Germany's Left & Right Adopt Each Other's Policies: Left Plans to Counter Far-Right AfD
"Germany's Left And Right Vie To Turn Politics Upside Down," The Guardian, July 22, 2018.
- Opponents Adopt Each Others Policy Angles As Left Launches Movement To Counter AfD -
Leftwing politicians are singing the praises of border control while rightwingers call for expanding the welfare state. Old political certainties could be turned upside down in Germany this summer as the far ends of the countrys political spectrum both moot a national social turn.
A new leftwing movement soft-launching in Germany in August aims to part ways with what one of its founders calls the moralising tendency of the left, in an attempt to win back working-class voters from the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). The as-yet-unnamed new populist movement, partly inspired by the British Labour partys Momentum and Jean-Luc Mélenchons La France Insoumise, and spearheaded by the leftwing party Die Linkes chairwoman, Sahra Wagenknecht, will include former and current members of the Social Democratic and Green parties, and prominent academics such as the sociologist Wolfgang Streeck.
According to one of the movements founders, its defining feature is likely to be its adherence to the materialist left, not the moral left. When people live in social conditions that make them feel secure, they are usually prepared to act generously and tolerantly, said Bernd Stegemann, an author and dramatist at the prestigious Berliner Ensemble theatre who is working with Wagenknecht on the movements programme.
When they live in increasingly precarious and atomised conditions, however, they are also likely to react to challenges in a tougher and colder manner. Brecht summarised it wonderfully. Grub comes first, then ethics.
As well as rallying around traditional leftwing causes such as disarmament and a reversal of Germanys Hartz IV labour market reforms, an unsigned position paper circulating around Berlin political circles in recent weeks suggests the movement will also advocate law and order policies and a tougher stance on immigration. Open borders in Europe means more competition for badly paid jobs, says the paper, which is headed fairland.
Stegemann, who is not a member of any political party, said he was frustrated with middle-class leftwing intellectuals lecturing working-class Germans for their sceptical reaction to Angela Merkels decisions at the height of the refugee crisis. We are dealing with an absurd situation when the winners of neoliberalism tell the losers that they must be more humane. And it galls me when politicians think it is enough to pass down moral judgments. No, politics must act.
The launch of the new movement, which will start as an online forum where supporters can upload and visualise policy proposals, comes as the AfD is trying to win over disappointed Die Linke supporters in the former states of East Germany. It is doing so by occupying positions on social welfare usually associated with the left...
New research, however, suggests that political realignments are not only taking place in party headquarters but across the country at large. Sociologist Klaus Dörres in-depth study of a new workers movement on the right, based on more than 70 interviews across Germany, reveals rapidly increasing support for the AfDs exclusive solidarity among functionaries and members at Germanys unions. Manual workers who used to vote for the far right or far left in protestare increasingly solidifying their identification with the AfD, Dörre said. They used to be a fluctuating protest movement, but now they follow the party line....con't.
Read More, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/22/german-leftwingers-woo-voters-with-national-social-stance
- Die Linkes Chairwoman, Sahra Wagenknecht, will spearhead the as yet unnamed populist movement.
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- Daily Beast, "Over the past year, Bannon has held talks with right-wing groups across the continent from Nigel Farage and members of Marine Le Pens Front National (recently renamed Rassemblement National) in the West, to Hungarys Viktor Orban and the Polish populists in the East...He envisions a right-wing supergroup within the European Parliament that could attract as many as a third of the lawmakers after next Mays Europe-wide elections. A united populist bloc of that size would have the ability to seriously disrupt parliamentary proceedings, potentially granting Bannon huge power within the populist movement...
Bannon is convinced that the coming years will see a drastic break from decades of European integration. Right-wing populist nationalism is what will happen. Thats what will govern, he told The Daily Beast. You're going to have individual nation states with their own identities, their own borders. The grassroots movements are already in place waiting for someone to maximize their potential. It will be instantaneousas soon as we flip the switch, he said. More, https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-bannons-plan-to-hijack-europe-for-the-far-right?ref=home
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- Deutsche Welle (DW) "German Politicians Allied Against Steve Bannon"
Steve Bannon plans to build a right-wing populist think tank in Europe. German lawmakers called the plans by the former adviser to the US president to influence the 2019 European elections "a frontal attack on the EU."
Plans by US far-right figure Steve Bannon to influence the European Parliament's 2019 election have been met with alarm across Germany's political spectrum. Bannon has become a controversial figure, known for his ties to the campaigns for the UK to leave the European Union and the election of US President Donald Trump.
"We have to fight now, with good arguments, confident and true," said Michael Roth, a center-left Social Democratic (SPD) lawmaker and minister of state for Europe in an interview with Die Welt newspaper.
Steve Bannon addresses France's far-right party congress. Europe should not "be afraid of nationalist campaigns with which Mr. Bannon would like to force Europe to its knees
our values are stronger than his hate and his lies."
More, https://www.dw.com/en/german-politicians-allied-against-steve-bannon/a-44781925