If Scientology is capable of working with and benefiting from both the Revisionist and the Jewish communities in the United States, what could the cult learn from the German BND (the German version of the CIA) and from the German Extreme Left? A certain situation has been arising in the Free and Hanseatic State of Hamburg, Germany over the past several years in which anti-sect representative Ursula Caberta has played a most versatile role. In any case, neither the Scientologists nor the German Intelligence Services nor the leftwing extremists are particularly fond of daylight.
This is an ad hoc comparison of Scientology with the German Intelligence Service (BND). This does not imply that Scientology has anything in common with the German Intelligence Service other than both are intelligence services. If a comparison with the German Intelligence Service seems inappropriate, see a comparison of Scientology with East Germany's intelligence service, the Stasi, at http://www.lermanet2.com/cisar/recog/stasi.htm
Problems German intelligence encountered has recently found resonance within Scientology's own intelligence service. Unofficial Scientologist German Scientology news group representative "Sharky" recently posted the url of an article describing failure of the German intelligence agency (BND) to the de.soc.weltanschauung.scientology news group. As it turns out, both the Scientology and German intelligence agencies share common methods of enlisting outside cooperation -- e.g., pretending to be pursue a criminal investigation to get possible incriminating evidence on critics. Both investigate journalists who publish unfavorable information. Both put a higher priority on plugging the leak than they do correcting the problem. Both do dust-bin collections on critics. Both have exercised a marked disregard for others in courting politicians. While Scientology has not, to our knowledge, interrogated German citizens in Syrian prisons, Scientology founder Hubbard gave instructions for interrogation with an e-meter under just these circumstances.
According to an October 16, 1968 HCO Information Letter from L. Ron Hubbard, "Terrorists and subversives are far more afraid of E-Meters than guns."
"The subject [suspected terrorist] is made to hold two electrodes, one in each hand. The operator asks questions. The machine reads the emotional reaction to the questions. Whenever the needle dips a bit the answer is 'Maybe'.
When the needle dips a great deal, the machine is answering 'Yes'.
When the needle does not dip at all, the answer is 'No' or 'Not Guilty'.
... And what if a person refused to take the electrodes. They almost never refuse even when guilty. But if they did, a gentle placing of the electrodes under the armpits or against the soles of the feet gets the same readings."
"Sharky" accompanied the url about the German Intelligence Service with a taunt, saying that German critic Tilman Hausherr's outfit was in trouble. In return, German-speaking critics have taunted Sharky, presumed to be a German living in Los Angeles, and regularly combine disapproval of Scientology with disapproval of the USA, such as with operations in Iraq. (See accompanying 2003 article by NRW Interior Ministry discussing extremists' reaction to Iraq.)
First a summary of the scandal from the November 11, 2005 SPIEGEL ONLINE, then an excerpt from the url "Sharky" cited.
From: http://www.spiegel.de
"Surveillance scandal
[...]
The German Intelligence Agency (BND) has had journalists and researchers under surveillance, possibly until very recently, without having notified the government. Yesterday BND chief August Hanning commented that there was a 'gray zone' and announced a comprehensive investigation. 'I'm taking this extraordinarily seriously,' he said, although he indicated at the same time that the BND had the obligation and the right to ensure its ability to function.
Munich's newspaper 'Süddeutsche Zeitung' reported that in Fall 1994 the BND had an editor from Focus magazine, as well as Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, shadowed. Other journalists, including a SPIEGEL editor, have also been targets of observation for the intelligence service. Evidence of this includes sworn testimonies of former surveillance team members.
© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2005"
Excerpted from the url cited by "Sharky" from SPIEGEL ONLINE - 11. November 2005, http://www.spiegel.de
"BND (German Intelligence Service) Scandal
'They even followed me into the Sauna'
Interview by Philipp Wittrock
After he uncovered shortcomings in the BND in 1994, journalist Erich Schmidt-Eenboom was shadowed by the German intelligence agency for months. In an interview with 'SPIEGEL ONLINE' the peace researcher described how he and dozens of journalists and scientific researchers came to be put under surveillance.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Herr Schmidt-Eenboom, the German Intelligence Service shadowed you in your institute in Weilheim and on your travels across Germany. Has the former BND staff told you why he made himself known to you now.
