St. Pauli injects subculture into the Bundesliga

Stuart Braun

DW

August 23, 2024

Newly promoted to Germany's football Bundesliga, Hamburg's St. Pauli club is set to light up the game with a passionate mix of music, creativity and social justice.

The skull and crossbones are the symbol of the football club St. Pauli, whose roots are in alternative culture spanning punk music and anti-fascist activism

Image: Axel Heimken/dpa/picture alliance

When US musician Dave Doughman was touring Germany with his band in the early 2000s, the show in Hamburg was empty until local football club St. Pauli finished its game.

Suddenly, the venue was "full of people wearing Jolly Roger t-shirts" — the skull and crossbones symbol of the St. Pauli team — recalled Doughman.

"What is this, a pirate convention?" he wondered.

Coming from Dayton, Ohio, Doughman had "zero interest in football." But the singer and guitarist soon realized that these "buccaneers" were both soccer and alternative music fans who were avowedly anti-homophobic, anti-sexist and anti-racist — values the indie musician shared.

The football club had also adopted the song "Hells Bells" by rockers AC/DC as the walk-on anthem at games, and it blasts "Song 2" by Britpop band Blur every time the team scores.

"Wow, this is cool," Doughman decided.

Soon, he was seeing St. Pauli t-shirts at gigs across Germany. He developed an affiliation with a football culture scene that has its roots in the bohemian bars, clubs and squats of inner-city Hamburg. He even got into the sport.

By 2010, Doughman was living in the St. Pauli neighborhood, which adjoins Hamburg's Reeperbahn entertainment and red light district. He and his band, Swearing at Motorists, released the song "St Pauli 'til I die" the next year. By 2016, he had started up a music school at the club's legendary Millerntor stadium.

Dave Doughman sings "St Pauli 'til I Die" together with over 50,000 fans at the Reeperbahn in May, 2024 after the team won promotionImage: David Luther

From pop superstar Ed Sheeran to US punk band Blink 182 and Irish upstarts Fontaines D.C., a growing number of international musicians have been spotted wearing the iconic Jolly Roger t-shirt and jacket.

Many other global music acts, from Green Day to Bad Religion and the Kaiser Chiefs, have stopped by the Millerntor to pay their respects.

All will be celebrating St. Pauli's promotion to the Bundesliga this season for the first time in 13 years. The team plays its debut game on Sunday, and the Millerntor will literally be rocking.

Fans united by football and fighting fascism

St. Pauli has been promoting the rights of refugees, people of color and the homeless since squatters and anti-fascist activists rallied behind the football club in the 1980s.

At the time, a growing far-right fan base at crosstown rivals Hamburger SV motivated left-wing students and artistic residents to support St. Pauli, which also opposed the increased evictions in the district.

As violent, hard-core Hamburg SV fans began to attack squats on Hafenstrasse, the road leading to Millerntor stadium, new fans flocked to a struggling St. Pauli team that was playing in the lower leagues. It's said that average home crowds grew tenfold by the end of the decade. The team has rarely been successful on the pitch, but the stadium is always full and drowned in song.

Supporters adopted the skull and crossbones as their own unofficial emblem sometime in the 1980s after Doc Mabuse, a singer in a Hamburg punk ban who also lived in a squat, nailed a Jolly Roger flag to a broomstick and brought it to Millerntor.

Punk music soon became integral to the club and its anti-establishment football ethos, which is also reflected in St. Pauli's democratic management structure that allows club members to vote and make decisions as a collective.

"So many creative types and musicians who gravitate to the club are not necessarily sports fans," said Doughman of the sense of diversity and acceptance among St. Pauli fans. "They come because they know that the stadium is a safe space for everyone."

Captain of fashion, music — and St. Pauli

St. Pauli's Australian current captain, Jackson Irvine, is himself a musician who has played guitar in bands from a young age. With his mustache, long hair and tattoos, he is also a fashion icon who sometimes models clothes for local and international labels. Last season, in true St. Pauli style, he died his hair pink and wore pink-painted fingernails.

Irvine, who previously played in England and Scotland before transferring to Hamburg in 2021, has become a symbol of the club's authenticity and strong community roots.

"To be able to live in the shadow of the stadium among the fans," he said on St. Pauli TV in 2022, "even if I wasn't a footballer ... I feel like this would be my kind of neighborhood because of the culture and the feel."

Jackson Irvine has become emblematic of St. Pauli's cultural life and strong community spirit

 Marcus Brandt/dpa/picture alliance

He and his partner are often out at Hamburg venues supporting local bands, Doughman notes. These include the iconic Jolly Roger, a raucous local pub that features DJs and live music and is packed with fans on match day.

Irvine himself has been known to drop in for a drink when walking home from a home game at the Millerntor — as opposed to driving in a luxury sports car.

"It's nice to come in to have a quick one with the fans after a good result," he said of the bar bearing the team's unofficial badge.

