Online Communist Forum Sept 1 2024: Israel's general strike, German elections & Labour austerity

well I'm going to begin with Israel and uh the announcement uh by the um official Trade union the herat um that it's calling a general strike and this is over the question of um hostages and uh it's linking that obviously um with the demand for ceasefire um because the idea uh that um the idf's U military oper ation in Gaza um is designed to get hostages back alive uh is clearly a nonsense you know netan who sheds uh many crocodile tears not least over the latest um six uh bodies that have just been recovered but clearly he doesn't want negotiations uh with Hamas he doesn't want um a Ceasar uh with Hamas of course he blames Hamas uh uh for that um but it's netan nahu uh and his government uh that are determined to wipe out Hamas of course um as his own ministers including his Minister of Defense including uh spokespeople uh for the IDF have said um that's impossible you know Hamas is a political movement it has mass support uh in Gaza um and of course it has mass Support also uh on the West Bank so yes you can kill uh Fighters uh but you're not going to destroy Hamas so clearly uh there's another reason for this military operation uh which I'm not going to go into now but clearly it's not about um securing um you know Israel is uh captured um on October the 7th uh uh back so what's the nature uh of this general strike um I think it's clear uh that it's a political general strike and it's clear that it isn't an act of um the independent working class um all you need to do is read any uh report um about the announcement uh of this action which I believe begins 8 uh tomorrow and you'll find out the uh the true nature of it uh because um in Israel a load of private companies uh are supporting the strike um and basically this is the opposition uh calling its uh supporters out on the streets uh in order to pressurize uh uh the government uh to change uh course um those the are committed to a two-state solution uh will undoubtedly uh take um Solace and indeed perhaps even uh inspiration uh from this call but I personally think that it's worthwhile thinking back uh that last time uh the Trade union Federation called a general strike it was over the question of um the knesset uh versus the Supreme Court and um a lot of sort of liberal opinion both in Israel and Beyond uh basically looked at the nanahu government and its proposal uh to overthrow uh the right of the Supreme Court to veto uh knesset U resolutions knesset uh votes as some sort of um um you know defense of democracy um in my own from my own angle um I think that's a travesty uh what is clear is that the opposition because it can't get a majority uh when it comes to elections and remember Israel has a a pretty fair uh PR uh uh system it's not as good as South Africa uh but nonetheless it's certainly vastly Superior uh compared with Westminster and um you know election to the House of Commons um but the fact of the matter is that the opposition cannot get a majority cannot put together uh a coalition and therefore um it sees the Supreme Court um um as its um as its defense as its defense against what of course a rightwing an extremely uh right-wing uh government but nonetheless a right-wing government that has a majority uh in the knesset yeah through very complex um you know wheeling and dealing and Deals nonetheless um that is uh the point so tomorrow's general strike tomorrow's demonstrations um are not a Prelude uh to um working class and Palestinian uh Unity this is within the sphere of Zionism um this is about um a struggle um for the direction of zist uh Israel not a struggle against zist uh Israel so we we should never forget uh that it was the labor government uh that seized the West Bank and seized indeed Gaza that was later uh abandoned in terms of at least settlers uh but it was a labor government that seized the West Bank uh and clearly had no uh intention uh of letting it uh go so you've had a whole series of different uh governments uh in Israel uh either proceeding fast or proceeding slow uh when it comes to putting colonies um on uh the West Bank um and going for um annexation so for example uh the Goan Heights and of course um East uh Jerusalem but clearly uh there's an ambition uh for a greater Israel shared by all significant forces uh of um Zionism meanwhile of course we have the idf's uh operation uh on the West Bank and um that's included not only invading towns uh but also um after besieging uh towns like Janine um the IDF has issued orders for the civilian population uh to uh exit in other words we're into the same sort of um military tactics uh that we've seen on a bigger scale of course uh in uh Gaza um and it's true uh that in terms of um the idf's operation um they've killed various Hamas and other Fighters including hamas's Commander uh in jine uh but it's also clear um and it surely is clear to um you know you know Israeli intelligence the political class uh that for every you know militant uh that their forces kill um on the west Bank a 100 young uh men uh will come forward um in order to take revenge um because of what the IDF has done not only in terms of killing uh but terrorizing uh the local population and clearly uh the whole record of uh Terror uh Meed out uh by their um