Schmidt-Eenboom: Since then there have been several sources in the BND who confirmed what August Hanning, BND president, has conceded. It was about four months ago that a former accomplice with a guilty conscience first looked me up. Then I tried to establish contact with other sources in the BND.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What did the BND man tell you, what all about you did he know?
Schmidt-Eenboom: He told me details about the surveillance, like the fact that the BND wrongfully pretended to be the police then used this to get official help from the Weilheim police department. That's the way the BND got a building from a big textile company to use as an operational base. Surveillance was accomplished at the institute’s entrances from a car with a camera built into the sun visor. In that manner visitors were filmed and license plates recorded. Visitors who arrived by train were followed as they left as far as Nurnberg to establish their identity.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: How did you feel when the man told you details of your life?
Schmidt-Eenboom: I've gotten calmer about it since then, but when someone tells me that I wasn't even safe when going to the sauna with friends because the BND thought that the sports studio trainer, who was caretaker of a BND property, could have slipped me something, or that they knew what I packed in my trunk and when, or what my secretary bought at the store, that was really scary. And it's scary to see what sort of things a foreign intelligence service engages in.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Did you ever suspect you were being shadowed?
Schmidt-Eenboom: I didn't notice anything. My secretary, deceased, used to tell her sister about an eerie feeling she got. She felt like she was being watched. I just noticed that the BND staff who actually sought contact with me did it in secret. We met at an athletic field or in the supermarket, always with the warning to please don't use the telephone. Apparently they were extremely suspicious of their own office.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Your 1994 book about shortcomings in the BND, 'Schnüffler ohne Nase', caused quite a sensation. Couldn't you have guessed that the BND would want to know where you got your information from?
--
BND expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom is the director of the Research Institute for Peace Politics in Weilheim, upper Bavaria. In 1994 Schmidt-Eenboom published 'Schnüffler ohne Nase. Der BND - Die unheimliche Macht im Staat', in which he described the shortcomings of the BND in detail. As has now been revealed, the BND had the Institute under surveillance for months to identify the author's sources.
--
Schmidt-Eenboom: Of course there was much pressure from Minister Bernd Schmidbauer of the chancellor's office at the time. The BND had an interest in the sense of self-security, of keeping a close watch on anything that could have made its way to me. Still none of that justifies the BND putting me and the whole Institute under observation for months.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Visitors to your institute were filmed. How many people did that include?
Schmidt-Eenboom: 50 or 60 journalists and researchers.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The BND explained to you that the files in your case no longer exist. Are you considering taking legal action against the service?
Schmidt-Eenboom: The BND president invited me to an explanatory discussion to be held this month in Berlin. Anything I will consider depends on the course and outcome of this discussion.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What do you think will happen?
Schmidt-Eenboom: Mr. Hanning acted very open with me on the telephone. I'm curious as to whether this openness includes finding the files on me.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The BND chief recently spoke of a gray zone as to how closely the BND could observe journalists. How do you interpret this gray zone?
Schmidt-Eenboom: Obviously BND research has yielded indications, including recently - at least on the lower operational levels, or maybe a little bit higher - of action that can be described as misconduct.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: More precisely, you believe that observation is still going on today and in recent times?
Schmidt-Eenboom: I've no proof about the recent past, but the BND's conduct itself shows its own insecurity and that there could have been operations against journalists in the area of security.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Ernst Uhrlau, secret service coordinator in the chancellor's office in 1998, said he believed since then there had been no more surveillance of journalists. Wouldn't that mean he really didn't know anything and isn't that an indication that no more operations in fact took place?
Schmidt-Eenboom: No. If you ask former secret service coordinator Schmidbauer whether he knew about me being shadowed, he will also presumably deny it. That's absolutely understandable. When information goes uphill, it has to go through so many filters that those who are politically responsible will be informed only of the main results, not about the illegal methods by which the results were obtained.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: This story is shaking things up a lot. Do you think this will produce results?
Schmidt-Eenboom: Hoping for the BND to correct matters by itself would be naive. For years after these clouds have cleared, an intelligence service will still be inclined to take required precautions and do something similar..."
The above could relate to any intelligence agency after an intelligence failure, including Scientology after its cover was blown by a disgruntled spy in the late 1970s in the USA.
The following specifically indicates that German Socialists are as appalled by government surveillance, when accomplished by the BND, as anyone else.