The captain typically wears a rainbow flag armband in recognition of LGBTQ+ rights and in 2023, he spoke from outside the Jolly Roger about the importance of rejecting "toxic masculinity" and homophobia in football.

Living the football community dream

Today Doughman runs a music school that is sponsored by fashion brand Levi's and offers free lessons and recording sessions at Studio 501, which is located at the Millerntor. The program is aimed at community youth, including the children of refugees, young people in state care, and people with down syndrome.

"What other Bundesliga club has a music studio at its stadium," the musician told DW.

Doughman recently collaborated on the song "Ein Traum" (A Dream), which celebrates the team's promotion to the top tier of Germany's football league system and features a cast of musician fans. The single also made the charts on Spotify.

With a return to the Bundesliga, Doughman says the club can better promote anti-racism and refugee rights messages like "no one is illegal" to the wider world.

And even if the team is again relegated to the second division, St. Pauli home games will likely still be sold out, and the fans will keep building a unique fan culture.

"For me, it has always been about the community and the people," said Doughman of the football club where winning isn't everything.

Turkey: Street interview arrest encourages self-censorship

Burak Ünveren1

A woman who gave an interview as part of a vox pop in Turkey about the ban on Instagram was subsequently arrested. The legal proceedings against her will have an impact on freedom of expression there in future.

Dilruba K. was interviewed on the street by a YouTube channel and asked about the ban on Instagram in Turkey

Tüylü Mikrofon/Youtube

Vox pops are very popular in Turkey. However, it is a society in which opinions cannot always be expressed freely and many people are reluctant to speak out publicly.

Dilruba K., however, didn't mince her words. Interviewed on the street by a YouTube channel in Izmir last week, she not only criticized the blocking of Instagram by the Turkish government, but also the official day of mourning for the former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which was decreed around the same time.

"In the 21st century, handing the Republic of Turkey to one man means he'll treat it like his father's farm," she said. Her criticism of those who agreed with the ban was also provocative: "You're stupid, because you hand over your liberal rights to a single person and see them as being above God himself." And she criticized the official day of mourning with the comment: "Why should I feel grief because some Arab has died? I'm just not interested."

'Inciting hatred' and 'insulting the president'

This was considered sufficient grounds to have her arrested last week on charges of inciting hatred among the people and insulting the president. She was acquitted of the second charge on August 20, but remains in custody on the first charge, and is due to appear in court on September 3.

The indictment was prepared unusually quickly. In her defense, the young woman said: "I did not attack any state institution or individual in my interview. I did not mean the president or any other individual." She also apologized "if it came out wrong."

Veysel Ok is a lawyer who has represented many journalists, including Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yücel, who was imprisoned in Turkey for several months in 2017 and 2018 on charges of producing "terrorist propaganda."

Ok emphasizes that the detention of Dilruba K. is unlawful. "Someone might not like what a person says, but everything must be considered within the framework of freedom of expression. There is no legal basis to any of the legal steps taken so far," says Ok.

This opinion is shared by a prominent member of the ruling AKP party, Mücahit Birinci. "I condemn what this woman said. I am even angry because she said these things. But as a jurist, I must say there is no room for debate. An arrest is not right," he said. Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Birinci commented that one must also be fair to the person toward whom one feels anger.

Self-protection instead of rule of law

Critics say this decision is about the survival of the ruling elite. "Government-affiliated criminals are rewarded with acquittals, while those who express critical opinions are punished. This shows that the Turkish legal system is no longer a legal system, but an absolute protection mechanism for the actions and statements of the government," says Ok.

Political scientist Berk Esen from Sabanci University agrees. "The Turkish state used to have a few red lines, like Islamism or the Armenian genocide," he says. "Apart from that, you could criticize anyone and anything, including the ruling party, the president, the prime minister. Today, there are no red lines as there were in the past. The only red line is that the ruling elite looks after itself. Nowadays, the government sets the boundaries of freedom of expression. It restricts any opinion that it thinks could threaten its existence."

The objective is intimidation

Observers say the government's actions are intimidating millions of people. "They're trying to silence the voice of the people with this arrest. The message is being conveyed to the people that they'd better keep quiet," says Hüseyin Yildiz, the lawyer representing Dilruba K.

Under Erdogan, the Turkish state has increasingly restricted freedom of expression

 picture-alliance/dpa/U. Baumgarten

The political scientist Esen suspects that the arrest could have a deterrent effect in the future. "Many people who previously expressed their opinions freely on the street will now censor themselves. What the government is doing is not just arresting one person, but restricting everyone," he says.

According to Ok, the government will continue to try to suppress critical voices. "The government wants to quickly silence any complaints from the street," says Ok. He believes the country is seeing the start of a new wave of restrictions on freedom of expression: "Dilruba K. is not the first or the last. She is one of the many people who are in prison in Turkey today because they freely expressed their opinion. This was just the beginning. We will see many more cases like this in future, of someone being arrested after a street interview."