settler uh population so that's why um um at least as far as I'm concerned that what what things are about in the longer term um isn't u a military operation uh in order to suppress uh the population uh but something grander something on the scale of 48 in other words a second neckar uh you know a forceable removal um um um of the indigenous uh Palace inian population in 48 uh they forced people out um onto the West Bank um this time uh it looks like they intend to force people out of sini excuse me into SII uh but this time out um um of the West Bank and whether that also includes um you know the Arab population in Israel itself uh that's a different uh question nonetheless uh if greater Israel uh is to be a democracy um you've actually got to change the population uh makeup and that means getting rid um of the uh Palestinians okay just quickly uh Lebanon um we've had the preemptive um air strikes on Hezbollah uh positions uh in southern Lebanon um we've also had the provocation carried out by Israel first of all in terms of um striking Iran's Embassy in Damascus and then assassinating The Negotiator um one of the Hamas leaders uh inan uh itself you know over for the um inauguration ceremony for the new uh president and in terms of what I've been reading and this is the Western press I have had a look at um the Iranian um media as well but in terms of the western media what you get in general is that uh Iran is holding back from retaliation Iran doesn't want um a regional War um you know we could have told them that um a long time ago it's clear that Iran doesn't want a regional War um it doesn't want one now uh and it doesn't want one tomorrow so who knows what form um Iran's retaliation will take the line is that we will do it in our own good time um so we wait for that it's obvious that if they do retaliate isra well uh will use it to up the anti because what needs to be uh understood of course is it isn't Hezbollah uh that wants War it's not Hamas uh that wants War it's not Iran uh that wants War it's Israel uh that wants war and I think that you could say it's its main objective yes as I've already explained is a greater Israel is getting getting a a regional situation that provides a convenient excuse uh for carrying out um you know a second um um round of um ethnic cleansing but there's also um its War uh against Iran um and again I don't know um it' be worthwhile looking at but it's clear uh that you know that in terms of doing Iran uh Israel wants to involve the United States now whether that's because it simply hasn't got the military capacity uh to you know Reign um death and destruction on Iran to throw Iran back to use a phrase back to the Stone Age uh I don't know um I suspect that is uh the case but clearly the United States at least at the present time uh is reluctant to be dragged in and of course that could all change uh in no November um with the presidential election and um you know if you were nanahu um that is something that you will be praying for um um every night I.E a trump uh uh Victory uh over um Harris meanwhile of course we have the election of a reformist uh president in uh Iran and with the blessing of the supreme leader what we get from the Iranian uh media uh is their um keenness uh to engage with the west and that includes the United States in order to do a new nuclear deal um you know if we look at the new uh Iranian foreign minister uh for example here was someone who was actually responsible for negotiating uh the first uh nuclear deal which of course was Ed on uh by the United States um in the form of the um Trump Administration so my guess would be while Netanyahu is praying for a trump um victory in November uh Iran both the supreme leader and the president uh are praying for a Harris Victory it's not because Harris and the Democrats are peacemonger it's more uh their perception uh of um Trump's um relationship with um an aggressive and expansionist uh Israel it's Trump uh that talks about getting the job done uh I take that as code uh for intensification of war and uh also uh for annexation of territory either parts of uh the West Bank or the whole uh of the West Bank okay moving on um just touch on the situation in Ukraine uh because what we have is reliable uh reports uh from denes of Ukraine remaining um on the back foot and Russian forces um slowly slowly grinding forward uh to two uh key points uh that padros uh where their forces some like 10 kilometers away and Chavis yes um and apparently that particular town of course it's got no people um uh left in it is high up and so it's of strategic importance and what we have um is the possibility of um Russia gaining a strategic Victory um in the dbass I'm very uh loathed to call every uh Hamlet every town um a strategic question in this case though I think that is uh the case so for example I was very skeptical about B mut uh being a strategic Target or something that was so strategically uh important that um zalinski for example was willing uh to sacrifice so many thousands uh of Ukrainian soldiers for for me it was much more symbolic uh question I don't think uh that we're dealing with something that's purely symbolic uh in this particular case it doesn't mean uh that Ukraine is about to fall but nonetheless this would be a significant Victory uh for the Russian