From http://www.spiegel.de
"SPIEGEL ONLINE - 11. November 2005, 12:20 http://www.spiegel.de
Spying on Journalists
by Björn Hengst, Carsten Volkery and Severin Weiland
Politicians in Berlin are clearly outraged by BND (German Intelligence Service) observation of journalists and researchers, and they demand an explanation for the scandal.
Berlin
[...]
The interior political spokesman of the Socialist faction (SPD), Dieter Wiefelspütz, has voiced 'surprise' and wants a better explanation. He said he respects [BND president] Hanning for not making himself scarce. Hats off to him for taking the offensive on this process, now that it's happened, Wiefelspütz told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Nevertheless, there was no 'gray zone,' as Hanning stated. Wiefelspütz said it was 'black and white.' 'The BND is the intelligence agency for abroad, and may not spy on journalists in the homeland. That is not allowed.' He said time must be taken to clear up the scandal, and that there appears to be the will for doing so."
Ursula Caberta's Left Party faction spokesman Petra Pau told SPIEGEL ONLINE that the BND is operating in an area where people are supposed to have rights, that it is not an agency with no rights." (For more information on Left Party, under surveillance in Germany, see NRW article below.)
--
While it is possible that German Scientologists will continue to taunt Tilman Hausherr for doing intelligence dirty work, this is less likely the more it indicates counter-surveillance by Scientology itself. Perhaps less likely to decline is the reprehensible practice by German anti-Scientology critics of equating anti-Scientology with anti-American sentiment, including the presentation of US actions as proof of failure for "Sharky's new homeland."
While both the left extremists and Scientologists are interested in gaining representation in national assemblies, the goal of each is not as much to gain a democratic vote as it is to use the assembly as a stage for the "class struggle" and/or "The War on psychiatry et al.".
An update on the topic reveals a certain sympathy between German socialists/communists/leftists and Scientologists. This stands in contrast with Ursula Caberta and her career fight against Scientology. While the fight against Scientology is a big vote-getter in Germany (as Renate Hartwig has pointed out), at its core Caberta's Left Party has more in common with Scientology than appearances would initially indicate.
This is an excerpt from the December 2, 2005 Jungewelt (http://www.jungewelt.de) article by Ulla Jelpke called "In the Gray Zone."
(Ulla Jelpke is the interior political spokesman for the Left Party in the German Parliament.)
"Spying by the German Intelligence Agency (BND) on journalists critical of that organization is no isolated incident. The Intelligence Agency’s illegal activities, made possible by intransparency and missing public control, has made headline repeatedly.
On December 1, 2005 the Chancellor's Office's former intelligence service coordinator, Hamburg's Socialist Party politician Ernst Uhrlau, took over the German Intelligence Agency (BND, which is Germany's CIA).
He replaced BND president August Hanning, who occupied this office since 1998. Uhrlau himself enjoys a certain amount of personal respect among the Left. When he was the president of the Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution, he came out against hasty decisions to prohibit organizations and political parties, including the necessity of putting Scientology under surveillance, and spoke out against right extremists more urgently than did his political colleagues. For instance in the 1992 mass acts of violence by neo-Fascists, he warned of an impending "'68 leftist movement, but from the right". [...] Uhrlau also favors an attempt to increase transparency within the Office for the Protection of the Constitution [which has Scientology under surveillance]. But the task he has at hand is basically unsolvable. It is impossible to fit an intelligence agency into a democratic structure. These agencies are and will continue to be alien bodies in a legitimate state. The BND cannot be reformed. It has to be done away with."
According to this representative of the Socialist Party of Germany (SPD), Scientology is OK, but the German Intelligence Service needs to be done away with, more or less.
A characteristic of the Left, as noted by the NRW IM later on this page, is that they strive to make the electoral process a stage for the world class struggle. They accomplish this by making allies, not only with the Scientologists as mentioned by Uhrlau, but also with the anti-Scientologists as demonstrated by U. Caberta's vote-getting ability.
There are no core values in this sort of movement, just doing whatever it takes to get the job done. Scientology was in a similar situation when it was simultaneously supporting both the Revisionists (Holocaust deniers) and the Jews (see http://www.lermanet2.com/cisar/carto/index.htm).
These are examples of duplicitousness for the sake of manipulation, back and forth from one extreme to the other. This is standard operating procedure for any intelligence agency, private or government. The article continues with some justification for this position, and mentions the CIA. It's more or less expected that citizens of any country try to involve the US as much as possible in their own problems, such as in illegal spying by Scientology or by the BND. Since the BND is more powerful, however, it gets first billing.