This article was originally written in German.


Burak Ünveren Multimedia editor with a focus on Turkish foreign policy and German-Turkish relations.

IMPERIALISM IN THE DESERT

Morocco's strategy on the Western Sahara has paid off

Jennifer Holleis

August 23, 2024

With France, another key country supports Morocco's claim on the disputed region. What are the consequences for the local Sahrawi people, neighboring Algeria and the volatile region as a whole?



https://p.dw.com/p/4jngW

Morocco is increasingly successful in claiming the phosphate-rich Western Sahara region with its access to the Atlantic Ocean.

 Fadel Senna/AFP

For Morocco's King Mohammed VI, this summer could go down in history. For five decades, the Western Sahara, a territory to the south of the country, has been at the center of a conflict which might now end.

The phosphate-rich region with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean is home to the around 160,000 local Sahrawi people who have been seeking autonomy ever since Spain withdrew from the area in 1975.

The Sahrawis are represented by the Polisario Front, which is backed by neighboring Algeria. But Rabat claims the territory belongs to Morocco.

As a consequence of this on-going dispute, Morocco and Algeria have clashed repeatedly, and have cut ties in 2020, even though Algeria does not seek control of the Western Sahara itself.

Over the past years, Morocco has gained more and more support for its claim on the region and this summer, France changed its diplomatic stance, too.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the coronation of King Mohammed VI, the 61-year-old monarch received a congratulatory letter by French President Emmanuel Macron in which he said that from now on, France will be supporting Morocco's plan for the Western Sahara.

This plan, which was initially proposed by Rabat in 2007, includes creating autonomous political institutions in the region as well as pushing economic development including a port at the Atlantic Ocean. However, Morocco will be holding control over foreign affairs, defence and currency.

"France's recognition is an extremely symbolic move that might seal the fate of the Western Sahara conflict," Sarah Zaaimi, a researcher and the deputy director for communications at the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council, told DW.

Thomas M. Hill, director of North Africa Programs at the Washington-based think tank United States Institute of Peace concludedin an op-ed this month that the Western Sahara conflict "is over" and that the indigenous Sahrawi independence movement is left with no choice but to eventually settle for some form of autonomy within Morocco.

After the letter to King Mohammed VI, French President Emmanuel Macron met the Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch in Paris

Image: Antonin Burat/Le Pictorium/MAXPPP/picture alliance

France acts with an eye on migration

France is only the latest state to recognize the Western Sahara region as Moroccan territory. Spain did so in 2022, as did the United States as part of a "quid pro quo" for Rabat's normalization of diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020.

The Gulf countries and various African and Latin American countries regard the Western Sahara as Moroccan, too.

About the same number of countries support the Polisario Front and the quest for independence by the Sahrawis. However, support for this side has been stalling.

The UN neither recognizes the sovereignty claims of Morocco nor those of the Polisario Front. The international body endorses a UN-led referendum for the local Sahrawis instead.

This is also the position of the European Union, despite first Spain's and now France's changed stances.

Alice Gower, director of geopolitics and security at the London-based consulting firm Azure Strategy, highlights that France's diplomatic turnaround after years of keeping neutral on the topic is less driven by the desire to end the actual dispute over the Western Sahara.

"France's recognition has little practical effect on the ground," she told DW.

"Macron's move has undoubtedly been in part motivated by transactional politics as migration is a fiercely contested issue in France," she said. The Western Sahara has become one of the most frequented departure points for aspiring migrants and France hopes that Mohammed VI will help curb migration to Europe.

In addition, France also has a high level of interest in avoiding a power vacuum in the increasingly volatile region that includes unstable and warring countries like Libya and Sudan.

"Macron desires to prop up the Moroccan monarchy, which has been suffering a crisis of legitimacy in recent years amid rising Russian and Iranian influence in neighboring Algeria and broader security concerns across the Sahel," Gower said.

Morocco has been pushing for control over the Western Sahara region, with growing support from France, Spain and the US.

Guidoum Fateh/AP/picture alliance

Algeria's political pressure

However, France's decision also has the potential to "throw Algeria more in the arms of the Russian Iranian axis, and push Algeria into a counter move, particularly in light of its upcoming presidential elections in early September," Atlantic Council's Zaaimi told DW.

Zine Labidine Ghebouli, a political analyst on Algeria and postgraduate scholar at the University of Glasgow, is therefore worried that "the region may be heading towards the moment when the Polisario Front decides that it is more appropriate and more useful to intensify its military campaign rather than waiting for a diplomatic solution that may not come."

So far, however, the Sahrawi news agency only reported that the "Polisario Front has asserted that resolving the situation in occupied Western Sahara necessitates the 'strict and firm implementation' of international legitimacy resolutions affirming the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination."

