The Wiesn in Munich is always good for a heated discussion. Since the Greens are the strongest faction in the city council and the Wiesn boss comes from the CSU, the folk festival has become a political long-running issue. Economics officer Clemens Baumgärtner never misses an opportunity for a dispute, and he carries it over to the Picture-Newspaper out. The Oktoberfest boss has to get really upset about the Greens again because they see racism at the Oktoberfest, which he doesn’t notice. Allegedly, the Greens also want to ban all half-covered or uncovered women, he says.
It’s about the paintings on the rides and booths. “No one was interested in them for 30 years,” says Baumgärtner. But now the Greens would once again “hype up” a topic with their wokeness. Bans planned again, the Greens stop. So Baumgärtner’s not entirely new view of things.
The Greens are massively annoyed by the CSU speakers. When they get angry about the populism of the CSU in Munich, Baumgärtner should play a major role in their thoughts. It is said that the current internal debate with the CSU man was only about the topic of racism. Not about the naked. The Department for Democracy classified various motives at the Wiesn as racist. One painting in question shows a black man lifting a woman’s skirt and looking at her bare bottom. Other Wiesn visitors lie or sit next to it and enjoy the festival while sleeping or drinking.
For Mayor Katrin Habenschaden (Greens), there is no doubt about the message of such or similar paintings. “The Wiesn is a family festival and at the same time Munich’s international flagship with visitors from all over the world. I don’t want our guests to be confronted with racist motives here.”
Everyone should feel comfortable at the Wiesn, no matter what color their skin is. “That should be a matter of course in 2023. I hope that the fight against racism will continue to be a consensus among Munich’s democratic parties – despite the upcoming state elections.”
The scolded Wiesn boss Baumgärtner does not want to let that sit on him. “Racism has no place at the Wiesn,” he says. But if a black man lifts a woman’s skirt and exposes her bare bottom while the white people next to her are just drinking or sleeping, then “I don’t think that’s racism,” he says. At best it is morally objectionable.