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my bike or transport it means there's a lot more direct contact with ordinary people contact. orders where people talk to me i listen to what they say to each other and every day is full of communication. not just back then with my colleagues in the border starting with people on the street i might not know them but i listen to their ideas and sometimes we get into lengthy discussions i've used the car on occasion like right now i've been receiving medical treatment and have been feeling a little frail but the vast majority of the time i've used my bike. no privileges for anyone that was very much the spirit of the student movement of nine hundred sixty eight that you were a part of. as you saw back then where was the movement head and the.
nine hundred sixty eight and sixty nine i was one of those who believed in the need to revolutionary change your it was a commitment we work towards all the time in different areas. i quickly became involved as a lawyer. i thought. i also took part on the street demonstrating with teach ins and everything else that was happening at that time. it wasn't about improving the parliamentary system. that was passe for us it was not what we wanted instead we saw the need to change the world alongside the many liberation movements in latin america and africa as well as in alliance with many comm rates in france italy the us and britain. from parliament so back then you didn't think much of parliamentary democracy but ten years later in the late seventy's you co-founded the alternative list here in
berlin the predecessor to the greens why did you change your mind and decide to try and change things via parliamentary representation and. we began with the simple idea of taking what was being said on the street and in meetings and giving it a voice in parliament. we were also motivated by the slogan of the long march through the institutions. i joined the social democrats in one thousand nine hundred sixty nine and we wanted to propagate explain and justify what was necessary and right. or. we had ten thousand sometimes up to one hundred thousand people on the street. and parliament became a key issue. we reckoned we were so important that we had to make ourselves heard. not because we thought we could go into government and implement something
a bit of hyperbole for the election campaign i didn't want to actually torment him the first time he saw the poster and we showed it to imagine event you could say he had a tormented smile. the poster was designed by a cartoonist here in berlin it was supposed to express the idea that i'm the one who doesn't shy away from conflict. in two thousand and two you were elected not by the party list but as the first green party politician to directly win their constituency. an example of grassroots democracy. did that make your work in the party easier and in parliament to. absolutely. i've already experienced four years of being in parliament thanks to the party list before i was elected directly. it puts you on the same level as
directly elected parliamentarians from the big party is. it turns you a lot of respect so you can't understate its importance we would have liked that from the beginning but we did not even think it was possible if. you want to call the parliamentarians the highest power in parliamentary democracy is that really the case in the bundestag the real center of debate over ideas. believe this parliamentary democracy needs urgently restoring freely elected deputies who have a direct mandate from the people who have the power line not the government. just like it says in the constitution this means that those in power will always have to come to the parliamentarians and make an effort to build majorities and make the
case through argument if they want to pass a law. but in the chance they would have to worry about every vote. correct. that would not only have consequences before a vote is taken there would also be consequences when it comes to drafting law. because they'd also be forced to think how will we get a majority. it's why i now think the current situation where we're confronted with a possible minority government is a fascinating experiment because it would mean parliamentarians regaining some of their own significance or bringing things back to the grassroots a few months ago the grassroots made their voices heard in germany in the general elections and the nationalist alternative for germany became the strongest party in the opposition and the greens the weakest why was that. the f.d.a. is surfing
a new wave of nationalist sentiment that is somewhere between nativist and xenophobia. and in part racist. that wave emerged during the recent intake of refugees and is backed by those who have the least to do with refugees. went to didn't the other parties fail to see that coming at. me of a gun i asked why the guns of course. across the entire western world. most of the population have lost confidence in the ability of the established parties or ruling parties as we used to say to solve problems. to which i say rightly so for the most part time and time again and they specially during election campaigns vary but government established parties make promises
they do not themselves believe they can keep the best design you refer to the established parties now fifty years after nine hundred sixty eight or the greens one of the established parties. many would include them in that category i hope and i working to ensure that that isn't quite the case the country and. now you are no longer in parliament are you back in the extra parliamentary opposition. i've always been part of it. still take part in demonstrations as long as my health . i will be active but i will be active in the greens. i'll be there at the next party congress and the one after this. i'll do everything i can but i also want to be involved in the discussions that's something i do now not just with speeches or leaflets but via twitter every week. it was as
mr strobel to finish here are three sentences that i'd like you to complete the greens are currently the smallest parliamentary group. i hope for the future of my party. you. know i'm that someday it will become a party that is indispensable to forming a government. big movement for the left has left politicians off our back inflation is calling for is. is. something that hasn't been thought through to its conclusion a rallying cry from one i think is good in principle is not enough to create sufficient common ground for making policy together. when left wingers from the very different parties greens s.p.d. and the left sit down together they will find that there are also irreconcilable differences. i have achieved
a lot politically i'm especially proud of. winning my constituency directly as the only one for the greens for many years. that still makes me happy today or no or because it was completely unexpected for me especially. when the election result came in it was one of the most wonderful moments for me in politics. thanks for talking to us. climate change. which just. isn't it time for good. eco africa people and projects that are changing no one fireman for the better up to us to make a difference let's inspire other. people let it be
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