An autonomous region is also envisioned by the around 173,600 Sahrawi refugees who have been living in Algerian refugee camps for the past 50 years. According to recent numbers by the UN, they have been bearing the world's second longest-standing refugee situation.

The Sahrawi population in Algeria has been bearing the world's second longest refugee situation, according to the UN.

Noe Falk Nielsen/NurPhoto/picture alliance

Meanwhile, Algeria has stepped up its diplomatic pressure. Algier recalled its ambassador to Paris and started to refuse Algerian nationals deported from France.

For Ghebuli, there is no doubt that this is in reaction to France's Morocco support.

"The Western Sahara has become an extension of Algeria's national security domain," he told DW.

Edited by: Carla Bleiker


Jennifer Holleis Editor and political analyst specializing in the Middle East and North Africa.

KULTURE OF RESISTENCE

Germany taps Iranian exile Mohammad Rasoulof for Oscars

Stuart Braun

August 23, 2024

The acclaimed film "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" has been chosen as Germany's entry for the 2025 Academy Awards. The filmmaker, who lives in exile in Berlin, fled Iran on foot earlier this year.

Mohammad Rasoulof won the special prize award for his film 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig' at Cannes in May

 Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP/picture alliance

A nine-member jury selected Mohammad Rasoulof's latest film to represent Germany at the 2025 Academy Awards in the category of Best International Feature Film.

"The Seed of the Sacred Fig" was inspired by the mass protests in Iran in 2022 that were sparked by the killing of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, by the so-called morality police. Rasoulof heard the demonstrations from his prison cell when he got the idea for a thriller exploring state violence, paranoia and censorship.

After shooting the feature in secret — the Iranian regime had banned the director from filmmaking in 2017 — Rasoulof had to leave the production and flee the country by foot across the border. He had just been sentenced to eight years in prison and a whipping for criticizing the regime, including their aggressive response to the pro-democracy protests.

Iranian exile Mohammad Rasoulof will represent Germany at the 2025 OscarsImage: Sarah Meyssonnier/REUTERS

After leaving Iran, Rasoulof was able to apply for asylum in Germany; he had lived in the country a few years earlier. His passport had been confiscated in Iran before his flight, but his information was already on file with the German authorities.

The director chose Germany in part because "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" was being edited in Hamburg by Andrew Bird, who works with award-winning German-Turkish director Fatih Akin.

Still, Rasoulof had not been able to visit the country when his film "There is No Evil" won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020. That film was about the death penalty in Iran, and he made it while waiting for another prison sentence to be confirmed.

Iranian filmmaker Siba Shakib talks about protests in Iran  01:18

Why an Iranian film representing Germany at the Oscars?

Munich-based German Films is a cinema marketing company that appoints the independent jury responsible for selecting the nation's Oscar entry. This year's jury chose "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" from among 13 films.

In the past, the jury has chosen local stories and productions. These include "The Tin Drum" (1979), by Volker Schlöndorff, "The Lives of Others" (2006), by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, and "All Quiet on the Western Front" (2022), by Edward Berger, all of which won the Academy Award for an international film.

The fact that "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" was produced by Hamburg-based Run Way Pictures, received funding from a northern German film board and has a German distributor made it eligible for selection.

The jury called Rasoulof's latest cinematic triumph an "outstanding work by one of the great directors of world cinema."

"We are very happy to know that Rasoulof is safe in our country," continued the jury statement. "And we are delighted that he will be representing Germany at the Oscars in 2025."

The director and his producers said in a statement that the selection "shows how powerful intercultural exchange can exist in a free and open society."

Mohammad Rasoulof again shot his latest film in secret. Much of the cast and crew remain in Iran

 picture alliance/dpa/Films Boutique/Alamode Film/German Films

Still a dissident in exile

Rasoulof was awarded a special jury prize for "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" at the Cannes Film Festival in May not long after escaping Iran and completing the film abroad. The film also won the film industry's Fipresci prize, which was awarded during the festival.

"The Seed of the Sacred Fig" follows Iman, an investigator for Iran's Revolutionary Court who is loyal to the regime but has begun to question the arbitrary and summary nature of the death warrants he is asked to sign.

At home, his wife and young daughters become caught up in the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests sparked by the death, in custody, of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Amini had been detained for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly and was reportedly beaten by the police.

"It was quite clear for me that what mattered most now was to go on making films and telling my stories," Rasoulof said in Cannes.

"I had more stories to tell, and nothing could stop me from telling them."

The nominations for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film will be announced in January, with the winners to be presented in March 2025.

Indian village celebrates Kamala Harris's roots, prays for her success 

01:39  © FRANCE 24  Video by: Léa DELFOLIE

Khansa JUNED

Vice President and presidential election contender Kamala Harris is viewed as role model in her mother's ancestral village of Thulasendrapuram where residents gather regularly to pray for her win in the upcoming US vote. Harris, who visited the village as a five-year-old, has recalled walks with her grandfather on the beach of the city of Chennai where the family later lived, about 320 km (200 miles) from the village of roughly 2,000 people.

