Germany: The Greens declare their allegiance to the bourgeoisie

[IndianaGreen]

Germany: The Greens declare their allegiance to the bourgeoisie

By Peter Schwarz

12 June 2009

The German Greens, who once posed as an alternative to bourgeois politics, have now openly declared their allegiance to the bourgeois camp.

Commenting on the relatively good result for her party in the European elections held last Sunday, the former Green agriculture minister, Renate Künast, stated, “The new bourgeoisie votes Green.” A similar comment was made by Boris Palmer, the Green mayor of the university town of Tübingen, who said, “The constituency of the Greens is becoming increasingly bourgeois.”

The term “bourgeois” is an unmistakable signal to Germany’s leading conservative parties, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), which are usually described as bourgeois parties in common language. There is now no longer any obstacle to a coalition between the Greens and the Union parties at a federal level.

If the result of the European election were to be repeated at the federal election due to take place on September 26, then such an alliance would have a parliamentary majority. The Greens obtained their best national result last Sunday, with 12.1 percent. They won more votes than the free-market Free Democratic Party (FDP; 11 percent) and the Left Party (7.5 percent) and combined with the vote tally for the CDU and CSU (37.9 percent) totalled exactly 50 percent of the votes cast.

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The Greens have developed into the party of the wealthy urban middle class. They lack any political programme of their own. Their trademarks—environmentalism, ecology and sustainability—have long since become common property of every party, after it became clear that one could make a profit with eco-shops, alternative energies and energy-saving cars. And if environmental protection comes into conflict with economic interests, then the Greens are the first to give way. The Greens had already ditched their anti-militarism and demands for rank-and-file democracy 10 years ago when they entered a federal government coalition with the SPD.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/gree-j12.shtml

[madrchsod]

1. "beatniks are out to make it rich..

oh no, must be the season of the witch" donovan-"season of the witch"