"Illegal Spying
In the past few weeks, the BND had made headlines practically every single day. Several days ago, for instance, it was revealed that BND agents interrogated a German citizen jailed in Syria. Mohammed Haydar Zammar had "disappeared" on a trip to Morocco in December 2001. This was purported to be a CIA operation."
[...]
"Six months later Zammar showed up in a Syrian military prison where he was being interrogated about "country customs," as one German news agency found out from sources within the intelligence community who did not wish to be identified. According to Amnesty International, torture is routine in this particular prison. The Washington Post also presumed Zammar was misused.
BND agents were required by law to question Zammar during their trip to Damascus about whether he was kidnapped or tortured. Instead of that they treated him as if he were suspected of being an Islamic extremist, and that was in November 2002. In a legal state's proceedings the statements of a prisoner who has apparently been tortured is not supposed to bear any value. For this reason the results of the interrogation, in which agents of both the criminal police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution also participated, are confidential. The opposition party wants to discuss this situation in the next session of the interior committee on December 14.
[...]
If, in its intelligence operations, the BND disregards the very constitutional principles it is supposed to protect, then its gradually unraveling domestic operations are per se illegal.
It was revealed in October that for years agents had been shadowing journalist Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, who was critical of the BND, and Focus magazine editor Josel Hufelschulte.
[...]
The official version that these were "regrettable isolated cases" quickly proved untenable. Surveillance to plug leaks in the intelligence services has been going on for much longer and has been much more extensive than at first presumed. BND agents regularly perform dust-bin collections at the Weilheimer Institute.
[...]
ARD political Monitor magazine editor Jo Angerer has only recently learned that he was under surveillance. Upon finding out, Angerer stated, "I am outraged by this." Angerer said there were signs at the time that he was under observation, but he always ignored them. He thought he was suffering from a persecution complex. He never would have imagined that something like this would happen in a democratic state.
[...]
One Failure after the next
Today's scandals are not the first the BND, a rather unloved secret service, has experienced. Leading German politicians have scoffed at the service's lack of professionalism. Former federal chancellor Helmut Kohl, for instance, put no great worth on the service's expertise. The BND attained a worldwide reputation for being incompetent when, at the end of the 1980s it failed to predict the changes in either the Soviet Union or East Germany.
Then there was the disgrace resulting from the Plutonium Affair, for which the Parliament formed a committee of inquiry in 1995.
With the knowledge and under the observation of the BND, agent provocateurs bought plutonium on the black market in Moscow and transported it via Lufthansa to Munich. Neither the pilots nor the passengers had any idea of the highly poisonous cargo on board their plane or of the deadly danger they were in. Circumstances indicate that the BND staged the entire scenario so as to be able to present spectacular investigation results in time for the 1994 federal elections.
[...]"
The matter gets much worse and more graphic as this long article progresses, but the above should suffice for now.
--
German anti-Scientologists have taken some comfort in the fact that the old building Scientology once moved out of has finally been torn down.
From December 2, 2005 Hamburg Abendblatt newspaper
http://www.abendblatt.de
"Old Scientology building torn down
A building that used to belong to Scientology has been torn down. Now the only remembrance of the blighted building is a pile of rubble. Yesterday construction began for an eight-story four-star Arcotel Hotel. ... It is supposed to open summer of 2007."
--
Nevertheless, Scientology is still not quite bankrupt, and the Scientologists still haven't quite disappeared.
From the December 2, 2005 Hamburg Abendblatt newspaper
http://www.abendblatt.de
"Scientology active downtown again
Among the Christmas hustle Scientologists are distributing 'movie coupons' to invite potential recruits to the movie 'Dianetics.' The Working Group on Scientology (of which Ursula Caberta is again director after her campaign as a left extremist political party has officially ended. See more on her views below.) has long been issuing warnings about this organization."
--
Political Parties
Left extremist parties are not striving primarily for representation in the Parliament. They are using the Parliament as a "platform for the class struggle" to spread their ideology. Their political goals are to be attained mainly through a struggle exterior to Parliament. They mean to bring about change by working with allies and exerting influence upon social movements.
[...]
Of the Communist and Maoist parties that arose from the '68 Movement, otherwise known as the "New Left," only the 'Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany' (MLPD) remains ..."
