HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE:
German Voters Reject Neoliberal Policy
[Print version of this article]
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who headed the slate of Germany’s Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo) party, issued a short statement on Sept. 25, on the results of the nationwide elections of the previous day. A translation follows.
The political landslide that made the Alternative for Germany (AfD) the third largest party in Germany, as well as the winner in Saxony and the second largest force in the other states in the eastern part of the country, is yet another expression of the rejection of the neoliberal policy, which led to the Brexit and to the defeat of Hillary Clinton. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comment that her CDU/CSU is still the strongest group in the Bundestag against which no one could govern—just after some one million voters had walked away from it—shows that Mrs. Merkel is just as unwilling as Hillary Clinton to admit the reasons for her poor performance.
The parties in the Grand Coalition [CDU-SPD] were punished for their neo-liberal policy, for Hartz IV [a draconian labor market reform], and for the balanced budget policy, which have driven a growing percentage of the population into a precarious situation despite abundant tax revenues. What has occurred is exactly what I had already warned of in the Brexit, Trump’s electoral victory and the referendum on changing the Italian constitution: This wave will continue until the injustices of the neoliberal policy have been eliminated.
The absurdity of this election campaign became clear in the so-called “elephants’ round” [a talk show with the “heavyweight” candidates]. After the media and the candidates of the established parties had presented an election campaign void of any of the great issues, this talk-show, which took place after the election, turned into a slugfest, in which the participants at least gave free rein to their frustrations.
Anne Will [the television host] made a point of challenging Alexander Gauland [leader of the AfD] to admit that the AfD is only against things, but has no solutions. That is true, of course, but solutions are not to be found in the two major parties either, nor in the other three that are now in the Bundestag.
The elephant in the living room of the “elephants round” is the imminent new financial crash, which threatens to dwarf that of 2007-2008. The BüSo, together with friendly forces in different European nations and the United States, intends to increase its efforts for the implementation of a global Glass-Steagall system of bank separation as the only way to prevent uncontrolled chaos.
The BüSo will also escalate its campaign to get Germany and the other European countries to take up China’s offer to work together in building the New Silk Road. That is the only way to develop the economies of Eastern and Central Europe and the Balkans, and to industrialize the Middle East and Africa. Building the New Silk Road offers the only avenue to surmounting the causes of the refugee wave in a humane way.
The BüSo fought for that during the election campaign, and will do so even more now. And our policy will prevail, despite the censorship, because it is in the interest of Germany and of all mankind.
