AI against AFD & more – 30th Nov 2023

Hallo from BA! This is the Rorshok Germany Update from the 30th of November twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Germany.

Let’s start with some good news. On Monday the 27th chancellor Scholz called for a ban on the extreme nationalist Party Alternative For Germany, or AFD. Well, at least it looked like he did. A collective of political artists called the Center for Political Beauty has uploaded an astonishingly convincing AI-altered video of the chancellor in which he advocates for a ban on the party. The artists also created a website where anybody can upload “evidence” of the unconstitutional character of the party. Leading up to this initiative AFD members received an email seemingly from the party leadership, but actually the Center of Political Beauty sent it, asking them to gather possibly incriminating internal chats and emails. The collective reported that they had already received “a great number” of replies.

In other news, the three ruling parties have promised the legalization of cannabis in their election campaigns. Now the cabinet of ministers has agreed on a law that will regulate the legalization of consumption, cultivation, ownership, and distribution of Cannabis. The parliament will vote on the law in December and it will come into effect by early twenty twenty-four. If the parliament passes the draft law, it will be legal to own up to fifty gr of privately grown weed, and to publicly carry a maximum of thirty gr. Home growing with up to three plants will also be legal. Buying and distributing cannabis will only be allowed in “growing collectives” that can have a maximum of 500 members and won’t be allowed to make a profit; they will only have permission to cover their costs with membership fees and income from sales. The specific regulatory frameworks will be under the purview of the states, and the state authorities will ensure adherence to the regulations.

Moving on, the prime minister of the state of Bavaria, Markus Söder, of the conservative Christian Social Union, or CSU, has called for reelections. Söder criticized the coalition in Berlin for its constant in-fighting and said the government “should be put to a vote of no confidence by the German people.” He believes the only alternative to be a great coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Christian Democrats CDU/CSU. For a brief period during the federal elections in twenty twenty-one Söder was a possible candidate for the CDU/CSU. The CSU is the “sister party” of the CDU and only present in Bavaria. Even though it is the smaller part of the alliance, it holds considerable power and constantly criticizes the federal government in Berlin, no matter who’s in charge. Elections might not actually take place.

Söder’s criticism comes at a time of great uncertainty for the coalition. The constitutional court declared that the way the coalition circumvented the debt brake in the past two years to bolster government spending in the wake of the Covid pandemic was illegal. The executive transferred part of the new debts into the next year, which is what the court judged unlawful. The cabinet has now decided to pause the debt brake again, which is just a way of “fixing” the mistakes pointed out by the court, and does not mean more government spending. Recall that the debt brake is part of the German constitution and only allows for a small percentage of GDP as new debt but it can be paused in the face of unexpected critical circumstances.

For the first time in years, the public debate focuses on the viability of the debt brake. Critics have long said that the debt brake makes a timely green transformation of the German economy impossible. The huge amount of government spending necessary to complete the transformation would be hard to achieve under the debt brake. Defenders of the debt brake are still adamant that debt is the burden on future generations, not the coming climate catastrophe. Unfortunately, the ruling has also clarified that the debt brake can only be paused for unforeseen situations. It can’t be paused by citing extraordinary circumstances in the face of the climate crisis, since it is not “unforeseen.” Many have called for that, and some states have even paused the debt brake already citing the climate catastrophe as the reason.

On Tuesday the 28th, Benjamin Limbach, the minister of justice of North-Rhein-Westphalia, again faced the legal committee of the state parliament. Limbach is accused of cronyism in the appointment process of a senior state judge. He allegedly discouraged two candidates from applying for the position in favor of a third candidate. The opposition says that he is on “familiar terms” with the third candidate. Limbach denied all accusations and repeatedly stated the third candidate is simply a “valued ex-colleague. Nothing more, nothing less.” Two courts have stopped the appointment in the past weeks and the higher administrative court of North-Rhine-Westphalia is currently deliberating if all proceedings in the appointment process were legal.

Interest rates for student loans have tripled in the last five years, and the interest on the loans has decreased drastically. In Germany, there are two ways of financing a living while studying. One is a state aid, which you can apply for under certain conditions. It is also a loan, but interest-free and offers extremely favorable conditions: You only need to pay back half of the money, and a maximum of 10,000 Euros (or 10,100 US Dollars). You can get up to 800 Euros (or 878 US Dollars) per month, depending on your parents’ income. The other way to finance a living while studying is getting a student loan from the state-owned KFW bank or credit institution for reconstruction with up to 650 Euros per month. But this money needs to be paid back entirely with interest. The rising key interest rates, set by the European Central Bank, have caused interest rates on student loans to spike. This means higher interest payments for people who are already using this credit and fewer people taking this loan.

Next up, a small jewel from deeply Catholic Bavaria. The archdiocese of Munich and Freising is deliberating whether an altar needs re-blessing, because two people had heteronormative sex next to it. The man is not only accused of “insulting nonsense” towards the church, but more importantly of inflicting bodily harm, making threats, fraud and domestic violence. The church though doesn’t care much for all that. It is rather concerned with the “deeply harming acts” for believers that “defiled” the altar.

And to close this edition, an update to a story we covered on a previous show. Recall that in twenty twelve musician Gil Ofarim accused a hotel manager of the WestIn Hotel in Leipzig of anti-semitism. Ofarim posted a video on social media saying that the hotel staff refused to host him because he was wearing a Star of David necklace. On Tuesday the 28th Ofarim surprisingly confessed to having made up the accusation, saying that he was not visibly wearing his Star of David. The Hotel Manager accepted his apology, and the court sentenced him to pay several thousand Euros in reparations. The central committee of Jews commented that Ofarim “deeply damaged all those that are actually affected by anti-semitism.”

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