Farmtok: Senegalese agro-influencers find likes can turn into sales

Issued on: 21/08/2024 - 

01:51  Video by: Clarisse FORTUNÉ

There's nothing like social networking to get your name out there. Young farmers have understood this, and a new wave of agricultural entrepreneurs are embracing online platforms to make their own way in a key economic sector. 

Story by Clarisse Fortuné.

REST IN POWER

Australian penguin dies, ending famous 'same-sex power couple'

Sydney (AFP) – A celebrated Australian penguin famous for raising chicks as part of an unlikely same-sex couple has died, a Sydney aquarium said on Thursday.

Issued on: 22/08/2024 - 
A photo by SEA LIFE Sydney shows gentoo penguin Sphen (L) at the SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium. One half of a famous same-sex penguin couple, Sphen, has died aged 11 at the aquarium © Handout / SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium/AFP

Male gentoo penguins Sphen and Magic caught the attention of zookeepers, and then the world, when they built a nest of pebbles together in 2018.

They were eventually given live eggs to incubate from other penguin couples, hatching chick Sphengic in 2018 and Clancy two years later.

Sealife Aquarium said Sphen -- the older partner in the "same-sex" penguin "power couple" -- had died just shy of turning 12, considered a long life in captivity.

Sphen and Magic were adopted as gay icons in Australia and further abroad, inspiring a float at the Sydney Mardi Gras parade and featuring in the Netflix sitcom Atypical.

But they also had their critics, with some in conservative circles saying the penguins were unwittingly being used to push a political agenda.

Unlike many mammal species, male and female penguins take on the same parenting roles, and share parental duties 50-50.

Same-sex couples between both males and females are not unheard of, although they are often short-lived in the wild.

Gentoo penguin Sphen (R) and partner Magic (L) with their first chick Sphengic at the SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium © Handout / SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium/AFP

It was not the first time same-sex penguin couples had adopted eggs in captivity, with a handful of zoos worldwide reporting similar cases.

In 2009, two male penguins -- Z and Vielpunkt -- successfully hatched and reared a chick that was rejected by its heterosexual parents at a zoo in Berlin.

Before them came Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at a zoo in New York who were spotted frequently trying to mate with each other.

© 2024 AFP

Climate change a mixed blessing for sun-starved Irish vintners

Wellingtonbridge (Ireland) (AFP) – At a tiny outpost in the wine world, Ireland's handful of winemakers are cautiously eyeing long-term growth potential as climate change warms up its cool climate.


Issued on: 22/08/2024 -

'The Old Roots' company produces up to 10,000 bottles a year © Paul Faith / AFP

According to Ireland's meteorological service, typically rainy Irish summers are getting warmer and drier on average.

And at Ireland's largest vineyard, owner Esperanza Hernandez says "better weather makes it more possible than before to make high-quality wine" even on the sun-starved island.

Commercial vineyards, mostly dotted around the southern and eastern coasts and producing mainly white wines, are rare in Ireland.

According to Ireland's meteorological service typically rainy Irish summers are getting warmer and drier on average due to climate change © Paul Faith / AFP

Hernandez's 10-acre (4-hectare) vineyard lies near the village of Wellingtonbridge in the south-eastern coastal county of Wexford, statistically Ireland's sunniest corner.

"We need all the sun we can get," Hernandez, who moved from Spain to Ireland 20 years ago, told AFP as she pruned unproductive branches on a typically overcast and damp summer's day.

The rows of vines at the site which faces southwest but is sheltered from the wind, are planted wide apart to maximise sunlight reaching the grapes.

"If we take out this and that branch we can see the grapes, and the grapes can also see the sun..." said the diminutive 55-year-old who hails from a family of wine producers.

"...if it comes out at all," she smiled.

Greater 'unpredictability'

So far Ireland has been relatively shielded from dramatic impacts of climate change like wildfires, drought and death.

But agriculture still relies on a stable climate that is no longer guaranteed, even in moderate and mild Ireland.

"Climate change is not just about warmer temperatures, it brings unpredictability: frosts, storms, rain, and dry spells when there shouldn't normally be," Hernandez told AFP.

Irregular rain also means muddy soil that can prevent timely treatment of vines for fungus for example.

Rows of vines are planted wide apart to maximise sunlight reaching the grapes 

© Paul Faith / AFP

"You have to wait until the rain stops and the soil dries before a tractor can enter," she said.

After analysing the climate and soil in different locations Hernandez and her husband's "The Old Roots" company planted its first vines in 2015 to test the potential for quality viticulture in Ireland, and crafted their first wine in 2019.

Now they produce up to 10,000 bottles of red and white varieties annually, and have ambitious plans to expand.

