by Peter Löcke //
Sahra Wagenknecht founds a new party. In an interview with Roland Tichy, Markus Krall announces that he will soon be joining a new party. Here, an alternative to the pale left. An alternative to Merkel's greened CDU. There is speculation in the media about the electoral potential of the political newborns. Will success stories be written or will they be pipe-drops? It is striking that in every public debate there is the hope that votes will be snatched away from the expanding AfD. We will see.
Party landscape? How much it has changed. For decades, there was a manageable three-party system consisting of the CDU/CSU, the SPD and the FDP. The labels seemed to fit. The Christian-conservative CDU, the workers' party SPD, the liberal business party FDP. These were the clichés and beliefs with which generations were socialized after the Second World War. With percentages of over 40 percent each, the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats rightly bore the title of people's party. An environmental and peace party came along and changed the party landscape. The Greens. In my youth, you had to distance yourself from this party and its supporters in order not to become guilty of contact. Some communist and anarchist-looking Greens were even observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Well then. The party prevailed, made it into parliament and became socially acceptable. So respectable that the Greens and the SPD formed the government between 1998 and 2005 and led Germany into the Kosovo war. The Green Peace Party called it humanitarian intervention.
Schröder was followed by Merkel and in 2013, during her time in government, the birth of a terrible new party called AfD. Once again, the party landscape changed. Today, we must distance ourselves from this sulphur party, just as we once did from the Greens. The AfD is a sign of growing right-wing extremism in the country. That is a fact. That's what I read up and down the country. Veto! That's not a fact, it's a legitimate opinion. The AfD is a self-inflicted response to growing left-wing extremism in Germany. The AfD is a response to a CDU that has turned to the left and a media landscape that has turned to the left. Is that a fact? No, that's my opinion. What else is supposedly a fact? Due to a historically internalized dictatorship gene, East Germans are particularly vulnerable to the AfD. Another veto here! That's also just an opinion. For historical reasons, the average East German reacts more sensitively and alertly to totalitarian tendencies and restrictions on freedom. Without Merkel, no AfD. That's my opinion. As a Wessie.
The party landscape in 2023 is confusing. New parties are being founded. Popular parties are a relic of days gone by. The NWP, Germany's non-voter party, alone receives poll ratings of 50 percent and more. The classic labels are just that. Nothing more than labels. Where is the SPD still pro-worker, where is the CDU conservative, where is the FDP liberal and where are the Greens committed to environmental protection, let alone peace? The established parties have one thing in common. United under the label "We Democrats", everyone in the federal and state parliaments is in coalition with everyone else and everyone refuses to have sex with the AfD. Will firewalls or even bans weaken the branded party of the firewall? No. It will strengthen the AfD. It's also known as the Aiwanger effect.
Perhaps the historical arc is too broad. Perhaps not far enough. The turbulent party landscape in 2023 is reminiscent of a long-forgotten party landscape in times of economic hardship. The Weimar Republic. There were constantly changing chancellors and at least nine parties, which were still registered associations at the time. Until a landscape gardener came along that people longed for. He straightened out the party landscape. And the people followed obediently. They were actually just showing solidarity. There was no alternative.
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6 Responses
Much has already been said in the comments so far: the undemocratic treatment of dissenters by self-proclaimed democrats, the political discourse that no longer takes place, the left-leaning media and political landscape. All of this is a fact. However, more and more conservatives are no longer willing to be chased into this political box - the Aiwanger effect. The question will be whether there are enough of them to make the urgently needed political and social correction. The drift to the left has been slow and unnoticed for many years, the voting frog sits in the red-green pot and doesn't even notice that it is being boiled. And then there are the frogs basking in the established system pond. Transfer income recipients, pensioners, civil servants - the discussion about emptying this pond will be difficult.
Sorry - I have to disagree here!
….Frösche, die sich im „etablierten Systemteich“ sonnen ? Es sind oft so Pauschalierungen, die zur sowieso schon vorhandenen Spaltung auch noch beitragen.
Transfer income recipients (= a typical bureaucracy-generated word): who exactly does this mean ? The unemployed ? // Pensioners ? It
There are enough pensioners living in poverty and queuing for food at the food bank. Civil servants? - not everyone is a civil servant, i.e. can be dismissed; there are undoubtedly many bloated posts and bureaucracy continues to proliferate, despite decades of promises to the contrary; alternative ? : (abolish) / privatize the state ? Great..... Private schools - for all (what would it be ? Salem or Waldorf ?) Privatize police and national defence ? Great - maybe hire the remnants of the Wagner troops or, even better, an Azov battalion ?
It remains difficult in Germoney .....
I try to remain objective:
Advertisement by Radio Charivari Rosenheim: An AfD rally and a demonstration against it are taking place in Wasserburg this evening. AfD member of the Bundestag Beatrix von Storch will appear on Bahnhofsplatz at 6 p.m. and, according to the AfD, talk about the anti-family policies of the traffic light, gender madness and the new self-determination law.
The Wasserburg.bunt alliance is protesting against this appearance and is also supported by cross-party youth alliances. The counter-demonstration at the parking lot at the Wasserburg ramp is intended to make a statement against right-wing ideologies and hate speech in a peaceful setting. According to Wasserburg.bunt, Beatrix von Storch has repeatedly attracted attention in the past for her inhumane statements.
There were several newspaper articles about this, including a counter-demonstration about a hundred meters from the venue, under the ramp.
I wanted to watch the whole thing and hear what inhuman statements Ms. von Storch makes. To form my own opinion. The first thing I noticed was a very large police presence. A small stage for the AFD at Bahnhofsplatz. Everything was cordoned off with fences. The counter-demo had already lined up at the fence with large banners and masks. Before an AFD speaker even started, the counter-demonstration was already being loudly rehearsed. You couldn't hear a word the speakers were saying over the noise. The whole thing started at around 6.00 pm. Within an hour of Ms. von Storch's appearance, the police made three calls to say that the counter-demo was not permitted here. Nothing else happened. The police did not enforce the request.
Was mir eigentlich zu denken gab, war, die Art und Weise, fast schon als Hass zu bezeichnen, wie die Leute reagiert haben. Auf keinen Fall eine Diskussion zulassen. Nur noch ohrenbetäubendes Schreien und Pfeiffen war zu hören. Fast hatte ich das Gefühl, die Polizei verfolgte dies mit Genugtuung. Ich spürte einen Mob. Ein paar Leute die auf der Bühne reden. Ein Zaun und dahinter eine Menschenansammlung, die nur noch Hass empfindet. Und ich denke an den Satz: „Und wehe wenn sie losgelassen“. Ich muss kein Freund der AFD sein, aber eine Partei der Demokratiefeindlichkeit zu bezichtigen und selbst nicht mal die Grundregeln von Demokratieverständnis einzuhalten, ist mehr als beschämend. Das Podium hatte um Diskussion gebeten. Es wäre vielleicht eine Gelegenheit gewesen, Fragen zu stellen und der anwesenden Jugend vorzumachen, wie Politik zu funktionieren hat. Hier haben die Alten geschrien und die Jugend hat eingestimmt. Die politische Kultur versinkt im Nirwana, so wie es schon einmal war.
So unübersichtlich finde ich die Parteienlandschaft bisher nicht, wenn man sich auf die großen Altparteien und die AfD konzentriert. Eine Partei gründen zu wollen und es dann auch zu tun, sind zwei Paar Schuhe. Schauen wir mal. Was nun die angeblich “ demokratiefeindlichen “ Mitglieder der AfD angeht, ist dieser Rechtsruck von Nöten. Abgesehen mal davon, sind die etablierten Parteien mittlerweile so links, dass ohnehin nur noch rechts davon Platz ist. Linker geht nicht. Wer hier letztlich unsere freiheitlich-demokratische Grundordnung mit Füßen tritt, ist nach meiner Meinung nicht die AfD. Zu beobachten war das bereits während der Corona-Krise. Mit dem Manipulationsmittel der maximalen Angsterzeugung wurden völlig überzogene Maßnahmen angeordnet und durchgesetzt. Bei der “ Klimakrise “ sehe ich starke Parallelen. Auch hier maximale Angsterzeugung, um völlig unsinnige und vor allem teure Maßnahmen auf Biegen und Brechen durchzusetzen. Verkauft wird das alles von willigen, aber intellektuell eher unterdurchschnittlich begabten Menschen mit Persönlichkeitsstörungen. Auch meine Meinung. Man muß nicht im “ Osten “ aufgewachsen sein, um zunehmend diktatorische Regierungsmittel zu erkennen. Der Zweck heiligt die Mittel und willst du nicht mein Bruder sein, dann Schlag ich dir den Schädel ein, zumindest verbal und gepaart mit Ausgrenzung und Dämonisierung. Wer sich mal mit Manipulationstechniken näher befasst hat, erkennt hier schnell ihre ganze Bandbreite und deren Auswirkungen auf die Gesellschaft. Ob und wann ein neuer “ Landschaftsgärtner wie der Phönix aus der Asche kommen wird, steht in den Sternen. Eins ist jedenfalls klar: Alles ist stetiger Wandel. Und wer sich auf dem Höhepunkt der Macht wähnt, der befindet sich meist schon auf dem absteigenden Ast. Das Leben verläuft zyklisch. Das ist ein universelles Gesetz. Genauso wie sich das Klima immer zyklisch verändert hat, ob mit oder ohne unser Zutun….
As always, a very good contribution. But with one tiny little flaw: we are not East Germans, but Central Germans. The others live on the other side of the Oder. Apart from that, you can sense the panic of the so-called established parties about the rise of the AfD, ultimately a consequence of anti-German policies. The flock of sheep must finally wake up and follow an honest herding dog.
Folgt man dem 100 jährigen Bauernkalender, sollen zumindest Wetterereignisse ähnlich einer zutreffenden Vorhersage wieder nach 100 Jahren eintreffen. Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass dies nicht auch bald für ‚politische Ereignisse‘ eintrifft in unserem Land. Allerdings ist die AfD (nach meiner Meinung) weit davon entfernt ‚Landschaftsgärtner‘ zu beherbergen, … auch wenn das die ‚geprägte und geführte‘ Medienlandschaft samt den vorherrschenden politischen Parteien uns tagtäglich vorprojiziert. Es ist in der Tat wie Sie es sagen, Herr Löcke, die hoch links-lastig verdrehte ehemalige Alt-Parteien-Landschaft, sieht aus dieser neu entstandenen Perspektive nach der erdbebenartigen tektonischen Linksverschiebung, der ehemals politischen Ausrichtung, in jedweder zur vernünftigen bürgerlichen Mitte gerichteten Interessengemeinschaft die ‚Gefahr eines scharfen Rechtsrucks‘. Und es bedrückt uns alle, mit welchen (links)radikalen Mitteln des (angeblich demokratischen) Rechst Staates man nun gegen ‚Andersdenkende‘ vorgeht, und sie mit allen legalen und illegalen Mitteln bekämpft. Möge das ‚Vernünftige‘ die Oberhand behalten.