Germany

Unions Winning Major Demands In Germany

February 9, 2018 Damien McGuinness, Bbc.com Create! Germany, Labor, Unions

Industrial workers in south-western Germany have won the right to reduced working hours as part of a deal that could benefit millions of employees across the country. Workers will be able to reduce their weekly hours from 35 to 28 for up to two years to look after their families. The deal covers almost one million workers in Baden-Württemberg state and also gives them a pay rise. It could be extended to the 3.9 million workers in Germany's industrial sector. What has been agreed? A reduced working week to care for children, the elderly or sick relatives was a key demand by IG Metall, the country's biggest trade union representing metal and engineering workers.

At Berlin March, Tens Of Thousands Demand End To Industrial Agriculture

January 23, 2018 By Andrea Germanos, CommonDreams.org Resist! Food and Agriculture, Germany, Industrialization, Protests

Tens of thousands of people—and more than 100 tractors—swarmed the streets of Berlin this weekend to demand a food system transformation nourished by political policies that foster ecological farming. "Policymakers at the European and national level need to listen, and use the upcoming reform of the EU's common agricultural policy to build a better food system for the future."

Fake Trump Marches In Carnival-Climate Protests At COP23

November 12, 2017 Louise Osborne, Patrick Große and Rebecca Staudenmaier, www.dw.com Resist! Climate Change, COP 23, Donald Trump, Germany

By Louise Osborne, Patrick Große and Rebecca Staudenmaier for DW. Carnival protest at the climate meeting in Bonn. A fake Donald Trump, the devil and a crew of buccaneering pirates were among thousands of environmental activists who hit the soggy streets of Bonn on Saturday to cast out coal, oil and nuclear energy — the "evil spirits of climate change." "Climate change doesn't react to pretty words — only to action," Dagmar Paternoga from Attac Germany, a network critical of globalization, told DW. "We demand an end to coal, an end to fossil fuels, [more] renewable energy and we're also demanding a mobility transition." No Climate Change, the group leading the demonstration, said some 2,000 people from Germany and around the world marched from downtown Bonn toward the site where the COP23 climate conference is taking place near the United Nations headquarters. A subsequent climate protest took place in the city center. They both wanted to grab the attention of climate conference attendees gathered in the western German city.

‘Hitler’s American Model: US And Making Of Nazi Race Law’

October 16, 2017 Bill Moyers, www.billmoyers.com Educate! Adolf Hitler, Germany, History, Nazis, Racism, United States

By Bill Moyers for Moyers and Company - Boy, did they ever. In fact, they saw America doing it in a more radical fashion than any of the Nazis themselves ever advocated. I mentioned earlier the demands of the radicals during the early Nazi period in 1933, which were embodied in something called the Prussian Memorandum. Kind of a sinister name, but that’s what it was. The Prussian Memorandum specifically invoked Jim Crow as a model for the new Nazi program, and here’s the irony: The Prussian Memorandum also insisted that Jim Crow went further than the Nazis themselves would desire to go. They were planning to ban offensive socialization between the races if it took place in public but not in private. They went on to observe that the Americans went even further than that, banning interactions even in private. As Nazi debates continued, however, there was a great deal of disagreement over whether anything like Jim Crow segregation was appropriate for Nazi Germany. In fact, if you read the stenographic transcript of that meeting we’re talking about, you’ll come across a leading Nazi radical who denied that segregation would work in Germany. As he put it, “The Jews are just much too rich and powerful. Segregation of the Jim Crow kind could really only be effective against a population that was already oppressed and impoverished,” like the African-American population in America.

