ACAB sweater: Green Youth boss: I still have a few sweaters in the closet

After the scandal about a post with anti-police police sweater, the co-boss of the Green Youth, Jette Nietzard, promises further actions. “I have a few other sweaters in my closet, so you can be excited to see which messages we are still discussing,” she told the magazine “Stern”.

Nietzard had shown itself on her private Instagram channel with a sweater on which the abbreviation “ACAB” could be read. It stands for “all cops are bastards”. She also wore a cap with the capitalism -critical inscription “Eat the Rich”. Many Greens politicians reacted outraged, some also suggested their resignation.

Nietzard does not want to step back. When asked whether this was the last interview at the head of the Greens’ young organization for her, she told the “star”: “I have to disappoint her. I am chosen by October and have to lead a youth association until then. I will do that too.” The 26-year-old added: “To apologize, I would find an exaggeration.”

“Not every single police officer is a pig”

The Green Youth Chairman was “surprised” by the storm of indignation. “I just wanted to make a funny Instagram story. Now that the excitement is there, I would like to talk about my systemic criticism of the police,” said Nietzard. At the same time, she emphasized: “Not every single policeman is a pig.”

But Niezard also said: “Many people who are not white are afraid when a police car drives past; and not even every tenth woman who learns sexual violence reports because she is afraid that she is not believed. These people are afraid of a state that should protect her.”

Nietzard sees damage through the behavior of the party

Nietzard practiced significant criticism in her party: the party had to consider what consequences it pulls out of the election defeat. “The course of the middle has failed, but the reflection continues to be a long time,” she complained. Nietzard does not see that she has done harm to her party. “The damage is more likely to arise with me. This is not hidden from our members. In the end, this can contribute to the alienation of the party and youth organization,” she said.

Greens react smelly

The Greens did not want to react to Nietzard’s interview on Saturday. “In our view, everything has already been said this week,” said a spokesman for the German Press Agency in Berlin.

Greens boss Felix Banaszak had called Nietzard’s assessment of the police “unacceptable”. Cem Özdemir, top candidate of the party for the state election in Baden-Württemberg next year, criticized that the Greens are wrong, if you don’t understand that the police also defend Greens.

Nietzard distanced himself – a bit

Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann had asked Nietzard to exit party. “I don’t understand what she wants with us at all,” said the Greens politician, who belongs to the more conservative realo wing. For the positions that Nietzard represents, there is a suitable offer in the party spectrum with the left.

Nietzard had distanced itself a little from her sweater campaign. She “does not think that was the right way to draw attention to the problems,” she explains in a “star” podcast. She has the sweater “as a private individual”.

Not the first controversy

It was not the first time that Nietzard provoked. According to users on New Year’s Eve, she had posted on social media: “Men who lose their hand while firing can at least no more women beat.” The contribution was deleted after criticism.

After the disastrous performance of his party in the Bundestag election, she acknowledged the withdrawal of FDP boss Christian Lindner with the words: “I am pleased that the man from @Francalehfeldt is now getting shorter to enable her career and child”. Party colleague Renate Künast commented on the post. “Jette, that is unsuspecting and makes you very small,” she wrote.

Nietzard said that the presumption of innocence was in court for dubious annoyance allegations against the Green politician Stefan Gelbhaar. “But we are an organization and we are not a dish.”

Nietzard came to office after the board resigned

Within the green spectrum of opinion, the green youth traditionally represent very left positions. As in other political young organizations, the leading heads do not usually shy away from criticism of the course of their own party leadership. Nevertheless, the organization is also a squad smithy: the former party leader Ricarda Lang was once at its top, as was her successor Banaszak.

Nietzard had only been elected in mid-October together with Jakob Blasel, her co-national spokesman, as the management office in the Green Youth is called. Previously, the previous board had resigned and had justified this with alienation from the Greens, in which “in the medium term there are no majorities (…) for a class -oriented policy that focuses on social issues and shows perspectives for a fundamentally different economic system”. Nietzard does not turn out to be less uncomfortable – on the contrary.

Interview with the “Stern” payment barrier