As of: March 9, 2024, 4:44 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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A protest slogan as part of the farmers' protests on February 14, 2024 on the sidelines of the Greens' political Ash Wednesday.
© IMAGO / Wolfgang Maria Weber
The mood against Green politicians has heated up.
But the anger is now apparently also directed against party supporters: a workshop in Schleswig-Holstein is refusing to carry out repairs for the Greens.
Schellhorn – “Customer information,” says a letter from the Brinkmann car paint shop that hangs on the company’s entrance door.
“We will no longer serve Green Party sympathizers, supporters and voters in our workshop,” informs owner Karten Brinkmann in the notice, who, however, emphasized in an interview with Sat.1 that he is not a “Green Party hater.”
Then on Friday (March 8th) the surprise: Suddenly Gazi Freitag, the Green Party state chairman in Schleswig-Holstein, stood in Brinkmann's workshop, as
SHZ
reported.
Workshop refuses repairs and advises Green Party supporters to “give up on the car”
The poster explains why the paint shop in Schleswig-Holstein is refusing to repair Green voters and supporters: “In this way, we would like to support you in your ideological attitude of destroying the middle class by asking you to give up your car.” , although there are a few commas too many in the original.
“I am not a Green Party hater,” explains the author of the text, workshop owner Brinkmann, in an interview with Sat.1.
“Everyone should have their opinion.
“Democracy thrives on it,” says the vehicle painter.
With the sign he wanted to tell people, "If you're a Green and if you're in favor of taking our cars away from us, then I don't need to paint yours," said the businessman.
“Only zero-emission cars”: Workshop refuses to repair Greens voters
However, the Green Party's party program says nothing about a general abolition of cars.
“We want climate-friendly cars, an attractive train and bus service and high-quality cycle path networks,” it says.
From 2030, “only zero-emission cars” will be permitted.
Mobility researcher Stephan Rammler, however, sees people being overwhelmed by the green transport transition.
People “are turning backwards into thinking that 'everything used to be better',” said the scientist in an interview with the
Tagesspiegel
.
Driving a car is now celebrated by some as a “symbolic expression of an attitude,” with the researcher citing Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and his Porsche as an example.
Where does the hatred against the Greens with Habeck and Baerbock come from?
Long with an explanation
When asked why some people are so focused on green politics and Green politicians, the party's co-chair, Ricarda Lang, answered in the
State of the Nation
podcast : “I always explain this to myself in three points: Firstly [. ..] because we have increased in relevance.
If we were at seven percent, it wouldn’t happen in this form.”
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Secondly, the Greens are the party that particularly points out to people that processes need to be changed in order to maintain prosperity, security and a livelihood.
“The third thing is that [...] we also made mistakes, overwhelmed people, and perhaps even acted a bit instructive,” says Lang.
Greens as an enemy: Söder and Aiwanger share responsibility
Martin Stümpfig, a member of the Green Party in the Bavarian state parliament, believes that in Bavaria, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) also share responsibility for the fact that the Greens have become an enemy, as he did in an interview with
Merkur .de
from
IPPEN.MEDIA
said.
The Greens have long been the AfD's favorite enemy.
As employees of the right-wing populists recently revealed to
Spiegel
, the AfD sometimes waits for the Greens to position themselves - and then does exactly the opposite.
The farmers’ protests are an example.
According to the AfD party program, subsidies in agriculture should be radically reduced, but since the traffic light made the decision, the AfD has taken the lead in the farmers' movement.
Sudden turnaround in the Brinkmann case: Green Party state leader visits workshop
Brinkmann received both praise and backlash for his notice.
According to the businessman, the majority of reactions were positive.
While some think the campaign is good and emphasize “thinking exactly like that”, the parliamentary director of the Greens, Uta Röpcke, said: “This promotes the division of our society, the polarization of our society and I would very much like us to talk to each other come to see, where are the problems?” Companies in Germany face economic challenges such as inflation, too much bureaucracy, a shortage of skilled workers and rising wage costs.
Jan-Nikolas Sontag from the Motor Vehicle Association, for example, wants a debate “that doesn't know black and white” in view of Brinkmann's notice and calls for the problems to be discussed objectively.
That's exactly what apparently happened on Friday, when the Brinkmann case took an unexpected turn: The Green Party state chairman Gazi Freitag visited the workshop in Schellhorn, as
SHZ
reported.
The Green politician summed up that the exchange was objective and friendly.
Brinkmann also confirmed: “It was a really nice conversation,” but qualified: “Even though Mr. Freitag couldn’t say much against my criticism of the federal government.” Further conversations between the two are planned.