17.4.02024

Featured photo: Organization team | © Nasser Sarout

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The only drawback to the Europa Ball was that I couldn't find any media representatives who wanted to report on it. The really sad thing is that this deprived the many voluntary associations and groups as well as those professionals and companies who supported the European Ball almost at their own expense from the media coverage - hence the applause.

Similar to democracy, many people in charge only uphold voluntary work in Sunday speeches; You don't have to explain to anyone what kind of effects this has. We are currently celebrating five years of BUGA and again for expensive money, an event in which we have already invested easily 200 million euros of taxpayers' money. Sometimes you could ask yourself whether less is more and whether these funds could be used more economically, more sensibly and with far better effects for urban society.

Instead of putting money into a BUGA memorial event, you could also think about which local and perhaps even voluntary events you could help set up. In addition, it has always been better to look forward than to keep mourning the good old days, which were often only beautiful in memory.

Many small investments in ordinary citizens help a city society far more than purchasing professionals and entertaining celebrities at eulogies. Next, there will probably be a festival with illustrious guests for the former Neckar shipping company.

Which brings me back to the Europa Ball, which will also take place next year. Until then, ball guests and other visitors still have the opportunity to collect their pictures from the ball photographer and perhaps even buy a second one. Because a photographer doesn't just live on air and love alone.

Election interference

Some politicians and representatives like to talk about strengthening democracy and are happy to spend huge amounts of taxpayers' money to promote democracy. I have long suspected that they are more interested in spending money than in promoting. You also have to ask yourself, especially these days, how our mayor and his local councilors feel about democracy on site and not just in their speeches.

Talking “against the right” and denouncing other citizens, but deliberately refraining from doing anything to remove a caught Nazi from their own ranks from the town hall. Hans Hoffman still hanging and grinning at us all! And the twin town relationship with Novorossiysk, a hotbed of anti-democracy and human rights violations, will continue to be upheld.

And so it is no longer surprising that anti-democratic traits are becoming apparent in the city administration, at least in the local election campaign; Although one should clarify who the instigator is.

On the one hand, democracy is upheld nationwide and all citizens are called upon to become more involved and express themselves democratically and to improve their participation in our society and, on the other hand, everything is done in Heilbronn to control the proliferation of advertising, garbage and disorder .

But when citizens start the election campaign independently without the established city council factions and want to draw attention to themselves with advertising, then all guns are brought out to stop this. Instead of Democrats being happy that citizens are having posters made on a voluntary basis and without tax money to advertise our democracy, then the employees in the city administration suddenly wake up.

In Heilbronn you can find advertising on every corner and on almost every construction fence, most of it, as I recently learned from a city employee, without city approval. What we citizens and the city administration have not cared about for years. But now that the Free Voters came up with the idea of ​​advertising themselves, mind you on their own construction fences, the city administration is rotating and one ban follows another. Before the Free Voters are allowed this illegal advertising, they are even inclined to ban it for all other people in Heilbronn as well - with the friendly hint that the Free Voters are to blame for it.

I was also able to learn that in our democracy, an “imagination organ” in our democracy set the rules for the local election campaign in the town hall before the election. Everything that the parties have always done is permitted. Everything that the Free Voters have always done is forbidden.

The only thing our representatives achieve with this is that they continue to mislead and spoil democracy for us citizens!

It would be better if the professional parties would campaign according to law and order and thus set an example for us citizens, but let all the newcomers and amateurs just do it once and, if the existence of Germany is not at stake, with one or the other Just turn a blind eye to the illegally hung - not banned poster (!). Just like they have been doing for years when it comes to littering our city. And in contrast to the dirty pigs in the city, we citizens take down our posters on our own after the election campaign.

man flu

The days are long gone when I could spend a whole day shooting on the Baltic Sea beach in winter with a fever, although my boss at the time only said succinctly that at least I wouldn't have frozen. Even back then I learned that everything really does have a good side.

And so it happened that after four hours of lectures, my man flu actually knocked me off my feet. The good thing is that I haven't been able to answer the students' email yet. I'll catch up on this as soon as I prepare my next lecture. And so the follow-up to the last lecture fell through, with students having to have a lot of chutzpah if they were late for the lecture, especially when appointments and scheduling were the focus. And so one or two students were allowed to spend the lecture outside the door - for some fellow citizens, such little tips actually help: let's hope for the best!

Back then, the coffee couldn't even make it to the range warm, which led a sergeant to remark that cold coffee makes things nice. In retrospect, I can say that I was actually beautiful... pretty stupid.

Which now brings me back to students and the question of why some go to university if they don't want to learn anything there. But they are probably just smart enough not to want to stand on a construction site in winter. Unfortunately, I'm not smart enough to follow my explanations. Just a few years ago they would have been sent back to the construction site, which would have significantly increased their attention span on the next attempt - unfortunately, black pedagogy no longer fits our times and those responsible for it probably lack the courage to deal with the shades of gray in between maybe even intelligence.

And so the hope remains that one or two students will take the chance before the very last attempt and start listening a little more closely. And also the hope that the coffee machine mentioned here will not only return to the department, but will also be regularly serviced by its users.

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