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Author Topic: Andrea Nahles
Wilf Day
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posted 09 September 2005 12:30 AM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The German Social Democrats are divided between moderates led by Schröder and a more leftist group led by Andrea Nahles. Since 2000 she has been the founding President of the Left 21 Democratic Forum.

"The leftwingers, led by an immensely articulate young trade unionist, Andrea Nahles . . ."

Andrea Nahles was elected to the Bundestag in 1998, coming second to the CDU in Ahrweiler (20 km south of Bonn) with 40.6%, but being elected on the state list in Rheinland-Pfalz. While the party was losing ground in 2002 she increased her local vote to 42.3%, but the SPD won only 12 seats, 7 local, plus 5 MPs on the state list. She was 11th on the list, but since the candidates ranked 12 and 15 managed to win local seats, Andrea just missed re-election. (Ironically, the #15 candidate was Sabine Bätzing, 5 years younger than Andrea.) Andrea is running again there in the current election, and this time she is number 4 on the list. (Note that the top 14 places are perfectly "zippered" with men and women alternating, not required by law.)

Born on 20 June 1970, she was national president of the Young Socialists from 1995 to 1999, and is a member of the SPD party executive committee. Earlier she was Young Socialist president in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz from 1993 - 95, with an M.A. in literature from the University of Bonn. Since 2004, she is also president of the Willy Brandt Center for Meeting and Communication in Jerusalem.

In her blog she says she was once close to Oskar Lafontaine but criticized his withdrawal from the party.

Other members of the Forum executive include Hilde Mattheis, Bundestag member from the southern German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, from Ulm although elected on the state list.

[ 12 September 2005: Message edited by: Wilf Day ]


From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
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posted 10 September 2005 12:14 AM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Andrea Nahles objected to the election being called a year early:
quote:
. . the strongest criticism of the call for new elections comes from the left corner of his party who expressed their need for “more time to reflect on the implications for the SPD of our latest electoral defeat” (Andrea Nahles). Translated, this means: We would have liked to confirm that only a strong shift to the left can rescue the SPD and we, the left wing, needed more time to consolidate our power until 2006.

Had Schröder remained as the chancellor for another 16 months, the left wing of the SPD would have gained in strength, momentum and made further reforms impossible and likely tried to overturn some past achievements. This debate is now cut off at the root and the SPD must rally around Schröder, their only feasible candidate.



Indeed Andrea Nahles now seems reconciled with Schröder, at least in public:
quote:
In an attempt to win back traditional working class voters, Germany's Social Democrats have veered to the left in their election manifesto which includes higher taxes for the rich and minimum wages for the poor.

In an effort to tackle Germany's demographic problems, the SPD plans to improve pre-school child care and is seeking to raise maternity leave benefits to near-wage levels. The party also wants to solve a chronic cash shortage in the German public health service by broadening the basis of contributions to include for the first time civil servants and self-employed people.

The Social Democrats vowed to leave the system of sector-wide collective bargaining for wages untouched, but said they were planning to introduce minimum wages in industries not covered by the system.

Most controversial of all, however, are proposals to slap a 3-percent extra tax on incomes above 250,000 euros ($296,700) a year. They are a concession to the SPD's left fringe which had been on the verge of open revolt following the loss of the SPD's traditional stronghold of North Rhine-Westphalia in a regional election in May.

Now leftist Social Democrats like Andrea Nahles seem reconciled with Schröder.

"We do not take back the reforms of the past few years, but our campaign will have a new thrust," she said. "We say that domestic consumption in Germany urgently needs a boost to be able to create jobs and economic growth. Chancellor Schröder and the SPD's leftwing share this view so that the entire party stands united behind this manifesto."


What will happen if a "grand coalition" is required after these elections? The rising stars in the SPD appear to be leftish figures like Andrea Nahles who aren't too likely to want to take part in demolishing the German welfare state. If the grand coalition does come, the SPD will likely bolt it as soon as they can find a good excuse. Which will lead to another confidence vote and yet more elections. . .


From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
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posted 15 September 2005 04:10 AM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Unfortunately no one from Canada was at the 1996 International Union of Socialist Youth Festival in Germany co-chaired by Andrea Nahles as president of the German Young Socialists.

Which shows the low state of Canada's New Democratic Youth in 1996, if we couldn't even afford to send one person.