But aside from the climate constraint, Irish producers face challenges unheard of in southern European climes, said Hernandez.

Machinery, technology, supplies and expert knowledge are all thin on the ground in Ireland.

"You have to bring in almost everything from abroad... it inflates threefold the cost of making wine," she told AFP.

'Far future'

David Llewellyn, who has been making wine further up the east coast near Dublin for 20 years, said the emergence of Ireland as a mainstream wine region is in the "far, not near, future".

"Our climate would need to warm significantly for us to be able to grow classic grape varieties that the market wants," the 48-year-old told AFP at his vineyard in Lusk, one of the driest parts of Ireland according to data.

"The handful of varieties that we can grow successfully and relatively reliably in Ireland are really obscure for most consumers even though they can make a good wine," he said.

With a hint of envy, Llewellyn looks at "climactic advantages" enjoyed in southern England where average temperatures are a few degrees higher than in Ireland.

"But even there, where wine production now is millions of bottles a year and there are 500 odd vineyards, English wine is expensive relative to French, Italian, Chilean and so on," he said.

According to Aileen Rolfe, an England-based wine expert, climate change is undoubtedly pushing production northwards in Europe and having a material impact on existing traditional wine countries.

The company planted its first vines in 2015 to test the potential for quality viticulture in Ireland, and crafted their first wine in 2019 © Paul Faith / AFP

"Harvests are moving from September to August to prevent sunburned grapes while growers are planting grape varieties more able to cope with heat," she said.

Sounding an optimistic note for Irish wine trailblazers, she pointed to fashionable "newbie" markets like England, New Zealand and Argentina.

"There were no vines planted in New Zealand until the 1970s, it also took a generation for English wine to be taken seriously," she told AFP.

Some conditions favourable for grape growing like fertile soil and long hours of summer daylight are already present in Ireland, Rolfe added.

Irish winemakers who are clever with site selection and willing to "play the long game" can reap rewards, she said.

"The future can be bright for Irish wine, it could be the English wine industry of the next generation," she added.

© 2024 AFP

FROM STALINISM TO FASCISM
Far-right firebrand Hoecke draws crowds in eastern Germany

Sonneberg (Germany) (AFP) – German far-right politician Bjoern Hoecke has caused outrage with his inflammatory Nazi rhetoric, but the controversy has not deterred his supporters in the eastern town of Sonneberg.


Issued on: 22/08/2024 -
Bjoern Hoecke, the leader of the far-right AfD in the German state of Thuringia, has caused outrage with his controversial views © Clement KASSER / AFP/File
Advertising


Hoecke was greeted with rapturous applause as he appeared at a rally to drum up support for the far-right AfD in the town this month ahead of a key regional election.

Hoecke, 52, a former history teacher, is the head of the AfD in Thuringia, one of three former East German states going to the polls in September.

The location of the rally was calculated -- the AfD caused a sensation in Sonneberg last year when it secured its first district administrator position there in all of Germany.

Now, the party is hoping to win a state election for the first time -- and with polls putting it in the lead on around 30 percent, that goal looks well within reach.

Hoecke was fined twice this year for using a banned Nazi slogan and has previously caused controversy with statements such as calling Berlin's Holocaust monument a "memorial of shame".

But he did not hold back as he addressed a crowd of around 200 people in Sonneberg, decrying how Thuringia had become "a magnet for migrants" and accusing the opposition of "fascist methods".
'Remigration'

In the front row, a 19-year-old plastics industry worker who gave his name only as Kemi was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Hoecke for chancellor".

"His speech is very informative and he has the right vision for Germany," he said, adding that there were "too many misunderstandings about him."

"Everyone has the right to express their opinion in Germany," said Diana Werner, a 50-year-old care worker.

She will be voting for the AfD because she wants to see "a major change in this country", especially through "remigration".

The far-right AfD enjoys broad support in the eastern German town of Sonneberg © Clement KASSER / AFP/File

AfD members were accused earlier this year of discussing the concept of remigration -- the expulsion of immigrants and "non-assimilated citizens" -- at a meeting with extremists.

The AfD officially rejects the concept.

But in Sonneberg, Hoecke promised the crowd "a major programme to deport illegal immigrants" if he is elected.

"I think there are too many people who come here and commit too many crimes," said Werner.

In a subtle nod to the AfD's stance on the issue, party members at the rally were handing out blue inflatable planes for children to play with.

Hoecke's promise of a 10,000-euro ($11,000) bonus for every baby born in Thuringia and his criticism of environmentalists also drew enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.

An AfD victory in Thuringia would make Hoecke and his radical ideas even more "inescapable" within the party, according to Julia Reuschenbach, a political scientist at the Free University of Berlin.

- Far-right 'hotspot' -

Around the corner from the rally in Sonneberg, around 100 protesters were kept apart from the AfD supporters by police.

