A First Brief Consideration of Germany's 'Freedom Convey' Moment

Its antecedents, impact, and likely outcomes

Reference is made to two recent postings by

eugyppius

who has offered crucial background on what is going on in Germany right now. I will not belabour these points here yet again, for there’s both a quite good summary over at RT.com.

Instead I shall delimit myself to the following notes.

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Germany’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ Moment

Here follows a brief survey of the non-treatment by legacy media of what is essentially Germany’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ moment.

Much like the maligned ‘truckers’ and other ‘deplorables’ of Mr. Trudeau’s Canada (sic)—and don’t misunderstand me here, for my sympathies are with those who are protesting the increasingly tyrannical government—I fear this is where this ‘week of protest’ (Protestwoche) will eventually end up.

Yes, esp. East Germans have many memories of the former GDR, and there’s a number of similarities here—the utter disdain of the gov’t and its MPs for ‘ordinary people’ (C.S. Lewis—much like in past totalitarian systems, it doesn’t matter much.

You see, the only way a gov’t can be brought down ‘legally’ would be via a vote of no-confidence, which would then trigger new federal elections. Given the piss-poor showing of all three parties forming the current German gov’t—the Social Democrats (sic), the Greens, and Germany’s ‘libertarians’ (ahem)—no MP has the guts, or incentive, to vote against ‘his’ or ‘her’ party, for the risk to their own cushy sinecures is too great.

So, the gov’t will sit this out, aided and abetted by the ‘opposition’, which consists mainly of the ‘conservatives’ of the CDU (former chancellor Merkel’s party) whose only call to fame would be to ‘not the AfD’.

Hence, not unlike in other countries—notably, France or Austria—talks between all ‘non-right-wing’ factions are taking place across previously un-bridgeable chasms between the centre-right and centre-left parliamentary parties; their aim, of course, is one of ‘national’ solidarity vs. the one half-asses ‘opposition’ vs. the Globalist-Transatlanticis agenda pushers.

It is safe to assume that the ‘far right-wingers’ are about one election cycle from winning any vote outright, hence the fear-mongering among our Western chattering classes, the demonisation of any dissent, and, of course, the invocation of TINA (‘there is no alternative’, or Alternativlosigkeit in German).

Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens), a children’s author and Economy Minister, took to Twitter to read a few lines of utter contempt and faked empathy to his fellow countrymen, via Janina Lionello’s excellent write-up for NIUS.de (here and in the following, translation and emphases mine):

‘This republic is the best state Germany has ever had. We have to stand up for them. Let us show solidarity, as democrats and in this sense, be patriotic. This week and the next, in this time.’

Is anyone who dissents wrong?

The words that Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck has to say about the protests by desperate farmers that have been rolling through the republic: they are disturbing the peace and far removed from reality. While he describes the Federal Republic and therefore his own government as the best in history, for Habeck all those who defend themselves against its bad policies are anti-democratic subversives. A member of the government defames government critics—Honecker could hardly have done it in a more totalitarian way.

Habeck claims that the protests are being ‘co-opted’, he speaks of circulating calls for violence, alleged ‘subversive fantasies’, and ‘ethno-nationalist symbols’ that are being openly displayed. ‘The farmers' association repeatedly emphasises that it wants to demonstrate peacefully. However, the experience of the last demonstrations shows that this does not resonate with everyone.’

He warns: ‘When gallows hang on tractors, when tractor convoys drive to private houses, then a line has been crossed. Anyone who wants to undermine democracy must be held accountable using the means of the constitutional state.’

Habeck's framing is an all-too-familiar approach from the Corona era: individual cross-border incidents, which are always to be condemned but can be found in practically every protest movement, are hyped up into a meaningful element.

Well, I didn’t have to bring it up, for de facto German alt-media is drawing the same conclusions. Moreover, since I’m working on the early 19th century, too, I heartily recommend Wolfram Siemann’s Metternich (Harvad UP, 2019), for one would be able to read comparably condescending and ‘reactionary’ views. Moreover, Siemann doesn’t really treat domestic politics before 1835 (i.e., he omits the first 26 years of Metternich’s rule), hence what I’m hinting at is this: people like Mr. Habeck—or Metternich—just don’t care about ‘collateral damage’ (but, in Metternich’s defence, he at least had a moral conscience, which Mr. Habeck appears to lack entirely).

It’s not Just ‘A Farmers’ Protest’

Moving on, the scale of the disruption is clearly not possible to hide. Yes, legacy media, esp. state broadcasters, are trying to cover this up as much as possible, but in some cases, the truth comes out, as in this piece in Focus Online:

More than a Farmers’ Protest’: In Göttingen, the Middle Class Joins the Farmers

Achim Hübner stands at Schützenplatz in Göttingen. There are quite a few tractors there. With flap band, hazard warning lights, and horn. This Monday, the column of tractors and other company vehicles is driving through the city.

