As the German People Go on 'General Strike'
A few helpful links and references
Some of you ‘international’ readers may know that the situation in Germany is quite ‘explosive’ right now. This pinned piece shall serve as a kind of (selective, i.e., representing my own biases and hopes) repository to find some ‘on the ground’ information.
One thing is obvious, then, for if the past four years have taught us anything, it’s the unending spin, bias, and lies peddled by legacy media about, well, anything, anyone, and everything.
Please post enquiries and comments, as well as additional links in the comments, which I’ll closely monitor to add to this posting.
Hence, here goes.
Background: On the State of the Country
Both following graphs are courtesy of the quasi-official ‘Deutschland Wählt’ account.
If that’s not ‘bad enough’, here’s the sentiment about the ‘work’ carried out by the Scholz-led gov’t:
Satisfaction with the federal government, Infratest dimap/ARD [state broadcaster]
Very satisfied: 1%
Satisfied: 16%
Less satisfied: 36% (-1 )
Not at all satisfied: 46% (+1)Changes to the last survey from December 7, 2023
You read that right: 82% of Germans are ‘less’ or ‘not at all satisfied’ with the ‘work’ carried out by the Scholz-led gov’t.
Background on the current—and, hopefully, soon-to-be-former—chancellor comes via a long-form chat he had with Time Magazine in 2022:
Enough with these things, let’s move to more current events, shall we?
Remember, though, that I cannot vouch for the authenticity of online content.
Some Useful Links
Prof. Freedom’s Twitter account:
Hannes Zipfel’s Twitter account:
N-TV (private broadcaster) reports that locomotive drivers—that would be ‘railroad engineers’ in US parlance—are joining the protests from 10-12 Jan. 2024.
Finanzmarktwelt.de reports that the ‘epicentre’ of these protests is in Saxony where, according to state broadcaster MDR, 95% of all motorway ramps are to be blocked from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday [8 Jan.]. Complete closure of the A24 (HH-B) and other motorways. In addition, there are protests on federal highways, supermarkets, and gas stations, as well as there are to be over 30 large demonstrations throughout Germany.
Here’s a user-created map of the protests:
First protesters arriving in Berlin yesterday evening:
To be updated…
This is a great idea and to help I just checked BBC News.com/Germany for their full and unbiased reporting of these events and there is full coverage. Just kidding, nothing, nada, zilch. Great job as usual from the State erm, I mean fully independent UK national broadcaster. Carry on everybody, all is fine.
In the German pandemic winter of discontent 2021/22, I spoke many times (mostly with like-minded acquaintances) about the potential of a general strike as a tool against the prevailing apartheid laws excluding non-("fully")vaccinated from much of daily life and the looming vaccine mandates, which were ultimately voted down at parliamentary level.
On the one hand, I am heartened that German farmers have taken inspiration from the Canadian Truckers and Dutch Farmer's protests, on the other I am disappointed that the trigger is economic distress and not outrage at the trampling of civil rights.
My favourite placard from the local protests here in pre-alpine Bavaria (from local newspaper reporting):
"Bei der Rüstung seid ihr fix,
für die Bauern macht ihr nix."
Translation:
"You're quick to finance armaments,
You've got nothing for the farmers."
Another:
"Wer Bier trinkt, hilft der Landwirtschaft"
Translation: "Drinking beer supports farming"
Am sorry I wasn't on the streets today to give a first-hand report, hadn't realised it was more than a tractor action and was busy with work stuff..