forces if they achieve it and uh according to the reports uh Russia wants to achieve it before winter um I think myself um that actually um it's not a question of before winter um it would have to be something that they achieve pretty soon uh because um while um in the Ukraine um armies can fight in the winter uh it becomes very problematic fighting uh in the rainy season and the rainy season is spring uh but it's also Autumn and what you get is um not mud that's kn High uh you get mud uh that can stop tanks um and just as important perhaps more importantly it stops trucks uh because what we're dealing with here um isn't you know neat um paved roads leading up to the front line uh what we're dealing is dirt tracks uh that turn into Quagmire uh with the rains and if you haven't got trucks if you can't move your trucks uh then you can't can't bring up the fuel for the tanks you can't bring up the ammunition uh for the tanks you can't bring up the ammunition for the artillery you can't bring up the food uh for the guys that are suffering um in the Frontline uh trenches in other words things tend uh to shut down uh in the rainy season Gear Up somewhat uh in in winter when the when the ground is Frozen tanks can move trucks can move it's damn bloody horrible uh but people uh can fight under those conditions where um as I said in spring in Autumn um it becomes extremely uh difficult so for what it's worth uh Russia has to keep grinding uh while the rains um uh you know while they wait for the rains uh to arrive meanwhile um we have reports I think pretty predictable reports in terms of the kers uh front that Ukrainian advances have slowed down I think you you know if you were fair you would actually say they've stopped and I would go along with those that are predicting um on both sides uh that they will be digging digging digging and preparing for a static uh uh front um you know I see no evidence myself and although you know Russian forces in KK have been reinforced they haven't um diverted any significant numbers from the donbass front um so as I say it looks like that will become a frozen front Russia won't um be throwing in um wave after wave of U troops as they are uh in dbass to take back um you know the territory of mother Russia um that will remain in Ukrainian hands who knows how long but meanwhile they are prepared uh to um pay the price uh for advancing um in uh Dawn bass um just one final point on uh Ukraine what we have is um you know pretty consistent reports of um longdistance strikes uh by Ukraine either using missiles but more usually uh drones um on Russian uh infrastructure uh not least oil and gas uh facilities and power uh uh plants so my understanding is I think about three power plants um were hit over the last uh um short period um my own feeling is uh that that isn't really where the war um is going to be uh decided um you know the war isn't going to be decided um by knocking out this uh Power Plant in um Ukraine or that power plant uh in Russia uh my own assessment is that it's not even going to be decided uh on the battlefield it seems to me that neither side at least as things stand at the moment are capable of delivering a knockout blow um that doesn't look like it will happen so I think that what we're dealing with ultimately is the thing will be decided in the realm of politics um and with you know in terms of that I include not only what's happening in Washington IE the you know the November presidential elections uh but also uh what's happening in Moscow but also kef note the criticisms of zalinski uh for the um uh operation um in um the East um yeah um a humiliation for Putin uh but on the other hand if they lose two or more strategically important towns in the dbass um that could actually lead to I don't know threats against zalinski demands um that he submit for example uh to elections I don't know uh either way uh I think it's politics uh that are the crucial uh question here okay um just moving now uh to Germany uh we have Regional land Lander elections today and of course the um headlines are dominated by the real Prospect of uh the afd alternative for Germany uh doing extremely well uh maybe emerging as the leading uh party in um uh suringa um its neck and neck apparently at least in in in terms of opinion polls uh in uh Saxony uh this is in the East uh of um Germany the former uh gdr uh of course uh and indeed um if you actually look at the opinion posed there is even the possibility of um the present I don't know would you call it a traffic light uh Coalition I think that's what they call it but the sdp green free Democrat um um governing uh Alliance um being humiliated uh in the polls uh and perhaps uh even being uh knocked out um um in one or or maybe even two uh Regional um elections who knows um either way um I think myself um that we we need to understand um you know what's going on um here clearly uh there's a reaction uh to migrants I I think that that's impossible uh to ignore um you know under the um CD uhu the Christian Democrat government Angela Merkel I don't know the exact number of Syrian and Afghan uh refugees that were given um entry into Germany but half a million that sort of figure uh Rings uh about it could have been uh more but that also goes hand inand with um a history of the former gdr basically