"What would happen to our healthcare system without all those (foreigners) who provide invaluable help?" said Claudia Mueller, 74, who suffers from polio.

Bjoern Hoecke (left) is hoping for electoral success at a key regional poll in September © Martin Schutt / dpa/AFP/File

Sonneberg has become a "hotspot" for far-right violence since the AfD took control of the town in 2023, according to Ezra, a local counselling service for attack victims.

"Verbal violence has increased here, with people daring to say more things about immigration or the government," said Georg Litty, a 50-year-old social worker.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) look set for an electoral disaster in Thuringia where they are currently polling at around six percent.

At a recent rally for the SPD, Scholz said Hoecke "talks like a Nazi".

"Let them govern, and then we can get angry if they cheat us like the old parties," said Markus, a 58-year-old lorry driver.

The AfD is unlikely to come to power in Thuringia, even if it wins the election, as other parties have ruled out teaming up with it to form a majority.

But it would not be the first time the state has blazed a far-right trail: the Nazi party first came to power in Thuringia, in a coalition with the conservatives in 1930.

© 2024 AFP

Lust-for-life.orglust-for-life.org/Lust-For-Life/_Textual/WilhelmReich_ListenLittleMan_1965_7pp/WilhelmReich_ListenLittleMan_1965_7pp.pdf

LISTEN LITTLE MAN - Lust-for-Life.org

LISTEN LITTLE MAN. WILHELM REICH. Translated by Theodore P. Wolfe. Illustrations by Willam Steig. When Reich wrote Listen, Little Man! In 1945 he did not intend ...

CULT OF PERSONALITY

Why the populist BSW is gaining ground in 

eastern Germany

Ben Knight

DW

August 23, 2024

Polls in eastern Germany show that the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is gaining momentum. While some of its positions overlap with the far right, the party is drawing voters away from other political parties.

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is a populist party that blends left-leaning economic policies with conservative migration and pro-Russian foreign policy initiatives

Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa/picture alliance

Sahra Wagenknecht, one of Germany's most divisive political figures, is soaring in the polls with two state elections just a week away, even though she is not on the ballot. In both Saxony and Thuringia, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) — which the former Left Party parliamentary leader founded in January — is currently well ahead of the parties that make up Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition government: The Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).

Espousing an unusual mix of left-wing economic policy and anti-migration rhetoric, the BSW is likely to play a part in government building in the eastern German states, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is leading in the polls at over 30%. All the established parties want to make sure it stays out of government.

Wagenknecht the disruptor

The emergence of the BSW underlines the disruption in eastern German politics that has taken place over the last decade. Disruption is also a good way to describe the BSW's influence on German politics.

In July, Wagenknecht described her own party's position in these terms to Geramyn's daily taz newspaper: "I believe that we simply represent and embody what many parties no longer stand for: enlightened conservatism in the sense of preserving traditions, security — on the streets and in public places, but also jobs, healthcare and pensions. The need for security, peace and justice has found a new political home with us."

How German politics could be reshaped by the BSW party 07:17

The party presented a manifesto that political analysts say has not existed in Germany in quite this way before.

"The BSW program is aimed at people who on the one hand have economically more left-wing positions but have more conservative cultural attitudes," said Daniel Seikel, researcher at the Hans Böckler Foundation, which published an analysis of BSW supporters in June. "That explains to some extent why the BSW is so popular among people who voted for the AfD and the Left Party before."

Opinion polls in eastern Germany have shown that support for Wagenknecht's former party, the Left, has been decimated by the emergence of the BSW, while the AfD does not seem to have been overly affected by it — maintaining its 30% vote share in polls in Thuringia and Saxony and 20% nationally.

That might be considered surprising, given that the AfD and BSW appear to be fishing for similar voters. A recent study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) found that BSW and AfD policies overlap in several areas. Both are in favor of limiting migration, increasing deportations of rejected asylum-seekers and creating more controls at Germany's borders, for example.

Where they differ is on issues like social welfare: The AfD wants to limit benefits, and the BSW wants to maintain or expand some.

Nevertheless, though accurate data on voter shifts can only be put together after the elections, Seikel's research suggests that though the BSW is taking some support from the AfD and the Left Party, the biggest group among BSW supporters in eastern Germany was people who voted for the center-left SPD at the last election.

Sahra Wagenknecht is an expert in attracting media attention

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Populist, but not extremist

For Ursula Münch, director of the Tutzing Academy for Political Education, an independent institute, the BSW simply represents yet another threat to the traditional parties.

"The other parties are being put through the wringer by both the BSW and the AfD," she told DW.

Münch thinks that immigration remains the key issue for German voters, and she believes that the BSW has successfully managed to present itself to voters as a non-extremist alternative to the AfD.

"The BSW can at the moment claim not to be an extremist party," she said. "It avoids racist rhetoric and has relatively decent main candidates, who have local political experience and federal political experience. I do see a difference with the AfD there."