Presented as a supplement to the above
from www.im.nrw.de/verfassungsschutz
Reactions to the War in Iraq from German extremists
American editor's note: the following could also be applied to Scientology, although the cult is not mentioned. Meanwhile, the German edition of National Geographic has published laudatory comments about the efforts of the American Scientologists after the tsunami in Indonesia. (
Office for the Protection of the Constitution for the state of Nordrhein-Westphalia
From the viewpoints of the far right and left, the war in Iraq offers a welcome opportunity for these extremes to liberate themselves from their extreme isolation in German society and to present themselves as potential allies. In this way they hope to profit from the majority's rejection of German involvement in the War in Iraq.
The attempts by right extremists to pass themselves off as a "peace movement" never got through the start gate. At no time has the extreme left dominated the wide citizen opposition against the war. Adherents of Islamist organizations have not even made an appearance in Germany.
Right extremist anti-Americanism has served as a starting point for opposition to the war. Even before the war began, almost all right extremist political parties, neo-Nazis and representatives of the intellectual right have spoken out vehemently against military action in Iraq, and especially against German involvement or support. The only isolated exceptions have been in the sphere of intellectual right extremism. this rejection of the war is based on the ideologically tinged anti-Americanism of the right, which has its foundations in the rejection of American society.
[...]
Left Extremists
The War in Iraq dominated the activities of Left Extremists
The Iraq conflict was the main overlapping field of operations for Left Extremists in the first half of 2003. Even before the onset of the war they were organizing many protests and taking part in the mass rallies of the newly reappeared Peace Movement. The protests against the upcoming war came to an apex February 15, 2003, and had been under discussion since the Antiglobalization movement's international action day at the first European Social Forum in November 2002 in Florence, Italy. In Berlin alone about half million people took to the streets in protest, while other European capitals had significantly higher numbers emerge.
The demonstration's organizers tried to concentrate their activities around X-Day, on which a military strike against Iraq was expected. As the war began, Germany experienced demonstrations and several attempts to blockade public or military establishments. Some of the old Peace Movement, along with newly founded networks and groups against the war, established organizations (including unions and ATTAC), local initiatives and individuals initiated numerous protests, which continued as long as the war progressed. According to police reports, there were over one thousand gatherings against the Iraq war in Nordrhein-Westphalia. Left Extremists did not manage to dominate the majority of the protests, although they contributed greatly to their organization.
By war's end the number of protests dropped drastically. The number of participants in the traditional Easter marches in mid-April were significantly less that what had been expected by organizers.
No opportunity for profiling
The situation with the majority of Germans supporting the protests against the war and the attitude of the German government maintaining its distance from the war did not permit the Left Extremists to claim the Iraq conflict as its own area of operation. In their publications and advertisements, however, Left Extremists have often given expression to their deviating assessment of reasons and intentions. As far as they are concerning, the USA is, first of all, pursuing the imperialist goal of forcing their political, business and military hegemony on others. They presume to know that the federal government's negative attitude toward the war lay more on tactical grounds and on competing capital interests in the region. For these reasons Left Extremists were called upon to take part in protests, but not for the patriotic pacifism of German civil society, but to stress their basically anti-capitalistic and antinational criticism.
Left Extremists conducted numerous anti-war demonstrations and mobilized their members. The PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism, officially classified as left extremist) sought to profile itself as an antiwar party, mainly because at its national party convention in April 2000 in Muenster the party's majority went against party leadership in rejecting war, even if it was backed by UN mandate, but this effort faded in the face of wide public consensus against the war. Strife within the party itself tended to make outsiders not take seriously its claim to be a leading peace party. The German Communist Party, which is rooted in the peace movement, has supported many peace initiatives and, as in previous years, helped organized the nationwide Easter March. In Duesseldorf they, with the help of student and youth organizations, tried to stir the public against the war with a youth tribunal, although that was in vain. The Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD), basically isolated within the left, used protests to build alliances and public awareness.
"Anti-Germans" support the War
The "anti-German" groups have taken a contrary position on the legitimacy of the Iraq war. The strictly pro-Israeli position they took was that anything which ensured the security of the nation of Israel was justified, and that the Germans had a special responsibility in accomplishing this. For this reason they welcomed the military strike against Saddam Hussein's regime and constantly tried to provoke peace demonstrators with their slogans while flying the Israeli flag. To be sure the anti-Germans represent a minority of the Left spectrum, and only a few anti-Fascist groups in Nordrhein-Westphalia can be counted among them.