being the poor part uh of Germany and the fact uh that um you know the German Powerhouse um has been the sick man uh of Europe for a whole number of years now and if you add on top of that uh the Ukraine uh War uh where it isn't simply a question of Germany sending you know um Leopard 2 tanks and other such uh um armaments but more a question far more of a question of its whole um how should put it energy um strategy uh being completely destroyed uh by the Ukraine war so we had U the demand from the United States uh that no more contracts uh for cheap oil and gas and the matter was of course decided by those four bombs deep uh in the Baltic apparently I don't believe it carried out by some divers from um Ukraine um you know I'm very skeptical uh myself uh about that story uh either way um we don't have nordstream 1 and nordstream 2 uh operating uh anymore and therefore Germany has been denied cheap Russian oil but crucially cheap Russian gas uh and has to buy um its oil and gas um on the international uh market and clearly the prices that its Industries are having to pay um are significantly higher and therefore of course its Industries are less competitive uh than they once were which of course has an effect on the whole uh of Europe not least the German um economic zone which includes you know Poland the Czech Republic uh Austria uh the Netherlands uh that whole area really is uh when it comes to Industry when it comes to the economy to all intents and purposes um part of a greater uh German um economic uh space um there are those um of course who blame Germany um for giving up nuclear power I think they phased out their last nuclear power station um last year 20 23 I'm not convinced by that one um either I personally uh prefer my it's Ukraine stupid and uh the general capitalist uh downturn that we've seen since the financial crisis but also uh the covid crisis World capitalism hasn't bounced uh back uh from that uh and if there is any bounceback going on um I would argue that that's in the United States and that's to do with its arms uh industry uh acting as a a stimulus not only in terms of um supplying vast amounts of armaments to Ukraine but generally um you know ramping up uh NATO um arms spending they call it defense spending you know American demands of um 2% 2 and a half% of GDP uh being spent um um on the so-called um defense um of uh NATO okay um I think it's also just worthwhile adding in um having talked about through Ina and Saxony um the Third third uh party um when it comes to uh opinion polls because I have to say I was listening to a BBC report uh the other day and I have to say that I went what uh to the reporter um who is describing this Sarah vagon art Alliance what a name of an organization by the way um even George Galloway uh doesn't name his you know Workers Party of Britain you know the Workers Party of George Galloway um either way this party is running third this is in the um um former um Landers in um xgr um so for example in thra it's on 177% that compares with the cdu's 22% and the afd's 30 percent um so the BSW um I as I will call um Sarah's uh Alliance is ahead of the left party Del Linka um and way ahead um of uh the sdp the Social Democratic party the leading party in the present traffic light uh coalition government uh in Berlin um my own take is uh that the um BSW is much more of a German version or maybe it should be the other way around maybe George Galloway's Workers Party of Britain is a British version of the BSW um either way um I would describe it as a left-wing um organization um plenty of criticisms there I'm not saying it's leftwing and therefore you praise it um I simply wouldn't characterize it the same sort of organization as for example alternative uh for Germany or for that matter uh the CDU it's clearly from uh the left you know um wasn't Sarah the sort of leading personality in the left party former leader of the um communist platform if I'm not mistaken um in delinker um you know someone who has um has should bu Nostalgia uh for the former uh uh gdr um no I would describe her as a left Winger and perhaps this is something that we should watch very carefully uh because it would seem to me uh that if you have success um in Germany not just uh for the afd uh but also for the BSW uh there will be those that will want to emulate it well clearly there's plenty of emulators for um people who already been there before when it comes to the far right uh gaining respectability all we need to do is think about the government uh that today uh exists in Rome you know the former um MSI the former fascists the Brotherhood of uh Italy and Maloney uh but also um I think there could easily be those that want to uh emulate uh the BS W um in other parts um of Europe and and indeed globally and just on that uh it's worthwhile looking at some articles written uh in the Morning Star not least those that are coming from um the um former straight leftist uh faction who are making um how should you put it approving noises I put it no stronger than that um of the um BSW and in other words um if they can do it we can do it and the formula is clear um so-called leftwing I mean take that as you will that's basically uh Keynesian uh economic uh uh policies tax the rich nationalization um subsidies it's that sort of agenda but tough um