Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

German Greens vote YES for war

anonymous | 25.11.2001 19:18

sad to hear - the chickenshit fools!

 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1125-03.htm

Published on Sunday, November 25, 2001 in the Agence France Presse -  http://www.afp.com/

Greens Back Deployment in War on Terror, Save German Government Coalition


The Green party backed the planned deployment of German troops in the US-led war on terrorism, preventing the collapse of the center-left government.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (C) looks on after the Green party reluctantly voted to support German military involvement in Afghanistan as party leaders (L to R) Kerstin Heyme, parliamentary floor leader Rezzo Schlauch, Andrea Fischer, Katrin Goering-Eckardt and Environmental Minister Renate Kuenast applaud during the convention of the environmental German Green Party in Rostock, November 24, 2001. Germany's Greens averted the collapse of the government coalition on Saturday after the pacifist party's members reluctantly backed their leaders' support of German military involvement in Afghanistan. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

A clear majority of delegates at the party congress in this northern German city voted for a declaration that "accepts" a vote by parliament earlier this month to send up to 3,900 German troops to aid the campaign in Afghanistan.

The measure also explicitly supports the continuation of the ruling coalition.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of the Social Democrats and leaders of the Greens, junior partners in the ruling coalition, had warned that a vote rejecting the deployment would bring about the end of the government and new elections.

The vote came after a nearly 11-hour heated debate devoted to the war in Afghanistan and the Greens' identity as a party in government.

The decision to offer German troops for the operation is heavily disputed within the party, born out of the pacifist and environmentalist movements of the 1970s.

The declaration stopped short of the promise made by Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of the Greens of "unlimited solidarity" with the United States following the terrorist assault of September 11, calling rather for "critical solidarity".

Schroeder had put extraordinary pressure on the party to back the deployment to maintain Germany's image as a trusted partner abroad.

Fischer, the leftist party's unofficial leader and most prominent member, told delegates that the events of September 11 had changed the world and with it, transformed German foreign policy.

He said the Greens were faced with a stark choice: accept new international responsibilities as a result of the attacks or withdraw from government.

"What we cannot do is say we are going to stay in this coalition but reject this policy," Fischer said.

Fischer's ultimatum, delivered in a tone ranging from paternal to exasperated, marked a final attempt to convince pacifist party delegates to abandon what he called positions that did nothing to foster peace.

"With all the frustration, I ask for your trust. I want you to support my policies and not leave me standing alone."

Fischer, himself a former leftist street fighter, was frequently interrupted by hecklers and greeted after the 30-minute speech with an even mix of cheers and boos from delegates.

Pacifist delegates warned that the party was compromising its principles by giving its blessing to the war, which they warned would only create new civilian victims and a new breed of terrorists.

"I do not want the condition for serving in government to be the ability to wage war," said Greens member of parliament Steffi Lemke.

Party leader Claudia Roth said she saw it as the Greens' obligation to shape foreign policy focused on humanitarian and diplomatic principles.

She viewed it as a coup for Fischer and the Greens that the UN conference on the political future of Afghanistan beginning next week will be held in the former German capital of Bonn.

The prospect of Germany deploying troops outside Europe for the first time since World War II has threatened to deepen the cleft between the Greens leadership and the party rank-and-file.

The debate comes at a time in which Greens membership has declined 10 percent since the last general election in 1998 and less than one year before the next federal poll in September 2002.

The Greens are also to debate campaign strategy for the general election, policy in the poorer former communist states of eastern Germany, and the effects of globalization. The congress runs through Sunday afternoon.

Copyright © 2001 AFP

anonymous

Comments

Display the following 3 comments

  1. Euro Greens OFF COLOUR — environMENTAL
  2. Time to split........ — Fundi
  3. However.....(no ultimate solution) — Mike
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech