The “New Social Market Economy Initiative” doesn't think much of the Greens program - a large-scale campaign has met with bitter criticism.
There is also talk of anti-Semitism.
Berlin - Just in time for the Green Party Congress, there is an election campaign scandal - but this time not about the party's program *.
Rather, it is about an extremely prominent counter-campaign in a rather borderline tone: the lobby organization “Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft” (INSM) has placed large-format advertisements in several newspapers and on websites.
As a result, there were accusations that went as far as to suspect anti-Semitism.
The well-known Youtuber Rezo also got involved.
Greens: INSM launches major campaign against Baerbock - "You are not allowed to fly"
The advertising motif shows the conference of the Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock * retouched on a body in biblical garb - apparently based on the person of Moses. The figure is holding two stone tablets with ten commandments. Depending on the version of the advertisement, the picture is provided with slogans such as “Why we don't need a state religion” or “Why green bans do not lead us to the promised land”. In the advertisement, the INSM lists bans that the Greens want to implement with their policies in their opinion, such as “You are not allowed to fly” or “You are not allowed to freely negotiate your employment”.
The INSM stated its intentions in a statement on Friday.
"Large parts of the Greens want to dictate to the citizens how they can drive, travel, eat, live and spend their money in the future," it said.
"From the perspective of the INSM, however, a 'green' way of life must remain a voluntary decision."
Baerbock as Moses figure in advertisements: Rezo criticizes affected media - including anti-Semitism allegations
The campaign made waves on social networks. Youtuber Rezo - who attacked the CDU in a video in 2019 and thus stimulated the then party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to think about regulations in the online sphere - picked up the topic on Twitter and earned more than 10,000 likes and thousands of retweets (status: 11. June). He raised allegations against the media who placed the ad on their pages, including
Süddeutsche
,
Zeit
and
FAZ
. "Imagine if several big influencers would accept a lot of money in return for raising the mood against a certain party," he wrote: "That would be awesome."
Imagine if several big influencers would accept a lot of money in return for raising the mood against a certain party.
Would be awesome.
This is exactly what happened:
(FAZ, ZEIT, SZ, ...) pic.twitter.com/d9kr9wosb2
- Rezo (@rezomusik) June 11, 2021
The INSM was also presented with anti-Semitic sub-texts in the campaign. "They warn against the Green state religion in the guise of the 'Mosaic' religion," tweeted the Green politician Volker Beck. "The picture only works if you consider the Jewish religion to be something worth rejecting." The President of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Munich, Charlotte Knobloch *, also criticized it. “Of course, an election campaign is an election campaign. But the INSM would be well advised to leave the subject of religion, which it obviously doesn't understand anything about, to others, ”it said on its Twitter account. "Here she's completely wrong in tone and should make sure that she doesn't stir up prejudices with such representations."
The Baden-Württemberg anti-Semitism officer, the religious scholar Michael Blume, was also irritated.
"A candidate for Chancellor as orientalized Moses who wanted to bring a false 'state religion' over Germany?" He wondered on Twitter.
"How did it work if democratic candidates were negatively connected with central figures of any other religion?" He added in another post as a question.
Baerbock: INSM's Moses campaign - employers' associations distance themselves
The Federal Association of German Employers 'Associations (BDA) immediately distanced itself on Friday: "Personal degradation and the unsuccessful use of Christian symbols are not appropriate handling in the necessary contest for political content." This is not the style of the Federal Association of German Employers' Associations.
"Social partnership is based on mutual respect," announced the association.
Meanwhile, the Green Bundestag member Katharina Dröge took the debate with humor.
"Oh dear, dear INSM
- you spend so much money on an ad campaign and then you didn't understand the power of imagery," she tweeted.
"With Annalena Baerbock in the promised land - I get along well with that."
On its website, the initiative writes that it sees itself “as a cross-sector and cross-party platform and is open to everyone who feels connected to the social market economy”. According to its own information, the INSM is financed by employers' associations in the metal and electrical industry. Their “ambassadors” include the entrepreneur Roland Berger, ex-CDU Minister Kristina Schröder - but also the former Green MP Oswald Metzger. (
fn / dpa
) *
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