By contrast, in attendence were:
11 from Sweden
5 from the Netherlands
4 from Estonia
3 from Italy
2 from Argentina
2 from Nigeria
2 from Britain
2 from Norway
2 from Switzerland
1 from Columbia
1 from Uruguay
1 from Malaysia
1 from France
1 from Belgium
1 from Austria
1 from Ukraine
1 from Romania
1 from Slovenia
1 from Iceland
and of course
41 from Germany

By contrast, at the 2004 IUSY Congress in Budapest were young people not only from all over Europe but from India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Angola, Arab Youth Union, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burma, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Honduras, Israel, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Mali, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Palestine, Peru, Phillipines, Uganda, Western Sahara, and even 2 from the USA.

But still no one from Canada. Howcome?


From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Paul Gross
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posted 15 September 2005 05:10 AM      Profile for Paul Gross   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I attended an amazing International Socialist Youth Festival in Malmo Sweden 1988 on behalf of the NDY. Many people commented it was the first time they remember anyone from Canada attending...

Our host was Anna Lindh, at the time chair of the Swedish Socialist Youth and considered a rising star. She went on to become Sweden's Foreign Minster and was assassinated in 2003.

A wrote a story about the experience (which involved sneaking into Sweden with an expired passport, not something I'd repeat in these times) for the newspaper at Carleton U. If there's any interest, I'll put the story on the web and post a link.


From: central Centretown in central Canada | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged
Scott Piatkowski
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posted 15 September 2005 11:17 AM      Profile for Scott Piatkowski   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Paul Gross:
If there's any interest, I'll put the story on the web and post a link.

Do it, do it, do it!


From: Kitchener-Waterloo | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
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posted 16 September 2005 01:29 AM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Paul Gross:
I attended an amazing International Socialist Youth Festival in Malmo Sweden 1988 on behalf of the NDY. Many people commented it was the first time they remember anyone from Canada attending...

And the last?

At the 2001 IUSY congress, held in South Africa, five delegates attended from the USA, and no Canadians. Two from the Dominican Republic, one Costa Rica, one Greenland, no Canadian. Both Fateh Youth and Young Israel Labour, but no Canadian. Why?


From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
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posted 20 September 2005 09:41 PM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Andrea Nahles' DL 21 Forum is paired with the
Parliamentary Left Forum chaired by Michael Müller who has also been Deputy Chair of the SPD Caucus since 2002. MP from Düsseldorf since 1983, he's the senior leftist in the SPD caucus.
His Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Left is Elke Ferner from Saarland, who stayed with the SPD when Lafontaine left, ran against him in Saarbrücken, and beat him, but only by 7.3%, getting back into the Bundestag where she sat from 1990 to 1998.

Also a deputy chair of the Parliamentary Left is
Gernot Erler, Bundestag member since 1987, re-elected from Freiburg in the conservative state of Baden-Württemberg by the impressive margin of 10.7%, one of only four SPD MPs to win one of the 37 local seats there.

[ 21 September 2005: Message edited by: Wilf Day ]


From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
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posted 03 October 2005 09:12 PM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Mr Müntefering, has decided to appoint a prominent left winger to the post of party secretary general:
quote:
The appointment of Andrea Nahles, 35, would mark a generation shift with the party but also highlight the divisions within the party on the pace of structural reform in Germany.

From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
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posted 04 November 2005 12:01 AM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Andrea Nahles has led the revolt. But has she won?

First, Müntefering changed his mind, and chose Kajo Wasserhövel over Andrea Nahles for party secretary-general. Then others disagreed:

quote:
Nahles enjoys powerful backing from cabinet ministers and regional party leaders, including that of Wolfgang Jüttner, who leads the SPD in the state of Lower Saxony.

"The issue at stake now is how the party positions itself as it is being forced into a grand coalition government with its strongest political rival," he said. "Andrea Nahles is better suited to give the party some breathing space and to move it forward in accordance with its own platform."


Then Nahles "roundly defeated" Müntefering's man:

quote:
the party leader's "unilateral" move sparked indignation among some factions, leading the unofficial chief of the party's left wing, Nahles, to declare her own candidacy . . . Nahles won a vote by the party's board to become the next SPD secretary general, roundly beating Müntefering's hand-picked candidate Kajo Wasserhövel.

