Green Party leader Felix Banaszak warned of an “authoritarian shift” and acknowledged his party’s mistakes: they underestimated resistance to climate policy and many felt slighted. Rather than a culture war, what is needed is a “greater class struggle”.
Green Party leader Felix Banaszak has expressed concern about the situation his party is facing, and also about the situation of the progressive left as a whole. “The dominant feeling is helplessness in the face of the authoritarian shift and polarization of society,” he said in an interview with “Zeit”. “Opponents of ecological policy have succeeded in making climate part of the culture war. I want to get out of this helplessness.”
Banaszak sees a trend that supporters of the fossil fuel business model are increasingly moving away from the center of democracy. “Those who want to destroy our livelihoods for economic reasons have long been aligned with authoritarian forces and anti-liberal movements,” he said. “They claim: environmentalism wants to take something from you. But they are the ones who want to continue making profits at the expense of the common good.”
However, those affected by the climate crisis are not those responsible, but the poorest groups. “For the Green Party, this means: more class struggle, less cultural struggle.”
The Green Party’s biggest mistake was “downplaying” opposition to their climate policies. “Many see the sweeping demands for change as a devaluation of their way of life,” said the Green Party leader. “Our promises for the future are faced with the reality that society has had many bad experiences with change, especially in the East.”
“Railway conditions destroy democracy”
He continued: “Society is experiencing a state of being unable to keep the simplest of promises.” Banaszak cites Deutsche Bahn as an example: “The state of the railways destroys democracy.”
Banaszak believes the Green Party will continue to win a majority through progressive policies in the future, especially regarding climate change. “Friedrich Merz and Katherina Reiche cannot get away from their fossil agenda,” he said in an interview. “I believe there is a new mobilization for ecological politics.”
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