BERLIN: A German far-left baby-kisser will release on Tuesday a cross-party motion known as "Stand up", modelled on the populist campaigns of US Senator Bernie Sanders and Britain's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Its declared function is to counter the "neoliberal policies" of Chancellor Angela Merkel's centrist coalition govt and fight for protected jobs and pensions, environmental protection, and "a true democracy not ruled by banks, corporations and lobbyists".
Its founders hope to energise and unite in a grassroots motion fans of Germany's three leftist events, but additionally win again disappointed working-class voters who have drifted to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The venture is the brainchild of Sahra Wagenknecht, 49, of the far-left Die Linke party and her husband Oskar Lafontaine, 74, a firebrand socialist, ex-finance minister and defector from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Wagenknecht, who will provide the venture at a Berlin press conference (0830 GMT), hails from the previous communist East Germany. She is a polarising TV communicate show celebrity, known as rhetorically good however infrequently awkward with voters.
She has courted controversy by incessantly criticising the European Union and defending Vladimir Putin's Russia.
She has also damaged with the left's traditional orthodoxy on immigration by arguing that "economic immigrants" take jobs from low-income Germans and pressure public products and services -- a position closer to the some distance appropriate.
However, not like the anti-Islam AfD, she has no longer railed against immigrants and refugees on the whole and defends Germany's asylum law, especially for the ones escaping persecution and human rights abuses of their hometown.
"The idea of 'open borders for all' is unrealistic," she defined in a contemporary interview.
"If the core concern of leftist politics is to represent the disadvantaged, then the no-borders position is the opposite of being on the left."
Because "Stand up" (Aufstehen.de) is, a minimum of to begin with, a motion fairly than a registered political party, any person can join, also including the left-leaning environmentalist Greens.
Its site launched in mid-August cites reggae singer Bob Marley's chant "get up, stand up!" and pronounces boldly that "no politician, no party will solve our problems if we don't do it ourselves".
Unsurprisingly, the leaders of the three leftist events all reject the Wagenknecht-Lafontaine plan, and opinion is divided on its goals and possibilities of luck.
Some commentators see it as a long-overdue alliance of leftist forces who have misplaced votes and self-confidence right through the 13-year reign of Merkel, infrequently dubbed the "eternal chancellor".
News weekly Der Spiegel mentioned that, after populist anger over immigration swept the AfD into parliament remaining 12 months, "it is high time to launch a movement of rallying the left".
But the harshest critics see it as a self-serving stunt by a distinguished and divisive leftist energy couple that may further split and weaken the left.
Linke chairman Bernd Riexinger, pointing to recent neo-Nazi attacks against immigrants, mentioned that "especially in times when the brown mob is once more hunting people in the streets, the left must demonstrate unity and a clear line against the right".
The idea of a German cross-party leftist alliance has repeatedly arise and been dismissed -- largely because of Die Linke's uncompromising hard-left positions, reminiscent of in need of to abolish NATO.
This has prevented a so-called "red-red-green" coalition govt even in years when the three events had a collective majority of parliamentary seats.
In remaining 12 months's elections, which noticed the shock entry of the far-right AfD into the Bundestag, mixed fortify for the left events dropped underneath 40 %.
The SPD, dispirited after a historically poor consequence, reluctantly joined Merkel's conservatives once more as junior coalition spouse, further harmful morale.
Also on the Berlin release of "Stand Up" on Tuesday would be the SPD's Simone Lange, who ran as a relative unknown for the party's secretary common and scored a marvel 27.6 % of votes, noticed as an expression of discontent throughout the party.
The over 150-year-old SPD, the operating man's party, noticed mass desertions after the cruel labour and social reforms of previous chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and is now polling underneath 20 %.
Its declared function is to counter the "neoliberal policies" of Chancellor Angela Merkel's centrist coalition govt and fight for protected jobs and pensions, environmental protection, and "a true democracy not ruled by banks, corporations and lobbyists".
Its founders hope to energise and unite in a grassroots motion fans of Germany's three leftist events, but additionally win again disappointed working-class voters who have drifted to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The venture is the brainchild of Sahra Wagenknecht, 49, of the far-left Die Linke party and her husband Oskar Lafontaine, 74, a firebrand socialist, ex-finance minister and defector from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Wagenknecht, who will provide the venture at a Berlin press conference (0830 GMT), hails from the previous communist East Germany. She is a polarising TV communicate show celebrity, known as rhetorically good however infrequently awkward with voters.
She has courted controversy by incessantly criticising the European Union and defending Vladimir Putin's Russia.
She has also damaged with the left's traditional orthodoxy on immigration by arguing that "economic immigrants" take jobs from low-income Germans and pressure public products and services -- a position closer to the some distance appropriate.
However, not like the anti-Islam AfD, she has no longer railed against immigrants and refugees on the whole and defends Germany's asylum law, especially for the ones escaping persecution and human rights abuses of their hometown.
"The idea of 'open borders for all' is unrealistic," she defined in a contemporary interview.
"If the core concern of leftist politics is to represent the disadvantaged, then the no-borders position is the opposite of being on the left."
Because "Stand up" (Aufstehen.de) is, a minimum of to begin with, a motion fairly than a registered political party, any person can join, also including the left-leaning environmentalist Greens.
Its site launched in mid-August cites reggae singer Bob Marley's chant "get up, stand up!" and pronounces boldly that "no politician, no party will solve our problems if we don't do it ourselves".
Unsurprisingly, the leaders of the three leftist events all reject the Wagenknecht-Lafontaine plan, and opinion is divided on its goals and possibilities of luck.
Some commentators see it as a long-overdue alliance of leftist forces who have misplaced votes and self-confidence right through the 13-year reign of Merkel, infrequently dubbed the "eternal chancellor".
News weekly Der Spiegel mentioned that, after populist anger over immigration swept the AfD into parliament remaining 12 months, "it is high time to launch a movement of rallying the left".
But the harshest critics see it as a self-serving stunt by a distinguished and divisive leftist energy couple that may further split and weaken the left.
Linke chairman Bernd Riexinger, pointing to recent neo-Nazi attacks against immigrants, mentioned that "especially in times when the brown mob is once more hunting people in the streets, the left must demonstrate unity and a clear line against the right".
The idea of a German cross-party leftist alliance has repeatedly arise and been dismissed -- largely because of Die Linke's uncompromising hard-left positions, reminiscent of in need of to abolish NATO.
This has prevented a so-called "red-red-green" coalition govt even in years when the three events had a collective majority of parliamentary seats.
In remaining 12 months's elections, which noticed the shock entry of the far-right AfD into the Bundestag, mixed fortify for the left events dropped underneath 40 %.
The SPD, dispirited after a historically poor consequence, reluctantly joined Merkel's conservatives once more as junior coalition spouse, further harmful morale.
Also on the Berlin release of "Stand Up" on Tuesday would be the SPD's Simone Lange, who ran as a relative unknown for the party's secretary common and scored a marvel 27.6 % of votes, noticed as an expression of discontent throughout the party.
The over 150-year-old SPD, the operating man's party, noticed mass desertions after the cruel labour and social reforms of previous chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and is now polling underneath 20 %.
German far-left politician launches 'Stand up' movement
![German far-left politician launches 'Stand up' movement]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
September 04, 2018
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