The SPD in-fighting came in the midst of coalition talks aimed to create a financial plan for the new government that includes spending cuts and possible tax increases to bring the budget under control.

Müntefering said that the upset had led him to decide not to run for re-election as the leader of the Social Democrats.

"I can no longer be party chairman under these conditions," he told reporters.


Müntefering brought Wasserhövel's name into play without consulting with the party's bodies and rebuffed all criticism of his personnel suggestion:

quote:
And he failed terribly. The SPD's top body made the decision with an overwhelming majority. The party chairman miscalculated the atmosphere in the SPD's top bodies and among the rank-and-file.

Wasserhövel's job would have been to keep the SPD firmly in line with the government's course. Müntefering didn't notice how fiercely the SPD has been fighting with having such a role. Simply filling a personnel position became an open critique of the SPD taking the route of a grand coalition with the Conservatives, which Müntefering supports.

All 45 members of the party board knew exactly what the price would be. Nominating Nahles meant completely removing Müntefering.

Does the SPD -- for which internally setting the course is more important than successful negotiations about a governing coalition -- even want this alliance? Now the voices are reverberating that warned against talking about the grand coalition as a foregone conclusion. What a dramatic defeat for the man who just days ago pundits said had more power than any SPD boss in recent decades. These are exciting times in Berlin.


"If the coalition negotiations fail because of the comrades, new elections would be the most realistic consequence. It's slowly getting spooky in Germany."
"The struggle is between the technocrats of the party, such as Wasserhövel represented, and those who want their leaders to listen to what party members and voters have to say."
Now Brandenburg Premier Matthias Platzeck announced he had won enough support to lead the SPD. But Müntefering will, however, serve as vice-chancellor and labor minister in the next cabinet, just as Schroder was chancellor while Müntefering was leader. "The SPD leadership will get younger just a little earlier than I thought it would," said Müntefering.

Adding to the sense of confusion, the SPD decided on Wednesday it would not make Nahles general secretary after all, raising questions about whether the turmoil and resignations of recent days could have easily been avoided.


From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Rufus Polson
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posted 04 November 2005 02:55 AM      Profile for Rufus Polson     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Wow! Interesting times.
Where's the Left party?

From: Caithnard College | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
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posted 04 November 2005 12:26 PM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Rufus Polson:
Wow! Interesting times.

Indeed. 'The swiftness of the change indicates that the crisis surrounding Muentefering wasn`t just an accident:'
quote:
Brandenburg Premier Matthias Platzeck -- immediately after his party selected him to succeed Muentefering Wednesday evening in an extraordinary summit -- announced whom he would like to see beside him in the new leadership circles. Among others, he named Kurt Beck, state premier in Rhineland Palatinate; Peer Muentefering, soon-to-be finance minister in a grand coalition; and Andrea Nahles, the infamous left-winger who had sparked the whole crisis by challenging Muentefering`s candidate [and beating him 23 to 14.]

Others include Sigmar Gabriel, a young state politician and Ute Vogt, who in 2001 made a name for herself after she handed the SPD its best election result in three decades in the traditionally conservative state of Baden Wuerttemberg.

The post-Schroeder, post-Muentefering SPD is led by ambitious men and women between the ages of 30 and 55, most of them without clear ideologies, all of them pragmatists. Hubertus Heil, the designated No. 2 in the party, on Thursday celebrated his 33rd birthday.



quote:
Originally posted by Rufus Polson:
Where's the Left party?

Raising their sights:
quote:
Lafontaine and the new Linkspartei he leads are moving on the European stage. The party was one of the organisers of the first congress of a new political animal: the European Left party (ELP). Some 360 people attended its congress in Athens at the weekend.

What they had in common was a commitment to the renewal of the left and to the idea of a common European strategy. Lafontaine is in a good position to comment of the distinctiveness of this new political actor: "The difference is that the parties here are committed to a Europe-wide strategy," he said. "A mistake by social democratic parties [in the past] was that they were too preoccupied with national issues. It was very difficult to find solutions at a European level. The situation here is better."

"We can change Europe" was the slogan of the event.

It is the cross-fertilisation of political cultures that is probably one of the main results of the party. "We learnt a lot from the Italians," says Christiane Reymann, a feminist in Germany's PDS party who led a revolt at the founding congress of the ELP against the patronising male domination of the party.



European Left Party.

From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged

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