That's Tom Waits on Mic ~ 11/30/07

"You're slipping into dream land, you're not in your head." ~ T. Waits

Seems like an appropriate line tonight as I try and get through my presentation the DDR and the 1989 transition. All I can think about is my thesis. It's all I want to work on, but it is the last think I should be working on... I have a lot more pressing assignments due this week!

mmm, Uncle J got me hooked on Yerba (the espresso of tea, as C defined it again).

Well, since I am on this track, let's at least try and be constructive about it. Let's talk a bit about civil society in the DDR, and contextualize it for my thesis. Kuper talks about the DDR fans of Herta BSC, the West Berlin side, and their secret fan club (registered as a bingo team). I found this interesting because it is not an overt political act of defiance, yet it clearly is intended to subvert the regime.

In isolation these acts of defiance might amount to little, an these individuals certainly had little to do with the 'Wende', but I still see this as a contribution to social movement against the state. If civil society, in a conservative interpretation, is about assisting the government with the distribution of goods & services, and providing a connection between the people and their republic, then such an outlaw organization clearly flies in the face of the regimes intended use of this institution.

In the radical interpretation, where civil society acts as a check on the system, and a forum for developing social norms, then this "bingo" team is surely part of the transition movement. If nothing else, it keeps a distinction between the private and the public alive in peoples mind. Further more, it promotes an attitude of defiance among its members as they succeed in evading the eye of the Stasi network.