separatism seems to be the recent migrants.
Bavaria seems to have borne the brunt of it.
What
Bavaria lacks – and the separatist Basque and Catalans have – is a seaport.
If a nation is going to be a manufacturing export giant, a seaport is
almost a necessity. Yes, Switzerland gets by without one, but Bavaria
does not have Switzerland's history. And Switzerland is a major exporter
of not automobiles, but rather watches. Being landlocked may be the
deal-breaker.
German
courts, taking a cue from the stubborn Spanish courts, have frowned
onBavarian nationalism.
But
if 2016 was year of Brexit, 2017 is unlikely to be the year of
"Bayxit" (in German, Bavaria is known as Bayern). On Monday, a German
court released a decision saying that the country's constitution does not allow
Bavaria to break away. There will be no referendum, the court said, because
states are not allowed to leave Germany.
However,
the separatists have taken a cue from the Catalans.
The
news was met with a message of defiance from the pro-independence Bavaria
Party, which posted on Facebook that the "struggle for Bavarian
independence" would be decided not by a court bu "by the will of the
Bavarian people." The chairman of the party, Florian Weber, said that he
expected the decision: When you want to drain the swamp, Weber reasoned,
"you do not ask the frogs!"
I do
not know how the Bavarians will overcome the seaport problem, though, unless
they join Austria and Slovenia – which, by the way, have a lot of German
genetics in their people – to get access to the Adriatic.
My
first recommendation for the Bavarians would be that they hire a
Catalan activist to run the independence campaign, inasmuch as
Catalans tend to be peaceable at first, but be wary, since Catalans do not mind
fortifying their native numbers with outsiders. If immigration is the
chief complaint in Bavaria, however, they should avoid Catalan advice and go
immediately for a
Basque adviser – but that would bring in the added problem of where to
hide the weaponry.
I do
not see this Bavarian separatism going anywhere, except that it highlights just
how badly the powers that be are managing Europe.
Mike
Konrad is the pen name of an American who wishes he had availed himself more
fully of the opportunity to learn Spanish in high school, lo those many decades
ago. He writes on the Arabs of South America athttp://latinarabia.com.
He also just started a website about small computers athttp://minireplacement.com.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/07/europe_downward_now_the_bavarians_want_to_leave.html