GERMANY: Traitors & more – 2nd May 2024

Hallo from BA! This is the Rorshok Germany Update from the 2nd of May twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Germany.

Let’s start this week’s episode with a quick reminder of what happened in December two years ago: An unprecedented wave of police raids uncovered and arrested a group of far-right extremists who were planning to overthrow the government in a violent coup. At the head of this organization were Prince Reuß and Malsack-Winkelmann, an Alternative for Germany Parliamentarian who was also a judge. The trial against the military arm of this group started on Monday the 29th in the city of Stuttgart. Nine members, including the Prince, Malsack-Winkelmann, and former soldiers, are being tried for high treason and membership in a terrorist organization. Twelve other members will be tried in two other courts. This is the biggest trial against a terrorist organization since the first generation of Red Army Faction members were in court in the seventies.

If you want to know about another fascist group that was planning to overthrow the government not so long ago check out the podcast Day X by The New York Times. Link in the show notes!

Since we mentioned the AFD, the party has started its election campaign for the upcoming European elections with an event in Donaueschingen in the country's southwest. The two main candidates for the AFD were not present at the event and they were not mentioned in the speeches of high-ranking party officials. Maximilian Krah, the leading candidate, is currently under serious public scrutiny for his close ties to China, since last week one of his most trusted advisors was arrested on espionage charges. Krah has a history of extremely close relations with the Chinese government and has often voted in favor of China-friendly policies in the EU parliament.

But why was Petr Bystrom, the second candidate in the EU-Parliament Elections, absent? Well, he is dealing with allegations of receiving money from Moscow through the propaganda channel Voice of Europe.

Speaking of Russia, on Friday the 26th, news reports uncovered that an influential strategy paper of the AFD might have been written in Moscow. The report of Der Spiegel showed that the strategy paper written in twenty twenty-two has huge overlaps with the actual strategy of the AFD in Germany and that Björn Höcke, the head of the party in Thuringia, and candidate for prime minister in the state, even used almost identical quotes from the paper in a speech.

On that note about right-wing extremism, on Saturday the 27th, over a thousand people demonstrated in the city of Hamburg. A group from the islamist spectrum organized the demonstration with posters calling for a Caliphate, that is, an absolutist state run by a caliph, which is a muslim ruler. Conservative politicians started calling for deportations, while muslim activists and survivors of islamist terror are pointing out that Germany has a long tradition of supporting fundamentalist groups and regimes, while marginalizing the victims of islamist terror. It has long been German policy to leave muslim minorities to themselves and only support a few groups and consult the opinion of a few majority speakers. As a result, the country’s state policies and public debates perceive muslims as a homogenous group, without any regard for discrimination or persecution within that group.

On Friday the 26th, in Berlin, protesters were camping in front of the parliament building in favor of Palestine when the police evicted them. This move sparked another demonstration in support of Palestine.. According to the police, around a hundred people participated in the demonstration and over half of them were arrested on different charges. Pro-Palestine groups have criticized the police’s use of excessive violence.

But demonstrations didn’t take place only in Berlin. On the 1st of May there were demonstrations all across Germany and the world. Tens of thousands took to the streets in every major city in Germany. The demonstrations in Berlin and in Hamburg were mostly peaceful, while in Stuttgart the police arrested 167 people. The demonstrations in Berlin and Munich expressed strong support for Palestine.

Moving on, the International Court of Justice has ruled in favor of Germany, and declined to enact provisional measures barring the country from continuing its weapons deliveries to Israel. Nicaragua, under investigation for human rights violations, had sued Germany for supporting a Genocide in Gaza. The judges in The Hague didn’t find any legal grounds to rule in favor of the South American country.

Going back to domestic politics, the neoliberal Free Democratic Party, or FDP, held its party convention over the weekend and made some efforts not to further the dissent within the government. Last week, the FDP published a strategy paper laying out twelve points on how they plan to restore the economy, all of which were based on social cuts, like welfare cuts, and trickle-down economics. At their convention, the party leadership directed their attacks at the conservative opposition.

Another party convention led to an important change in German politics. The Christian Democrats, or CDU, have elected Karl-Josef Laumann as the new national vice chairman. Laumann shows an important split within the party. While Friedrich Merz, the Party leader, is the former head of Blackrock, the American investment fund, Laumann is a unionist and head of the workers’ wing in the CDU. His election shows that not everybody in the CDU is happy with the capital friendly policies of Merz.

In other news, the cabinet of ministers has agreed on a raise of the pension level that will come into effect on Wednesday the 1st of May. That marks the first time since twenty nineteen that pensions will be above the inflation rate again. The buying power of the average pension is not on the same level as in twenty nineteen, it’s still lower of course, but it’s the first time in five years that pensioners will actually have more money in their pocket than the year before. The raise in the pension of 4.5% is higher than what was originally expected, but so far there is no criticism from the liberals and conservatives, who complain when people get money from the state if it's not through tax cuts for the rich. Even the liberals, who normally are against any kind of social welfare spending, have conceded the point that more money in the nation’s pockets will help get the economy back on track.

Presumably to kick off their European election campaign, The Greens and the Social Democrats have called for a reform of the commission that sets the minimum wage. Politicians do not set the minimum wage in Germany but technocrats in a seven-headed commission where there are three industry and three workers representatives, and one neutral vote. The reform the Social Democrats wants to eliminate that seventh vote, and come to a decision by consensus.

The proposed reforms don’t address the real issue at all: Germany is obliged to fulfill the EU rules by which the minimum wage must cover the basic needs. Currently, the country is still short by around 1.5 Euros per hour, the current minimum wage is around 12.5 Euros per hour and needs to be at fourteen Euros by twenty twenty-five.

Let’s close this edition on a more traditional note. All over southern Germany, May Trees were put up on Wednesday the 1st. The May Tree is a tradition all over the south part of the country and Austria. The tree normally stands in the center square of a town, and has the colors of the state (blue and white in Bavaria, red and white in Austria). In the weeks leading up to the 1st of May, the tree needs to be guarded at all times, because tradition has it that neighboring villages will try to steal it. Losing a May Tree is shameful but mostly expensive. If a tree is stolen, the town has to pay a ransom, most times with beer.

And that’s it for this week! Thanks your joining us!

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