- cross-posted to:
- europe@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- europe@lemmy.ml
Left Party MP Cansin Köktürk was thrown out of a German parliament plenary chamber on Wednesday for wearing a t-shirt with the word “Palestine” printed on it, a move deemed a political statement by the parliamentary leadership.
Bundestag President Julia Klöckner intervened during the session, reminding MPs that political messages on clothing are not permitted in the chamber.
While the Bundestag does not have a detailed dress code, its rules require MPs and visitors to dress “in keeping with the prestige” of the institution. Enforcement of this standard is left to the discretion of the session chair.
I disagree with that generality, but I grant you the point, it’s a valid assumption to make.
However:
Nothing about what you said supports the assumption that people with Ukraine T-shirts wouldn’t get booted. They would be.
Overall this is a not exactly uncommon thing in the Bundestag: Break the rules to get thrown out to put the spotlight on something. In fact, without the “getting thrown out” part it wouldn’t make sense to wear clothing with political meaning in the first place, as everyone would be doing it, and everyone would ignore it.
If Die Linke had any sense of political theatrics, if they had just a bit of Melenchon in their blood, they would all show up with TShirts of random countries, see what the fuck happens.
Spoiler: They would get kicked out all the same.
I highly doubt that. Is there a prior precedent for this? What if you wore a flag pin?
Flag pins have historically been accepted and I doubt it would’ve been an issue in this case. The rule is basically just there so you’re not openly promoting anything, be it a political message, brand or any other type of statement.