Fast neunzig Schüler:innen der Heimschule verbringen den wohl längsten Schultag ihres Lebens. Am Abend eines ganz normalen Dienstages setzen sie sich in die Aula der Uni Freiburg, um die US-Präsidentschaftswahlen bis in die frühen Morgenstunden hautnah mitzuerleben.
Was genau es zu erleben gab, schildert eine Schülerin der S13a in ihrem Artikel zur Wahlnacht.
Da sich die Aufgabe herrlich in den Englischunterricht integrieren ließ – es ging um US-Politik und das Schreiben von Zeitungsartikeln – schreibt sie – na? – auf Englisch!
Enjoy!
Election Night 2024: A head-to-head race?
By Renee Reppel
This Tuesday, I and several other students of the Heimschule St. Landolin had the privilege to go to the Election Night 2024 in Freiburg. The event was filled with panel discussions, presentations and interviews all surrounding the topic of the 2024 American presidential elections.
To start off the long night of anticipation, an introduction was given by the event organizers followed by a speech by an American diplomat, Andrew Zvirzdin, praising the close partnership between Germany and the USA. In his speech, Zvirzdin quickly made a statement that would be frequently repeated in the course of the evening; “I have no idea what the outcome will be.” This is due to the fact that the election was considered to be a head-to-head race.
Following this special welcome, a panel consisting of multiple experts on American politics and culture held a discussion. In the course of this dialog, an interesting point was brought up by Dietmar Ostermann, the political editor of the Badische Zeitung. He pointed out that although Donald Trump portrays himself as dictator friendly in his interactions with Putin, he has often proven the opposite, for example when Trump told Germany to distance itself from Russia. Ostermann posits that this is one of the reasons why Trump may not govern as radically rightist as he suggests.
Subsequently, Prof. Dr. Sieglinde Lehmke stated that the increasing presence of polarizing and overheated rhetoric in American politics has greatly affected this year’s elections. According to her, the internet had a huge part to play in the elections, for this very reason. This is reflected in Trumps apparent motto; “all attention is good attention.” Ostermann, however, countered this saying that he believes that although misinformation and stirring statements may be powerful tools in Trumps arsenal, his true secret to success is his evocative question for the American people; “Are your lives better now, than they were four years ago?”
Following this highly informative discussion round, Dr. Christoph Haas, of the University Freiburg, presented some background information on the American political system and the election process. He addressed the fact that the requirement for American citizens to register to vote decreases the amount of voting participation.
Later in the night, a discussion round was held between young voters from the USA about their perspectives on the election. In this discussion, it became evident that the Democratic Party seems to be lacking in several aspects. Although all four speaker suggested that they had voted for Kamala Harris, they mentioned that the Democratic Party does a poor job of winning the votes of rural areas, as they don’t focus on relevant topics and concerns for these voters. Furthermore, they stated that they see voting for Kamala Harris less as voting for the Democratic Party and more as voting against Trump. Or as they said “choosing the lesser of two evils”.
At the end of the evening, everyone most likely went home believing what had been said multiple times in the course of the night; “this is going to be a head-to-head race, that probably won’t be won for a few days”. However, waking up the next morning, it became clear that this was not the case as Donald Trump had won in a landslide.
Nevertheless, the Election Night 2024 was highly informative and thanks to it, I can say that I am sure that the political structures of the USA will serve to ensure that no matter what the Trump presidency will hold, democracy will prevail. And perhaps a far darker possibility, that of a civil war, has been avoided.
