{"id":13497,"date":"2021-10-28T16:02:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13497"},"modified":"2021-10-28T16:02:50","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:02:50","slug":"how-are-jamaica-and-german-traffic-lights-related","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/how-are-jamaica-and-german-traffic-lights-related\/","title":{"rendered":"How Are Jamaica and German Traffic Lights Related?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After German elections<\/a>, you might hear more and more about\u00a0Kenia<\/em> (Kenya),\u00a0Jamaika <\/em>(Jamaica) or\u00a0die Ampel\u00a0<\/em>(traffic light). But how are these countries and a traffic light related to each other? It’s all in the political Koalitionen\u00a0<\/em>(coalitions)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Kenia-Koalition<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"coalition<\/a>

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The Kenyan flag consists of three main colors:\u00a0schwarz\u00a0<\/em>(black),\u00a0rot\u00a0<\/em>(red) and\u00a0gr\u00fcn\u00a0<\/em>(green). That would be a\u00a0Koalition\u00a0<\/em>of the CDU\/CSU in their black colors, or die Union<\/em>, the social-democrats of the SPD party in red, and the\u00a0Die Gr\u00fcne\/B\u00fcndnis 90\u00a0<\/em>green party, in, obviously, green colors. What’s important to note is that the order of the colors does not matter – if the Union is the biggest party or the Greens or the SPD, it can all still be Kenia. It’s just about that color combination!<\/p>\n

Sometimes, this is also referred to as an\u00a0Afghanistan-Koalition\u00a0<\/em>(f, Afghanistan coalition)<\/a>, as the colors are the same. However, I believe these days, die Kenia-Koalition\u00a0<\/em>is a lot more common.<\/p>\n

Did we have this constellation before? Yes! Pretty recently, in\u00a0Sachsen-Anhalt\u00a0<\/em>(Saxony-Anhalt),\u00a0Kenia\u00a0<\/em>became a reality<\/a>. And there are more recent examples, such as in\u00a0Brandenburg\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Sachsen\u00a0<\/em>(Saxony) since 2019.<\/p>\n

Often,\u00a0Kenia-Koalition\u00a0<\/em>is abbreviated to just\u00a0Kenia<\/em>. So you might see or hear:\u00a0Kenia ist f\u00fcr mich keine Option\u00a0<\/em>(Kenya is not an option for me). Or, in the case of Sachsen-Anhalt<\/em>‘s new coalition,\u00a0Kenia kommt nacht Sachsen-Anhalt<\/em> (Kenya comes to Saxony-Anhalt).<\/p>\n

There has been talks of a\u00a0Kenia-Koalition <\/em>before the current election, because the three parties all put a\u00a0Spitzenkandidat<\/em> (top candidate)<\/a>. However, after the election results came in, this seemed very unlikely. The SPD won, and did not want to create a coalition with the\u00a0Union\u00a0<\/em>– and so,\u00a0Kenia ist vom Tisch\u00a0<\/em>(Kenya is off the table).<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Jamaika-Koalition<\/em><\/h1>\n
\"coalition<\/a>

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The\u00a0Jamaika-Koalition\u00a0<\/em>is a coalition oriented by Jamaica’s black-yellow-green colors. The black and green stands for the\u00a0Union<\/em> and the Greens, whereas the yellow stands for the\u00a0liberal party, the FDP. The term\u00a0Jamaika-Koalition\u00a0<\/em>was first introduced in 2005. The Bild-Zeitung<\/em>, known for its sensationalist headlines and photo edits, couldn’t help itself and photoshopped Jamaican outfits onto involved politicians at the time<\/a>. Yes, including Angela Merkel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Kenia-Koalition <\/em>is a term that was probably inspired by the term Jamaika-Koalition<\/em>, just like many other country-flag coalitions. Just one that existed way before? The Deutschland-Koalition<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Deutschland-Koalition<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"coalition<\/a>

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The flag of Germany is schwarz-rot-gold<\/em> – black, red, gold. We don’t have a party that uses the gold color, but it is often understood to be yellow – so this would be a coalition of\u00a0Union<\/em>, SPD and FDP. While this constellation doesn’t happen much, it pops up now and then<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, such a constellation is more often known simply by its colors: a\u00a0schwarz-rot-gelbe Koalition\u00a0<\/em>(black-red-yellow coalition).<\/p>\n

The thing is, a\u00a0Deutschland-Koalition\u00a0<\/em>was a thing way before, when Germany still had the Weimar Republic<\/a> with different parties that carried those colors. So using flags as a name for a coalition is not new!<\/p>\n

And finally, we get to…<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Ampelkoalition<\/em><\/h1>\n
\"coalition<\/a>

Image by Thomas B.<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

With all the flag colors giving away which parties are working together, you probably know now where this is going: The\u00a0Ampelkoalition\u00a0<\/em>(traffic light coalition) follows the colors of a traffic light: green, yellow, red – so a collaboration between the Greens, FDP and SPD.<\/p>\n

The new German government will likely be an\u00a0Ampel<\/em>, as these parties are currently in\u00a0Koalitionsverhandlungen <\/em>(coalition negotiations)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other coalition names<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

The flag of Zimbabwe (Image by OpenClipart-Vectors<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Often times, coalition colors are often simply called by their colors, such as\u00a0rot-rot-gr\u00fcn<\/em>,\u00a0rot-schwarz-gr\u00fcn<\/em>, etcetera. This is also easier when there are two parties with red colors, such as the SPD and\u00a0die Linke\u00a0<\/em>(the Left). Other names that are a lot less common are\u00a0Simbabwe-Koalition\u00a0<\/em>(Zimbabwe coalition), which has black, yellow, green and red colors. When the biggest parties, the SPD and the\u00a0Union\u00a0<\/em>form a government together, it’s usually called the\u00a0Gro\u00dfe Koalition\u00a0<\/em>(Great Coalition), or\u00a0GroKo\u00a0<\/em>for short.<\/p>\n

All of this can get pretty confusing, so sometimes it’s really just easier to go by the colors that are present in the coalition.<\/p>\n

Does your country have such names for party collaborations? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

After German elections, you might hear more and more about\u00a0Kenia (Kenya),\u00a0Jamaika (Jamaica) or\u00a0die Ampel\u00a0(traffic light). But how are these countries and a traffic light related to each other? It’s all in the political Koalitionen\u00a0(coalitions). The Kenia-Koalition The Kenyan flag consists of three main colors:\u00a0schwarz\u00a0(black),\u00a0rot\u00a0(red) and\u00a0gr\u00fcn\u00a0(green). That would be a\u00a0Koalition\u00a0of the CDU\/CSU in their black colors…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":13505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,179,122],"tags":[551827,551828,944,358428,551762],"class_list":["post-13497","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-news","category-politics","tag-coalition","tag-german-elections","tag-german-government","tag-german-politics","tag-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t