GERMANY - Die Linke (the Left) - GAZA Rally - Factions, Infighting and Farce

Germany’s Left Party suppresses opposition to militarism By Ulrich Rippert 9 August 2014 The Left Party in Germany is using the war in Gaza to place itself unconditionally behind the national government’s foreign policy. It is deploying its resources against anti-war demonstrations, and seeking to isolate and suppress the Palestinian struggle. [...] Left Party federal managing director Matthias Höhn demanded the rally be cancelled. When the NRW section refused, he turned to the press and initiated a media campaign against his own party’s members. In a press release cited by Junge Welt August 5, he warned of anti-Semitic attacks before the demonstration and rally had even taken place. Höhn demanded that the protection of Jewish institutions be stepped up and stated that the synagogue in Essen would be a target of anti-Israeli participants in the rally—a thoroughly unjustified claim. At the same time, Höhn organised a pro-Israeli counter-rally at which his party colleague, Left Party leader in Brandenburg and parliamentary deputy Harald Petzold, appeared as the main speaker in support of Israel against the Gaza support demonstration. In spite of the tense atmosphere which had been incited, the protest in Essen against the Gaza war ultimately passed off peacefully, with around 3,000 participants. This figure was officially confirmed by the police. There were only a few anti-Semitic statements on the sidelines of the protest, which were immediately isolated and excluded by the organisers. [...] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/08/09/left-a09.html

MATTHIAS HOHN - wikipedia link - here.

Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)

Military service
Journalism and Communications studies
Registered partnership (same sex).

Party of Democratic Socialism link - here.

Die Linke Posted on April 2, 2014 by Chris Terry Die Linke (literally ‘The Left’). Die Linke is Germany’s newest parliamentary party. The party was formed from a merger between two left-wing parties, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG) The PDS was the legal successor of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the former East Germany’s ruling communist party. The party continued to retain significant popularity in the East, winning up to a quarter of the vote in some Lander. The party’s support was negligible in the West, however, and the party won seats in the Bundestag because of the mixed nature of Germany’s electoral system.   [...]   The party was controversial in Germany for its links to the former communist regime, with leading members, including its leader, Lothar Bisky, accused of being connected to the Stasi (East Germany’s notorious secret police force, Bisky was an informer). The WASG was launched as a left-wing alternative to the SPD in 2005 in the wake of the controversy over the Agenda 2010 reforms. The party was boosted when it was joined by the former SPD leader, Chancellor-candidate, Saarland premier and finance minister Oskar Lafontaine later that year. Lafontaine was finance minister ...  clashed personally with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. He resigned from cabinet and his party positions in 1999. ... critiqued the party’s centrist course under Schroeder. Lafontaine became co-leader of Die Linke, with the former PDS leader, Lothar Bisky. Die Linke campaigned on a platform of opposition to economic liberalism in all its forms. Anti-capitalist, the party has a somewhat left-populist orientation. The party has attracted as a pole of attraction for far-left activists and the party has several ‘internal caucuses’ which vary from left-wing social democrats through to Communist and Anarchist factions. In several areas the party has run in alliance with far-left parties such as the German Communist Party. These links to the far-left have led to sections of the party, including around a third of MPs, being under observation by the Verfassungsschutz, Germany’s domestic security agency, which is charged with observing potential threats to the German constitution.  [What happened to democracy?] The party is deeply controversial amongst Germans for this reason, and although a left-wing SPD-Linke-Green coalition was theoretically a possibility in 2013, polls showed that SPD supporters actually preferred a grand coalition with the right-wing CDU. Bad blood between the SPD and former SPD members, such as Lafontaine, also complicate relations. Die Linke is generally held to divide along East/West lines itself. In the East, where it is stronger, and descended from the SED, the party has a more pragmatic, social democratic profile.  [...] In several East German states, CDU/SPD anti-Linke coalitions are common. The party’s Western component is generally formed by activists originating from the far-left and is perceived as much more extreme and radical. As an illustration of these tensions the party’s East German former co-leader, Gregor Gysi, was shown by a wikileaks leak of a diplomatic cable to have told the US ambassador that the party’s official policy of opposition to NATO was principally a ruse to keep the left of his party happy.  [...] Nonetheless, with the collapse of the FDP and the formation of the grand coalition, Die Linke is now Germany’s largest opposition party. While the party takes some support from the CDU, it is principally a headache for the SPD and Greens.  Since its arrival on the scene in 2005 the federal government has seen one right-wing government (2009-2013) and two grand coalitions, (2005-2009 and 2013 onwards). With Die Linke taking significant votes on the left and remaining beyond the pale for coalition it sometimes seems the best the German centre-left can hope for is a junior role in coalitions with the CDU. Die Linke claims to broadly support European integration, but opposes what it seems as neoliberal EU policies, it also seeks to democratise the EU. [...] http://europe.demsoc.org/2014/04/02/die-linke/

Political parties sound like crap!

It's not a bunch of people with solid core values.  It's a bunch of factions with quite different values.

And it looks like people are putting time and effort into presumably working for a group that's just playing at an 'official policy' (re NATO) ... that it has no intention of honouring!

I'd be really pissed off if I was in this party and I'd want out.

How's the German Verfassungsschutz (constitution security agency) watching these people?

Surely the system (ie government of Germany) is not THAT fragile.  

What do they think is going to happen if a bunch of these not-so-lefties are left to their own devices?

I'm really disappointed.  I had this romantic view of (leftie) politics and it's just been shattered by mediocrity, factions, backstabbing and what amounts to policy falsehood, going by the WikiLeaks cable.

 
.................................................................

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Gysi


GREGOR GYSI

Lawyer
SUP > PDS (post Communist)
Swiss-German name origin / part Jewish ancestry
Denied Stasi allegations.
Matter dropped, largely b/c parliamentary immunity.
Member of Bundestag - The Left / Die Linke