The Front Lines Of Antifascism In Eastern Germany

October 14, 2017 Morgan Meaker, www.psmag.com Resist! AntiFa, Fascism, Germany

By Morgan Meaker for Pacific Standard - A shy grin spreads across Maximillian's face as he stretches out his arm to show where he was bitten by a Nazi. A faint, teeth-shaped scar marks where the attacker's jaw clamped down on the 17-year-old. Wearing suspenders and a flat cap studded with anti-fascist badges, Maximillian says his assailant was probably on drugs but that he knew he was a neo-Nazi because the guy called Maximillian "a fucking anti-fascist." Maximillian shrugs as if to say it happens all the time. In the same month, December of 2016, he was ambushed by another gang of neo-Nazis in the town center. That time, they broke his jaw. The teenager's hometown of Bautzen in eastern Germany has earned a reputation for right-wing extremists since Angela Merkel opened Germany's borders to almost 900,000 refugees in 2015. Over the past two years, Bautzen has seen anti-migrant demonstrations, a mass brawl between the town's residents and its asylum-seekers, and an attack on the information desk of a pro-diversity non-profit. But the town's rising tensions reflect a nationwide surge in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AFD). In the recent national election, the AFD became the first far-right party to sit in the Bundestag since World War II, with 12.6 percent of the vote (according to provisional results).

Merkel’s CDU Wins But Far-Right AfD Enters Bundestag

September 25, 2017 Catherine Stupp, www.euractiv.com Educate! Democratic Socialism, Electoral Politics, Germany

By Catherine Stupp for Euractiv. Germany - Merkel’s coalition partners, the Social Democrats, were also dealt shocking losses, bringing them their worst results since World War Two. Party leaders said on Sunday evening that they would leave the government and lead the opposition in the Bundestag. The AfD, which had campaigned on the anti-Islam and anti-immigration ticket, will be the first far-right party to take up seats in the Bundestag in more than 50 years. Merkel, SPD leader Martin Schulz and other parties’ leaders were frequently criticised for leading boring election campaigns. But the losses to the CDU and the SPD are bigger than polls predicted, and the AfD’s win marks a dramatic change in the German political landscape. After exit poll figures were announced Sunday, Merkel admitted she was disappointed by the results. “Of course we expected a slightly better result, that’s totally clear,” she said at the CDU party headquarters. The CDU suffered its biggest ever slide in support between elections, drawing 33% of the vote, compared to 41.5% in 2013. The centre-left SPD picked up only 20.5% of the vote, down from 25.7% in 2013. Merkel has been chancellor since 2005, and her win will be celebrated as a sign of stability by many in Brussels. But talks on a new government could take a while. Exit poll results rolled in starting at around 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. According to final figures that were released early Monday morning, the AfD pulled in 12.6% of the vote, making it the third strongest party in the next Bundestag.

Top German Politicians Want US Nuclear Weapons Out

September 18, 2017 John Laforge, www.counterpunch.org Resist! Elections, Germany, Nuclear Weapons, US military

By John Laforge for Counter Punch - A series of anti-nuclear weapons actions between March and August at Air Base Büchel in Germany brought widespread media attention to the 20 US nuclear weapons still deployed there. Surprising demands for the bombs’ removal soon came from high-ranking political leaders including Germany’s foreign minister. A timeline of events between July 12 and 18, involving a Nukewatch-organized delegation of 11 US peace activists, shows how the work may have moved the officials to speak out. July 12 — Upon its arrival, four members of the US group held a press conference in Frankfurt accompanied by Marion Küpker, international coordinator for DFG-VK — Germany’s oldest anti-war group — and organizer of the five-month peace camp. News of the unprecedented US group was reported in the daily Frankfurt Journal (“Activists from the US land in Frankfurt: Campaign against US nuclear weapons”), the online magazine FOCUS (“Nuclear fighters receive support from the US”) and picked up around the country. July 15 — Headlines like “Today in Büchel: Action day against nuclear weapons,” and “Konstantin Wecker sings for the peace,” was news across southwest Germany when the well known singer-songwriter drew about 400 to his performance near base’s main gates. The US delegates all spoke briefly to the gathering through interpreters.