on migration and tough on Law and Order um so where for example the cpb clearly hasn't succeeded maybe a reinvented c cpb maybe a greater uh Workers Party of Britain maybe an expanded Galloway party I don't know um but the reason I'm saying it is not because I'm looking forward to such a prospect um I'm basically saying it because I fear uh such a prospect we need to be fighting um such a uh a prospect and we ain't going to be fight we're not going to be successful uh in fighting that if we simply issue scare warnings we've actually got to build a viable alternative um on solid uh programmatic uh foundations I.E uh while I think uh for example stand up to racism played a very useful role in terms of the recent riots clearly that's not enough uh clearly we need a party and clearly we need an internationalist uh perspective uh we need in short a Communist party uh not some unpopular or semi- poopular but a popular front we don't need a popular front and we certainly don't need um a BW um or George Galloway uh party just uh uh to move on um what a surprise um the BBC uh three cheers um because it sent a reporter uh around to Jas atwell's uh properties in um Redbridge in East London remember last week um I was remarking uh you know about the petty Bourgeois cation of the labor party well of course you we've had the Trade union officials previously uh dominating um you know the ranks of the Parliamentary labor party true decades ago but I would include the Trade union bureaucracy as a petty bgea uh layer but now we have not dominating but nonetheless a significant presence of rentiers uh in the labor party and of course the leading rentier uh is J awal and I think his uh property portfolio yeah owned with um family members was something like 14 Residential Properties and three commercial properties and the BBC sent reporters around and um you know those the tenants that they interview were complaining about black mold and ant uh infestations and they were also saying uh that if we complain uh the um landlord's agents basically threaten uh us with eviction you know no fault uh eviction uh which is a pretty awful uh Prospect so you're you're living um in highly unpleasant unhealthy uh circumstances um and and if you ask uh if you demand uh that the landlord actually fulfills their legal Duty uh you're threatened um with eviction and okay um you know the BBC was reporting as they were talking uh to tenants uh tenants were getting phone calls from the agent saying don't talk to reporters um it will be bad for you um of course he didn't know anything about that did he um well I don't know all I can tell you is I'm a renter for example I happen not to be a renter that can be threatened with um you know no fault eviction I'm a secure tenant thank God it doesn't exist uh anymore um uh either way I've been complaining um about my landlord to the local Council and uh my local council person who came around we had the landlord there and we were going through what was wrong with our flat he said well I don't know anything about it I rely on the agent this um person I live in Camden um she turned around to him it was really quite good to watch I have to say she said well okay you say you've got so many properties you don't know what it's your duty uh to know what's going on that is your duty as a landlord and I say that's that is also true uh with jazz awell uh it's no good uh simply saying you didn't know anything about it if if you didn't know anything about it it's your duty to know uh about it um I wouldn't of course accuse him of lying um nonetheless um it has to be said uh that someone like him along with other renters um in the House of Commons uh and indeed in the House of Lords have a material interest uh to keep uh tenants in a vulnerable uh position um in an exploitable uh position where if they complain uh they can be threatened uh with eviction from our own angle uh we're in favor of social housing uh cheap but good quality high quality uh housing our aspiration um isn't little rabbit hutches uh but it's the sort of uh Vision uh that um social democracy for example in um Austria in red Vienna uh in the 1920s had uh when it built KL Marx um Hoff um uh in Vienna it not only had its kitchens it also had its uh workers uh defense uh Squad anyway uh just finally or penultimately just to comment on um stama the Rose Garden speech The General misera ISM um of the message coming from the new government clearly this is meant to prepare us for the budget maybe it's me meant to prepare us to expect you know a bloody awful uh budget and what they do um is deliver a few sweeteners who knows uh either way what their promising um is austerity um they're certainly not promising uh Jam um I think that that was pretty bloody obvious uh throughout the general election campaign uh and it's certainly why I um I have to say somewhat stunned uh by certain um you know quarters of the left who talked about a crisis of expectations you know to have a crisis of expectations expectations have to be raised and what we had uh with Rachel Reeves and sakir and the Labour party front bench uh was a systematic attempt throughout the general election campaign to lower uh to minimize uh to actually have no expectations uh from this labor government except it would be more efficient um it would be