‘At least 40%’ of Göttingen’s Middle Class Involved

Hübner is managing director of the Göttingen district farmers' association. The association helped organise the farmers' protest. Hübner is surprised by the large number of participants: 40 participants were registered from the municipality of Rosdorf. ‘There were 140 there this morning. We don’t have to force anyone to come here.’ A total of 500 to 700 tractors are on the road in the Göttingen district. There are also roughly the same number of other vehicles.

Among the protesters, ‘at least 40% are not purely farm vehicles, but middle class vehicles.’ Haulers, heating engineers, carpenters, a roofer with his seven vehicles. ‘It’s amazing how many medium-sized businesses support this’, says Hübner. ‘They don't care about agricultural diesel [subsidies], but they probably have the same problems as we do.’ Farmers want a sensible, sustainable agricultural policy again, explains Hübner. This seems to be transferred to small and medium-sized businesses.

‘We farmers are always all'-in’

‘If this is broad enough from the middle class, then there is actually a chance of getting politicians to rethink things. And that expressly means: we won't topple the traffic light [orig. Ampel, the current federal gov’t whose members have red (SPD), yellow (FDP), green party colours]! We want to move them’, said Hübner. Nobody has any control over what individuals do, said the managing director. ‘But our posters don't say “overthrow the traffic lights”, but rather “end the traffic light madness”!’ [as much as I understand these notions in the light of the above, this is delusional: nothing good will come from Scholz, Habeck, and his ilk]

The association boss has the impression that the traffic light has not really thought about the savings plans. These are ‘very poorly crafted’ [see what I mean: if the plans were a bit better crafted and sold, he’d be a-o.k.]. He, too, has been ‘frustrated for years that sensible arguments in politics are achieving less and less. This is not a situation where we need protests on the streets.’ But the farmers are well positioned. ‘That makes us powerful. As farmers, we are always all-in.’ As a rule, agricultural businesses are also family businesses: ‘If they stop and go bankrupt, all the wealth they have built up over centuries will be gone. Then everything is gone.’

Clear position against the right [of course]

Hübner and the members of the Göttingen Farmers' Association see that ‘there are certainly efforts by questionable free riders.’ The farmers are trying to resist. The farmers' position is clearly against the right. ‘Everyone is serious about that’, said Hübner. ‘We are also asked by members to make this clear again and again. Farmers own land. This is worthless without the constitution. As simple as that.’

Hübner makes it clear: ‘We stand on the basis of the Basic Law and nowhere else. Governments are not overthrown, but voted out.’

Spot the framing by the gov’t?

• The protests are ‘far right-wing extremists’ who also ‘harbour illegitimate aims’.

• Much like with the Covid narrative, this induces the protesters to go out of their way to state that they aren’t ‘on the right’.

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My Take-Away Tonight (8 Jan. 2024)

Since the only (partial) political alternative that could seize this moment—AfD—is quite in support, but all but silenced in (by) media, there’s a huge disconnect.

I suppose that the only way these protests could lead to change, as opposed to ‘change we can believe in™’, there’d to be an alliance between the small and medium-sized (family) businesses—which employ about half the workforce and, if organised, are unstoppable—and a political party. If this doesn’t materialise, there’s nothing stopping the ‘let’s sit this out’ mood in Berlin.

Moreover, we note the eery parallels to a century ago, incl. all the lies about the allegedly ‘mysterious’ rise of one Adolf H.

The German middle class went all-in on Germany’s victory in WW1; when that didn’t happen, millions of Germans lost everything (which had been force-loaned to the imperial gov’t via war bonds that became worthless after 11 Nov. 1918).

The after-effects incl. Allied occupation of the Rhineland to ensure Germany’s reparations, and in particular the Ruhr Occupation of 1922/23 put paid to any remaining notion of property: the gov’t printed money seemingly indefinitely, hence whatever Germans had left became worthless literally overnight.

This is the crucial background for Hitler’s attempted coup in autumn 1923 (he wasn’t he only one who tried in the five years after 1918).

What basically happened was the dispossession of the German middle class, but it wasn’t enough to trigger the success of the far right-wing Nazi party.

That only came with mass immiseration in the wake of the Great Depression, which, in Weimar Germany, came about due to overseas credit being withdrawn overnight, which led to mass unemployment that contributed to the rise of Hitler. The people who put Hitler in power, by the way, weren’t his voters (although popular support certainly played a role), but the industrialists, bankers, and reactionary politicians, such as Hindenburg, von Papen, and their ilk.

As far as historical parallels go, that’s basically it.

I think that Germany’s current ‘Freedom Convoy’ moment will end like in Canada: with a whimper (apologies to all Canadians who valiantly stood up: I salute you) and lots of lawfare vs. ‘regular’ Joes.

The current gov’t is insane, esp. with regards to its ‘Green’ policies (heat pump mandates, CO2 taxes, etc.). This will drastically change the dynamics, as these policies will destroy the wealth—real estate value—of the German middle class once again.

It won’t be enough, though, to trigger a nationalist-extremist response just yet, for I think, much like in the early 1930s, this will only happen once the former middle class will be so impoverished that they don’t know where to get the next meal from to serve their children.

We’re not there yet, but once we’ll get to this point, all bets are off.

Crickets and worms for dinner don’t sound that bad, isn’t it?