How Should We Protest Neo-Nazis? Lessons From German History

September 5, 2017 Laurie Marhoefer, www.theconversation.com Strategize! Germany, History, Neo-Nazis, Protests

By Laurie Marhoefer for The Conversation - Charlottesville was right out of the Nazi playbook. In the 1920s, the Nazi Party was just one political party among many in a democratic system, running for seats in Germany’s Parliament. For most of that time, it was a small, marginal group. In 1933, riding a wave of popular support, it seized power and set up a dictatorship. The rest is well-known. It was in 1927, while still on the political fringes, that the Nazi Party scheduled a rally in a decidedly hostile location – the Berlin district of Wedding. Wedding was so left-of-center that the neighborhood had the nickname “Red Wedding,” red being the color of the Communist Party. The Nazis often held rallies right where their enemies lived, to provoke them. The people of Wedding were determined to fight back against fascism in their neighborhood. On the day of the rally, hundreds of Nazis descended on Wedding. Hundreds of their opponents showed up too, organized by the local Communist Party. The antifascists tried to disrupt the rally, heckling the speakers. Nazi thugs retaliated. There was a massive brawl. Almost 100 people were injured. I imagine the people of Wedding felt they had won that day. They had courageously sent a message: Fascism was not welcome. But historians believe events like the rally in Wedding helped the Nazis build a dictatorship. Yes, the brawl got them media attention.

Interior Ministry Shuts Down, Raids Left-Wing German Indymedia Site

August 26, 2017 Staff, www.dw.com Resist! Germany, Left Politics, Media

By Staff of Deutsche Welle - Germany's Interior Ministry on Friday banned and ordered raids on a portal popular with leftist readers and activists. Possibly the last posts from linksunten.indymedia.org - commemorations of a 1992 far-right mob attack on apartments where foreigners lived in Rostock-Lichtenberg and reports of racist graffiti on a memorial to a young woman killed by neo-Nazis in the United States - went live the previous night. The site was closed for "sowing hate against different opinions and representatives of the country," said Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, adding that the operation of the site was now "a criminal offence." He said authorities were treating linksunten.indymedia.org as an "association" rather than a news outlet, which would help officials get around constitutional protections on freedom of expression. De Maizière said at least two people constituted an association - the site has up to seven administrators - and the ban would not affect the international award-winning Indymedia network. "We are currently searching multiple facilities," said Baden-Württemberg state Interior Minister Thomas Strobl, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, which is also de Maizière's party.

Berlin Calls For Retaliation Against ‘Illegal’ US Sanctions On Russia

August 9, 2017 Staff, www.rt.com Resist! Germany, Russia, Sanctions, US Foreign Policy

By Staff of RT - New penalties against Moscow proposed by US lawmakers violate international law and officials in Brussels should consider countermeasures, the German economy minister said on Monday. "We consider this as being against international law, plain and simple,"Brigitte Zypries told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain. "Of course we don't want a trade war. But it is important the European Commission now looks into countermeasures,” she added. According to the minister, “the Americans can not punish German companies because they operate economically in another country." Last week, both chambers of the US Congress decided to impose new sanctions against Russia over its Crimea reunification and alleged meddling in US elections. The bill has still to be signed by US President Donald Trump. This is the first time Washington has made a move against Moscow without European consent. The bill appears to target Russia’s Nord Stream-2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany. The proposed expansion would double the existing pipeline's capacity and make Germany EU's main energy hub. The legislation seeks to introduce individual sanctions for contributing in Russian energy projects and targets major sectors of Russia’s economy, including defense, railway, and banking industries.

Some Americans Do Love Their Health Care (They’re Expats)

July 21, 2017 Allison Williams, www.global.handelsblatt.com Educate! Germany, Health Care

By Allison Williams for Handelsblatt - Luisa Weiss is a German-American writer about food and culture who lives in Berlin and has a cult following for her recipes for bagels, cinnamon buns and chocolate-chip cookies, which usually combine her American, Italian and German heritage. Earlier this year she had a baby by caesarian section. First the baby arrived, then the bill — and she was shocked, in a good way. In the United States the procedure would have cost insurers $50,000; in Germany, it cost $3,000. “There’s nothing like major surgery and a week of recovery in the hospital to reinforce how lucky I feel to live in a country where affordable and good-quality health care for all is a given,” she wrote in a blog post that earned a torrent of ‘likes’. Ms. Weiss’ comments — she also posted a photo of the hospital bill on Instagram — added fuel to the never-ending debate about health care on either side of the Atlantic. US-based mothers responded, one writing that she had been discharged from hospital two days after having a C-section. “It was brutal coming home and not having the nursing care. Germany has got it right when it comes to maternity health care,” another mom said. In Germany, health-care coverage is mandatory, based on an insurance system that is founded on solidarity and mutual support.