less crazy um it would be more responsible uh than the um sunac Liz truss uh Bor Johnson uh Cameron uh years of Tory rule anyway just en closing to show that there's still money um uh available when it comes to this labor government I'm not going to talk about arms uh spending um uh they did promise uh throughout uh the general election campaign uh that the Army the Navy the Air Force wouldn't go without and indeed I think in the manifesto there was a commitment to up uh Britain's um percentage of um spending on arms up to two and a half perent at the end um of uh the government so no immediate uh Promises of more uh but in the longer run yes they could be spending more on the means of Destruction but okay uh what we also have uh just recently over the last few days is the announcement uh that the British government has given the go-ahead this is that's effectively what it is uh to Sewell C uh that's in suffk uh this is a nuclear power station uh at least I don't know whether they are the major shareholder but I think they are is uh EDF that's the French uh nationalized um um Energy company and um so far uh the British government has um handed over 2.5 billion um in terms of development costs um I presume that's preparing um the ground um the plans I don't know um either way uh it's just agreed a further 5.5 uh billion pounds uh to get the project uh going we promised uh that it would take nine years uh to build uh I think we have to take that with a little bit of a pinch of salt uh usually uh such projects overrun significantly in terms of time on the other hand this is a um a mirror image um of Hinkley Point C it's the same model um that okay has been delayed but one would assume uh that the teething problems of hinley Point c um won't reoccur in seis well SE I don't know um either way nine years is the promise and a total cost of 20 uh billion um okay that's over um uh not one year uh but something like um 10 years uh nonetheless Rachel Reeves is of course complaining about a 22 billion black hole um and my message is that if you need something done uh the money is there you can find the money um I'm not advocating uh tax the rich as a uh a magic wand um the problem with the rich is that they're rich and they can always relocate and they can always move their capital and if you rely on taxing the rich uh you don't want to tax them too much um because what they are is the goose that lays the golden egg and you have to keep the goose there and so hence for example with the city uh you don't want to over tax it because it can just upticks move to Frankfurt move to Paris move to New York um and there for that would deny the present British government um certainly since the Big Bang of a huge uh Source uh of Revenue so the easy slogans uh of the left uh really do need to be question we're in favor of the expropriation of capital uh and of course that has to be done in our view um at the very least on a European scale uh but ultimately of course on a global scale and what we're after um isn't um Capital um of the financial uh variety what we're after is the means of production uh the means of Transport uh that's the Socialist project to bring that into social um um ownership and with that I shall conclude um just a question for you frequently commented now um on the so-called uh one state and and two State solution to the Israeli Palestine conflict and why we're not uh in favor of It Could you um Advocate what kind of solution you think socialists would strifeful basically the argument would be uh that one a two-state solution is um delusional um it cannot be delivered um there's no way um other than lip service um any serious political forces um in Israel other uh than um the Arab population uh will actually want that uh implemented um so the Palestinians um by their own efforts are clearly incapable of that those who argue to the country well they should look at Janine they should look at Gaza um it's clear that they haven't got the strength and nor um as I've um indicated has the access of resistance Hezbollah um uh the huis Iran are in no position to impose any sort of settlement on on Israel one state um well the problem is that something like 80% of the Israeli Jewish population consider the s secular and um the fact of the matter is when you come to a one-state solution if we're talking about a secular Democratic solution it turns out to be not Democratic and um in my estimate at least uh that means that what I would consider the Jewish Israeli Nation the Hebrew Nation uh will fight against a situation where they become effectively second class citizens I just don't see them uh doing that on the other hand a regional socialist solution um that is something that while it appears to be and no doubt is u a long way off at the present time that's a conceivable Democratic civilized uh solution because what you can do potentially with that is to turn around to the Israeli working class at the moment uh that's hand in glove yes uh with the forces of liberalism and capitalism as we see with the general strike uh and what you're offering them is becoming part of the ruling uh class um as part of a wider uh Federation um in the region so that's our argument um very briefly put um I would say myself um that when it comes to alternative um I would be very wary about