As of: February 16, 2024, 5:18 a.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
Comments
Press
Split
The Greens were once again victims of hostility.
A trail leads to Markus Söder's statements.
Is democratic discourse at risk?
Berlin/Biberach – The events surrounding the Green Party's political Ash Wednesday in Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, are part of a series of similar incidents.
The party repeatedly becomes the target of hostility from politicians and citizens.
Is democratic discourse in danger?
The Greens had to cancel their political Ash Wednesday at short notice yesterday;
due to security concerns and because of the aggressive mood of some demonstrators.
According to the emergency services on site, paving stones were removed from the sidewalk, firecrackers were set off and a pile of dung was dumped in front of the venue.
In addition, the window of a vehicle accompanying Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir was smashed.
Federal Green Party leader Ricarda Lang also felt the mob's anger.
As the
German Press Agency (dpa)
reported, an angry crowd chased the politician and her bodyguards in Schorndorf for around 50 meters and insulted them until the police finally stopped them.
Green veteran also sees blame on Söder: “A direct line from Passau to Biberach”
Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, sharply criticized the incidents.
Such incidents would harm “the concerns of farmers and our political culture,” which is “always aimed at compromise and balance,” said Kretschmann on Wednesday evening (February 14), according to a spokeswoman.
Anyone who ignores the “rules of the game” of democracy, i.e. “factual debate of arguments” and “fair and constructive dialogue”, leaves “the legitimate space of democratic protest”.
In Biberach, this threshold was “exceeded several times,” Kretschmann continued.
Protesters at the Green Party's political Ash Wednesday in Biberach.
© Silas Stein
However, this threshold was not only exceeded in Biberach yesterday, at least according to former Green Bundestag member Jürgen Trittin.
On the short message service X (formerly Twitter), he blamed CSU chairman Markus Söder for the increasing political brutalization.
There is “a direct line from Passau to Biberach,” says Trittin.
The CSU also held a political Ash Wednesday there, at which Söder launched an all-round attack against his favorite target: the Greens.
In addition to the well-known narrative about the ban party not really fitting in with Bavaria, there is also a low blow: Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) is a “green Margot Honecker”.
For Lemke, who herself grew up in the GDR and, according to a tweet from the Environment Ministry, “took to the streets together with hundreds of thousands of people in 1989” to “demonstrate for freedom, democracy and against the GDR regime,” this statement from Markus Söder is “as forgetful of history as it is cross-border”.
The former Green MP Trittin was even clearer in his post.
Statements like Söder's would promote "exactly the disinhibition" that ultimately fuels "the right-wing mob," says Trittin.
A “disinhibition” that fuels the “right-wing mob” - How political discourse is poisoned
Can the blame for the violent riots in Biberach and the citizens' anger towards the Greens actually be traced back to statements like those of Markus Söder?
First of all, “different views are exactly what we want to have in a democracy,” said political scientist Martin Gross, who works at the Institute for Political Science at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, in an interview with
fr.de
from
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
According to him, both the Greens and the CSU are “clearly in the democratic spectrum and offer voters different political offers.”
But it becomes dangerous when “political competition is poisoned by statements like those made by Markus Söder”.
Because “these are currently falling on fertile ground in certain, radicalizing parts of society.”
My news
Ukraine sinks Russian Crimean warship using Wehrmacht “wolf pack tactics”
No GDR conditions: Saxony's Prime Minister Kretschmer gives Robert Habeck a pass
“Are under pressure”: Habeck is making people sit up and take notice when it comes to electric cars
“Epic detonation” in Ukraine: Speculation about new super rocket read
“If you don’t want us as Bavaria …”: Söder threatens to leave the Federal Republic of Germany – and calls for compulsory military service
Mysterious aircraft disappearance: FSB investigates Russia's aviation authorityread
“The sometimes degenerated and unjustifiable protests of individual farmers and hauliers are further fueled by such statements and are ultimately directed not only against the Greens, but against the entire political elite - and thus also the CSU.
“This is a very dangerous approach,” Gross continued.
Statements like those made by Markus Söder therefore have “absolutely no place in democratic discourse”.
The comparison of Steffi Lemke and Margot Honecker is “out of place” and “Markus Söder lacks any knowledge about the person Margot Honecker and her importance as the GDR’s Minister for National Education”.
Democrats, whether Greens or CSU, must show themselves united – against “violence and border crossings”
On the one hand, it shows “once again how little the GDR dictatorship, its functioning and its actors play a role or are even known, especially in the West German federal states”.
On the other hand, this shifts “the democratic course into realms that until recently were considered unspeakable.”
This normalizes “to a certain extent the even more extreme statements of the AfD”.
Gross is certain that “such statements should have no place” among democratic parties.
Katharina Schulze, the parliamentary group leader of the Green Party in Bavaria, also emphasized to
fr.de
that freedom of expression and assembly are “at the core of our democracy”.
However, “violence and border crossings like in Biberach” cannot be justified.
The shift to the right is “an existential threat to security, freedom and prosperity in our country.”
Therefore, “it is now the task and the time for all democrats to join forces: divided in their colors but united in their cause to protect our democracy.
You can discuss anything passionately, you can also argue hard about the matter, but please always do so with decency and respect,” Schulze continued.
The CSU parliamentary group has
not yet responded to an interview request from
IPPEN.MEDIA .
(tpn)