G20 In Hamburg – Pathetic

July 13, 2017 Staff, www.natwiss.de Educate! Capitalism, G20, Germany

By Staff of NatWiss - One day after and some rest one may finally ask the question what did the summit achieve for whom politically? This is the attempt approaching the reality of the G20 summit. It will name the deeply undemocratic and aggressive behavior of the police, the impressive and courageous protest, and the outstanding demonstration of the 76,000 as well as the condemnable actions of the criminal mob. We will learn how many provocateurs were involved. An independent commission is highly needed. What were the political and material results of the G20 summit? The costs: the official costs of 130 Million Euros have long been exceeded. The figure of 300 Million Euro is closer to the reality.

German Police Disperse G20 Protest With Water Cannon Before Summit

July 5, 2017 Chris Stern, Hannibal Hanschke, Joseph Nasr and Raissa Kasolowsky, www.reuters.com Resist! G20, Germany, Police, Protests

By Chris Stern, Hannibal Hanschke, Joseph Nasr and Raissa Kasolowsky for Reuters - German police used water cannon to disperse around 500 anti-capitalist protesters overnight in the port city of Hamburg where Chancellor Angela Merkel will host leaders of the G20 leading economies in a two-day summit starting on Friday. Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to march in the city this week against globalization and what they say is corporate greed and a failure to tackle climate change. German authorities believe around 8,000 demonstrators were prepared to use violence, the interior minister said on Tuesday. Some 20,000 police officers will be deployed. Hundreds of mainly young left-wing activists gathered and marched on a main street shortly before midnight on Tuesday in the first major protest ahead of the summit, which will be attended by U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Der Spiegel magazine reported that the Germany army fears protesters will use unarmed drones and that it has deployed a radar to locate any possible aerial intrusions.

‘We’ve Made History’: Ireland Joins France, Germany And Bulgaria In Banning Fracking

July 4, 2017 Lorraine Chow, www.ecowatch.com Create! Bulgaria, Europe, Fracking, France, Germany, Ireland

By Lorraine Chow for Eco Watch - McLoughlin also issued a statement that mentioned the impact of fracking in the U.S.: This law will mean communities in the West and North West of Ireland will be safeguarded from the negative effects of hydraulic fracking. Counties such as Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan and Clare will no longer face negative effects like those seen in cities and towns in the United States, where many areas have now decided to implement similar bans to the one before us. If fracking was allowed to take place in Ireland and Northern Ireland it would pose significant threats to the air, water and the health and safety of individuals and communities here. Fracking must be seen as a serious public health and environmental concern for Ireland. Environmental group Friends of the Earth Ireland celebrated the bill's passage. "A day to celebrate. A day for #ClimatePride. The Irish parliament has passed a law to #BanFracking.

Rights Group Asks Germany To Arrest CIA Deputy Director

June 12, 2017 Frank Jordans, www.usnews.com Educate! CIA, Germany

By Frank Jordans for Associated Press - BERLIN (AP) — A civil rights group is asking German authorities to issue an arrest warrant for the recently appointed deputy director of the CIA over claims she oversaw the torture of terrorism suspects 15 years ago. The nonprofit European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights submitted a legal brief to German federal prosecutors Tuesday, alleging that Gina Haspel allowed the waterboarding of prisoners at a secret U.S. detention center in Thailand. The prosecutor's office confirmed Wednesday the complaint had been received and was being reviewed. Similar complaints against senior U.S. officials in the past haven't resulted in arrest warrants. Advocates describe waterboarding as a form of "enhanced interrogation." Critics say it amounts to torture, because prisoners are made to feel they are drowning. Haspel was the first female career CIA officer selected to be deputy director in February . The submission by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights — seen by The Associated Press — centers mainly on the case of Abu Zubaydah...

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