The former Federal Minister for Family Affairs on the demos against the right, the boundary between right and right-wing radical and the role of the CDU compared to the AfD.
Munich – Party friends, go to the demos! – advises Theo Waigel. There is opposition from the CDU. Kristina Schröder, former Federal Minister for Family Affairs, does not want to take part in “demonstrations against the right”. In an interview with our newspaper, the 46-year-old explains why.
Ms. Schröder, have you already painted your banner for the next “demo against the right”?
The last demonstration I was at was for solidarity with Israel. I will not go to any event where there is a demonstration against the “right-wing”.
Why?
Because I am firmly convinced that this expression “demo against the right” is not a linguistic laziness, but is exactly what the organizers meant: a fight against everything right of center. And I place myself politically right of center.
Kristina Schröder: Nothing right-wing, but “liberal-conservative”
Do you say clearly: “I am right”?
No, I am a liberal-conservative. But I would like to emphasize that people who identify as politically right-wing should have their home in the Union.
Millions of people come to the demonstrations nationwide, often from the middle. Wouldn't it be wiser if a union and its leaders took part and shaped the demos?
My accusation is directed against the organizers, not the participants. I know from many who are politically close to the Union: They wanted to demonstrate against inhumane content, but then came back irritated. There was agitation on the stages against the control of migration policy, against capitalism as the alleged precursor to fascism. I think the Union would do well to identify the problem of these demonstrations. We shouldn't go along with everything and keep our mouths shut for fear of being painted into a corner.
Theo Waigel, no political follower, says the opposite. “I go there. We can’t leave this issue to the left.” Is he wrong?
For 20 years, including when I was a minister, I have been involved in initiatives “against the right”. I'm sensitive about that. Too often it's about gaining left-wing sovereignty over interpretation and defining more and more narrowly what lies within the politically legitimate corridor of opinion. We have actually been experiencing something positive for months: migration policy can be discussed more critically again. Even the Chancellor has announced “large-scale deportations”, albeit without consequences. My concern is: These demos want to make such topics taboo again. That's why I contradict Theo Waigel here. I'm not going there.
My accusation is directed at the organizers, not the participants
If you don't demonstrate against the AfD – how do you bring them down?
By taking up the issues that gave the AfD its popularity. I estimate that a third of AfD voters are clearly right-wing extremist, and we will have difficulty reaching them. Another third vote for the AfD in protest. And another third demand that the established parties regulate their central issues: uncontrolled migration to aberrations such as the Self-Determination Act. This is exactly where the Union has enormous responsibility, because it is the large party to the right of the center. Take up topics, don't parrot them after the AfD. But also don't allow what are important questions for us to be delegitimized.
Where do you draw the line between right-wing and right-wing radical?
(thinks for a long time) I'll give an example. Anyone who says that Muslims are inferior is making a radical right-wing statement. But when I warn, based on empirical studies, that we can demonstrate a higher propensity for violence among young Muslim men and ask how we can counteract this, I am leading an important debate. Radicality is not so much a question of topics, but of tone and differentiation.
About the person: Kristina Schröder
It came as a surprise to the big political stage. At the end of 2009, Kristina Schröder, a nationally little-known member of parliament from Hesse, became Federal Minister for Family Affairs in Merkel's cabinet at the age of 32. She stayed until 2013, then withdrew from the cabinet to have more time for her daughter. Today she is no longer in the Bundestag. “If you started early, you have to stop early,” she says. Schröder now runs a consulting agency and is politically active in the think tank “Republic 21,” which aims to be a think tank for bourgeois politics. Schröder lives with her husband and now three daughters in Wiesbaden. (CD)
Is the wall to the right of the Union? Or is there still room?
There is still space at the moment, although fortunately less than a few years ago. The Union does not have to move to the right. But I would like to see a Union with strong wings – like the one before with its entire breadth between Norbert Blüm and Alfred Dregger.
Another political digression: Will we see the firewall for the AfD fall in the state elections in the east in the fall? And do you see any option for that, some tolerance?
No. This shouldn't happen. That will not happen. But we are facing major challenges. I hope that new foundations like BSW will cost the AfD some support. And I advise us as the CDU not to wall ourselves in with new
incompatibility decisions until we are completely unable to act.
The existing resolutions are sufficient for this. If Kretschmer allowed himself to be tolerated by the left in Saxony – would that be ok?
No. If necessary, you also have to think about minority governments in which you look for majorities on one issue at a time.
Interview: Marcus Mäckler and Christian Deutschländer
#wont #event #demonstrations