All in all the demonstrations against the Iraq War led to a transient Renaissance of the Peace Movement, but probably won't lead to anything more enduring. Except for a few small militant operations, however, the protests in Nordrhein-Westphalia were peaceful, to which the government's negative view of the Iraq war may have contributed.
Islamists
For the Islamists their pre-war assessment was confirmed before the War in Iraq began. All the extremist organizations, despite verbal rejection of the American attacks, led demonstrations that were peaceful. ...
--
From the December German National Geographic
"Scientologist: We are all in the same boat"
http://www.nationalgeographic.de
Hell and Hope
Text: Edward Girardet - Photography: John Stanmeyer
Catastrophe without end: 50,000 earthquake victim in the North of Pakistan, extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, more than 225,000 dead on the shores of the Indian Ocean after the Tsunami.
[...]
When in the middle of January I arrived in Medan, a city in northern Sumatra, which served as an important distribution point for the aid to the Province of Aceh, it was bustling with helpers, journalists and military staff. After the Tsunami, governments, editors, the United Nations and non-government organizations (NGOs) the world over were feverishly busy sending help. Aid organizations like "Doctors without borders," "Care," and the "International Rescue Committee" (IRC) have had to compete for space with other groups. The Scientology sect, for example, flew in dozens of young smiling volunteers. Dressed in bright yellow T-shirts, they put up colorful banners and tents in Banda Aceh. Today a rousing camaraderie reigns behind the slogan of "We're all sitting in the same boat." An American student raves about the accomplishments Scientology has made in the treatment of traumatized children. A volunteer group from the Indonesian Red Cross, exhausted but impressed, climb into a Singapore military airplane. "The strongest memory we'll have is that people came here from all countries to help," said Jailani, a student from Borneo. ..."
---
Number 2 Candidate National List Hamburg
Ursula Caberta at linkspartei hamburg.de
--
From September 5, 2005 http://www.taz.de
No consensus on a basic consensus
On social insensitivity and left naiveté, local politics and capital interests, the class struggle and the Revolution: Ursula Caberta (Left Party/PDS/WASG) and Marcus Weinberg (CDU, the current reigning party in Germany, insofar as it includes Angela Merkel, first woman chancellor in Germany) in a September 5, 2005 TAZ debate for the impending federal elections:
Moderated by: Sven-Michael Veit
taz: Mrs. Caberta, is Mr. Weinberg a socially insensitive class enemy?
Ursula Caberta: Not personally, but if he puts the plans of the CDU into action, then he would probably have to be classified as one.
Mr. Weinberg, is Mrs. Caberta a deluded left populist?
Marcus Weinberg: I can't yet judge as to populist, but she is probably leftist, and she is certainly deluded. I've never heard of social insensitivity being propagated in the CDU's program.
Caberta: The Social State, as set down in the Constitution, is gradually being dismantled, first by the Kohl administration and then by the Red-Green coalition (Green Party and more moderate socialists behind G. Schroeder). Now you and the CDU want to make thing still worse. The withdrawal of a social consensus in this country, for example by doing away with property tax and the tax plans of your Mr. Kirchhof, is the real politics of your party. There are a growing number of people who bear the burden: the workers, the unemployed, retired people and, most of all, single mothers.
Weinberg: This state is a social community and shall remain so. And for this reason I think it's right that those better off should provide support for the socially weak. Besides maintaining health care, however, we have to keep what it costs in mind. Our model uncouples health costs from work costs and, in addition, gives relief to those who are not so well off.
Caberta: But we already have a two-class system of health care. There are people who can no longer afford to go to the doctor, not just because of the ten euro fee, but because the individual has to pay more. There are many examinations for women which can be performed only for cash now. This restriction of the health care system is part of the dismantling of the social state. In order to re-socialize, we have to create more positions to pay into the social system.
Weinberg: And for that the circumstances must be created ...
Caberta: By doing away with the employee non-termination law, like the CDU wants?