saying put it into government on a regional level I'm not suggesting that you're advocating voting for it or anything like that but I think we should be very careful uh because I do think that there is a general shift to the right in global politics and um all we need to do is look to the South uh in terms of Austria look to the west and the Netherlands look to the south in terms of Italy uh to see the right gaining ground and also in that sense going from being we can't touch them Outsiders uh to part of the system and precisely the danger U is you end up with um and Italy uh of where the far right is the leading um element and for example in Italy um I don't think it's called the northern League anyway but the Liga sort of becomes marginalized I mean a right-wing force of course uh but it's the Brotherhood of Italy uh that at least at the present are the central uh element in the Coalition uh government now that I agree with you doesn't mean fascism uh but it does mean life for the left uh becoming more dangerous it does mean life for migrants becoming more dangerous it does mean life for sexual minorities uh becoming more dangerous um the position of women uh much more orientated I would guess uh to having babies and not taking men's jobs and stuff like that women's rights have gone far enough so as a general push back um um I think there's a real danger there uh of uh the far right um as to Del Linka I absolutely agree uh I mean our uh approach is don't take up government unless you're the majority unless you've actually got a realistic Prospect to carrying out your full minimum program and of course our full minimum program is a lot more radical uh than Del linkers either way precisely as um in Germany okay at a regional federal uh level um there they are in government making all these hard decisions and just like you know labor governments in Britain and uh you know Social Democratic uh governments you know in terms of the history of Europe what they end up doing is very quickly betraying uh their own voters the people that put them um into government and therefore creating demoralization and uh I haven't studied uh where people go and I'm not suggesting that it's an easy formula that you know having voted Del Linka in previous years people are now voting afd usually what happens and again we'd have to study uh the statistics to find out after the election usually what happens is that former supporters decide to stay at home that's my understanding for example of Italy uh with former supporters of the Communist party uh former supporters of the um Democratic left former supporters of um for that matter it became the Democrat uh uh party they stay at home uh so for example in Italy uh overall turnout has dramatically gone down now I don't know whether that's the case in uh Germany but it's that sort of effect um so why should people vote for you uh all you can promise is to be a lesser of two evils hardly inspiring and especially when the you know the lesser of two evils turns out to still of course be by definition um uh an evil um just quickly um in terms of um uh both um the BW and alternative for Germany of course you could repair uh nordstream one and nordstream 2 very very quickly um that's simply a political uh decision you'd have to agree of course with Russia um you'd have to stand up to the United States um but it could be done it could be done very quickly just on um you know the afd and Del Linka I mean I I don't know what their program say uh but I'll just say that um it all depends um on what you're promising and um if you're promising guns and butter um that's one thing and you might then say well that's incompatible and we've had to choose guns um on the other hand um you have had governments not least in Germany uh that have made the choice it's one or the other you can get people to vote um for austerity but uh you have to be honest and and I don't know about afd I suspect what it will say is that um it's all these migrants still coming in it's the government still running the Ukraine war it's got its excuse um already hasn't it um anyway I don't know I'm just really warning uh that um we shouldn't um imagine for example if it one in Saxony or wherever it happens to be and forms the core of a government who knows with who you have to have Coalition Partners um then it's automatically going to go into a crisis I'm cautious I mean I obviously don't know but I'm cautious um on that one and yeah on the terrorism one of course it's of great concern not least uh because this goes hand in hand uh with judges clamping down on the right of jurries uh to listen to the politics the why we did it um defense uh by those charged and um my conviction is uh that if juries were allowed to uh listen uh to the reasoning um of these uh comrades who've been charged under terrorism offenses juries would acquip them and so yeah there's an attack going on not only uh when it comes to them upping uh the anti of what they're Prosecuting uh people for they're also simultaneously um downgrading uh the rights of juries uh to hear political uh pleas um so yeah there's an attack going on both uh from the previous government but also this government about basic really basic uh Democratic uh rights uh to protest Democratic rights uh to have a proper uh jury uh uh trial