Hundreds of thousands took to the streets at the weekend to demonstrate against the right. “If our democracy is attacked, then a limit has been crossed,” says Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for a broad alliance for democracy and against extremism. “If our democracy is attacked, then a limit has been crossed in which opposites take second place. Then the democratic center, the vast majority of our society, must take a position,” said Steinmeier in Berlin.
It must be made clear across companies, culture and society: “We will not let extremist pied pipers destroy this country.”
Steinmeier said: “The news about expatriation plans, according to which right-wing extremists want to expel millions of people, even German citizens, has shaken up our country.” The demonstrations of the past few weeks have set an example.
In Berlin, the Federal President met representatives of trade unions, business associations and works councils. Whenever things got serious, the cooperation of the social partners helped to overcome crises, he emphasized.
An alliance against extremism alone cannot make the difference, said Steinmeier. “Demonstrations and alliances between the social partners do not replace politics. We need governments and an opposition that do their job well.” But it could be encouraging to show shared responsibility.
Employers and unions clearly rejected expatriation plans and all efforts to weaken central statements of the Basic Law. “Every fellow citizen must feel safe in our country. We stand together for this,” declared the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA) and the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB).
In recent weeks, numerous people across the country have taken to the streets against right-wing extremism. The trigger was revelations by the Correctiv research center on January 10th about a meeting of radical right-wingers in which some AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Values Union took part in Potsdam.
The former head of the right-wing extremist Identitarian Movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, said he spoke about “remigration” at the meeting on November 25th. When right-wing extremists use the term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin should leave the country – even under duress. According to Correctiv, Sellner named three target groups: asylum seekers, foreigners with the right to remain and “unassimilated citizens.”
Source: Stern
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