Europe and Canada: Magnetic Proximity

Frankfurter Rundschau Europe and Canada: Magnetic Proximity Peter Rutkowski • 50 million • 2 minutes reading time Europe and Canada are a perfect fit – right now, there's an opportunity for a new, transatlantic coexistence. The commentary. A few years ago, an art exhibition entitled "Magnetic North" toured German museums. It provided a very rare and very magnetic insight into the culture of a gigantic country – one that no one knows about. Clichés about Canada abound: the "Mountys" in their red uniforms, insane brutality in ice hockey, unlike the USA, no genocide of the indigenous population – some of it is true, some not so much. The art from there was a sensation – and politically, the country also has magnetic potential. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney in Europe: The new, old transatlanticist That could change now. And it should change, absolutely. Because every tear is in vain for the USA, which has said goodbye to the Western world and gone into its own politically distant orbit. Maybe someone will pull it down from there, maybe not. It's not our concern, it's not ours. If "the West" wants to maintain civilized coexistence in the world, despite all the justified self-criticism for its bloody history, then everyone who is of good cheer and willing to get involved is needed. And when it comes to engagement, Canada doesn't need to be told anything. In the 20th century alone, it campaigned against dictatorship, imperialism, genocide, and for fairness, law, and justice. One could easily go so far as to postulate: We Germans also owe a great deal of our democracy to that distant, foreign country whose people said no when many others complied. Recently, people in Canada were joking that they were actually a direct neighbor of Europe. The joke has now become serious. And an opportunity for a new, transatlantic, almost magnetic coexistence. Europe does not have to depend on the USA.