The BSW has ruled out forming coalitions with the AfD, but it has called for a less dogmatic approach to the far-right party.

The BSW appears to be winning over an above-average number of voters of immigrant background, a demographic that has traditionally voted for center-left parties.

"It's important to note that the vast majority of immigrants do not vote BSW," according to Seikel. "But it could be the case that relatively large numbers of people with an immigrant background have economic worries, low incomes and that these factors are more important for how they vote, and not so much their immigration status."

That could mean that many people of immigrant background live and work in areas where they fear more competition from rising immigration, said Seikel.

Why is the far-right AfD so powerful in eastern Germany? 13:55

Russia-friendly and anti-NATO

The BSW also seems to be taking away SPD voters who are skeptical about Germany's support for Ukraine — another position that the BSW shares with the AfD and the Left Party.

The Left Party, which leads the state government in Thuringia, is the successor to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the communist party that once led the East German dictatorship. East Germany was part of the USSR-friendly eastern bloc, and there is still some residual hostility to the United States and NATO to this day.

Wagenknecht has sought to capitalize on anti-American sentiment in the former East.

She suggested that opposing the stationing of US long-range weapons in Germany — a plan supported by the Christian Democrats (CDU), Germany's largest opposition party as well as the SPD, Greens and FDP — would be a condition for any coalition negotiations with the BSW.

"These weapons do not close a defense gap but are offensive weapons that would make Germany a prime target for Russian nuclear missiles. There are reasons why no other European country has stationed such missiles on its territory," Wagenknecht told the RND news network in early August.

"It's a relatively cheap demand to make because everyone knows very well that that can't be decided at the state level anyway," said Münch. "I'd say that's just electioneering, but also a clever chess move, because she touches certain fears — that Germany might be making itself a target — while knowing she doesn't necessarily have to stick to it."

Experts say making headline-grabbing statements is Wagenknecht's strength.

"I think she was always a populist, even when she was in the Left Party," said Münch. "She's someone who is very good at picking up the mood among the population. She is good at stirring the mood of anti-elitism, even though from her education and language, she is part of the establishment."

Nevertheless, the BSW appears to have established itself as a significant force, at least in eastern Germany, by filling in gaps and finding voters left behind by the other parties.

Edited by: Rina Goldenberg

Chinese cars make inroads in Latin America


By AFP
August 23, 2024

Chinese car sales represent 20 percent of the total in Latin America in money terms - Copyright AFP RAUL BRAVO
Paulina Abramovich with AFP offices in Latin America

Chilean truck driver Claudio Perez was dubious about his first purchase of a Chinese-made family car two years ago. But the price and quick delivery time convinced him, and now he is a convert.

Perez, 47, is one of millions of car buyers in Latin America to have made the shift from US- and Brazilian-built cars to Chinese models in recent years.

In 2019, the Asian economic giant sold $2.2 billion worth of cars in the region. Last year, the figure reached $8.5 billion, according to the International Trade Center (ITC), a UN agency.

Chinese car sales represented 20 percent of the region’s total in money terms — ahead of the United States with 17 percent and Brazil with 11 percent.

No other market outside Asia now has a larger share of Chinese cars, according to the ITC.

“We tend to stigmatize Chinese brands, but no… this one was super good, super good. So I don’t regret buying it,” Perez said of his first purchase, which he said he had expected to be “plastic-like.”

And his next car will be Chinese too, he said.

Chinese carmakers have redoubled their efforts in recent years to offer products at competitive prices, without compromising on quality, according to analysts.

In the emerging market of electric vehicles, they have taken an even bigger slice of the Latin American market, with 51 percent of all sales.

Almost all electric buses in the region are made in China.

“The growth of Chinese car manufacturers in recent years has been exponential, thanks to significant improvements in quality, technology and design,” said Andres Polverigiani of Nyvus, a consultancy firm that studies vehicle competitiveness.

In the United States and Europe, both with their own automotive industries, protective import tariffs have slowed China’s advance, unlike in Latin America.

In Chile, with near-zero duties, Chinese models represented nearly 30 percent of car sales last year.

– ‘A question of survival’ –

In Mexico and Brazil, Latin America’s biggest car producers, China is also making inroads.

Chinese giant BYD is building its largest electric car plant outside of Asia in Camacari, northeastern Brazil, with a targeted production capacity of 150,000 units every year.

In Latin America, Chinese cars, which tend to be cheaper than rivals, have enabled segments of the middle- and low-income population to buy their first vehicle, said Sebastian Herreros, an economist at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

It has also allowed the introduction of cleaner engine technologies in polluted metropolises such as Santiago, Bogota and Mexico City.

“All our countries must adopt electro-mobility quickly, it is almost a question of survival,” said Herreros.

“China is an ideal partner: it has the necessary production capacity and offers competitive prices.”