E.At the moment there are two social democratic parties in Germany. One deals with what interests most Germans, the other with the concerns of splinter groups.
The clientele of all people is based in the capital, in the Willy Brandt House. It is the party of co-chairs Saskia Esken and the up-and-coming Kevin Kühnert. It is almost completely enclosed by the Berlin bubble. Not only does she participate in debates about identity, she takes the position of radicals in them.
This could only be observed recently, when the head of the feature section of the FAZ questioned that queer people are not visible enough in the film industry. For this she had to let activists abuse her in a discussion group of the SPD and accuse her of “right-wing radical speech”.
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When shortly afterwards the SPD veteran Wolfgang Thierse pointed out in a text that identity politics were dividing, a shit storm swept over him. The Social Democrats from the capital had had enough. Esken and Kühnert wrote a letter to the activists stating that they were “ashamed”. However, not for the agitation against people who rejected the exaggerated claims of a group. No, for the critics themselves and for what they said and wrote.
The SPD, which acts in this way, seems to have come to terms with the fact that it is well below 20 percent in the polls. It has little in common with the former workers’ party, which could still distinguish soot-blackened faces from blackfacing. In general, it concentrates on problems that residents in the metropolitan areas may have, but not those in the flat countryside.
Bohemians may like that
She resisted a purchase premium for gasoline and diesel cars that hardly emit any more pollutants. Well-to-do bohemians who can afford a Tesla and who otherwise cycle to work may like this. But not the worker on the assembly line whose job is threatened. In this way, the party alienates itself from the weaker ones, who have always appeared less than others in political debates.
It focuses on activists who pretend that their worries are barely noticed, but who, in truth, are constantly being talked about. This alienation has been observed in the SPD for a long time. The fact that she is now starting to speak by the mouth of representatives of identity politics is a preliminary high point of this development.
The other SPD is that of people like the Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz or the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer. It stands for steering prudently through the crisis and keeping an eye on the needs of the population. Not all of the successes Dreyer adorns himself with are hers. The fact that a company like Biontech settled in Mainz may have been due to a forward-looking industrial policy, but maybe it was just luck.
Nevertheless, Dreyer can show a lot. She took action when it was inevitable. She called for prospects for people as soon as possible. In your state you are still less infected with Corona than in others. Dreyer is approachable, she exudes an almost old-fashioned modesty.
This SPD won the state elections ahead of all other parties. It could still have a future as a people’s party. The other hardly.
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#Social #democracy #identity #faces #SPD
