Right-wing radicalism draws fuel from supposedly insoluble problems. Habeck appeals to all democratic parties to solve these problems together and defend democracy.
In view of growing discontent in the country, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has called on all democratic parties to work together against populism and right-wing radicalism. “We together must not allow this democracy to falter,” he said in an emotional speech to around 800 guests at the Green Party’s New Year’s reception in Hamburg City Hall. “We must finally open our eyes to recognize that the attack that the AfD and the people to the right of the AfD are waging is not an attack on individual issues. It is an attack on the essence of this republic.”
Citizens’ fears of loss in material and cultural terms would give rise to populists and right-wing radicals in changing times. These further fueled fears by exaggerating problems and portraying them as if they were no longer socially solvable. “The good thing is that what drives people into the arms of the populists can be changed,” said Habeck. “If populism and right-wing radicalism make the insolvability of problems their essence, then we have to solve them!”
That is the task of all democratic parties and politicians. “You can’t always just blame others,” said the minister. “Let us not argue about who is the opponent or the main opponent or the enemy. The main opponent in this time is never another democratic party, but it is the anti-democrats who want to shake this republic.”
Source: Stern
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