Weinberg: That only goes for future positions, not for those which exist. The law that we have to keep Germans from being terminated has not hindered high unemployment. A business that wants to dismiss people still does it, but has to go through more financial and legal paperwork. But none of the people in the new positions will be terminated if business is good, because of the non-termination law, which is still comprehensive. They'll be trying to avoid risks for if the job situation gets worse. I am for putting people back to work; you just want to keep the employee non-termination law the way it is. To be honest you'll have to tell the unemployed that they're going to be that way for a long time.
Moderator: You want the state to regulate everything according to the solidarity principle, but you don't want to have to admit that the coffers are bare ...
Caberta: That's because we've had mass unemployment for 30 years and have been following the wrong business politic for just as long. The state just has to invest more and go into more debt, we need a property tax and we need to persistently fight white-collar crime [such as money-laundering]. There are studies showing that alone to be as high as 40 billion euro. But the important thing is a fundamental change to the business politic ...
Weinberg: I think that too ...
Caberta: Only in the wrong direction ...
Weinberg: In the right direction. The mistake was that Germany put nothing aside in the good years. Impending unemployment was countered with investment and business programs financed through debt. And the high cost of Germany's reunification is in addition to that. All this talk about social security, education, innovation and investment is beside the point if we don't manage to create jobs. Only then will the state be in a position to modernize the social system and to bring down debt at the same time.
Caberta: We can afford to be social once we relieve and coddle business and the rich until they say, OK, we'll create a couple more jobs? That is delusional.
Weinberg: You're still stuck back in a contradiction between capital and labor that may have existed in 1970 or 1973. You are acting as though labor and business markets have not been globalized, where companies can go wherever they want to get what they like the most or what is least expensive. The world in which you life is that of the Class Struggle, and has nothing to do with today's reality.
Caberta: Then let's just look at a real-life example in Hamburg. The CDU Senate invested 70 or 80 million euro in the Elbe Philharmonic in the hope of attaining international acclaim and jobs, while decreasing welfare and putting a fee on education. Which makes more sense politically - 100 more teachers or 20 more kitchen staff for the Elbe Philharmonic?
Weinberg: If we create positions for 100 teachers today we do not know how long financing for this can be supported. If incomes taxes continue to decrease, then in a couple of years we would not only have to terminate the 100, but perhaps 200 more besides. I support the politics of setting up a framework so that the Elbe Philharmonic or the Airbus will attract to the city investors, businesses and families who will pay taxes in the long term. It is with this income that we can establish positions for the 100 teachers and whatever else may be desired. Hamburg must present itself as a city that attracts people, and that is what we are doing.
Caberta: You're dreaming. Who is supposed to be able to afford tickets to see the Elbe Philharmonic? We need investment in people, in education and in welfare, we need investment against poverty. We don't need to ascend to new heights, we need to clean out the rotten schools.
Moderator: Is there a good example from state politics in Hamburg that would apply to national politics?
Weinberg, Yes, insofar as we have to make the locale more attractive, in Germany as well as in Hamburg, and have to prevent companies from moving abroad or to Slovakia.
Caberta: I'll say it again, don't rely on businessmen. Money rules the world, not your dreams of capital's social responsibility. We have to fight for work places in Germany, today more than ever. You will see, the people will take to the streets against your politics ...
Moderator: And how many days after his victory in the national elections will the Revolution break out, Mrs. Caberta?
Caberta and Weinberg: (Laugh).
[...]
--
From the August 7, 2005 edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper
http://www.faz.net
Left Party
[...]
Faction dominated for the first time by the West
by Dietmar Bartsch
Gregor Gysi already knows ... that the Left Party, calculated at 12% of the vote according to a September 18, 2005 survey, would come to 68 representatives in the German Parliament, of those 38 from the West. He's not sure how happy he is about that.
"Motley Crew" would be a colorful description for the mixed bag of goods that has pitched its tent in Parliament. Old acquaintances like Dieter Dehm will be there, the songwriter and concert manager who made a fortune on songs like "Aufstehn", "Das weiche Wasser" (composed for the 125th anniversary of Germany's Socialist Party) and "Tausendmal berührt". He couldn't be called a "Red millionaire," but no one in the Party disputes that the Leftist ideologue's intrigues as national chairman have driven the PDS to the brink of disaster. Dehm is the top candidate in Lower Saxony. This is despite the fact that he was exposed as a former East German spy, known as "UC (Unofficial Coworker) Diether" and "UC Willy", who reported on the activities of Germany's Socialist Party and of left radicals to the Stasi (East German secret police).
Ulla Jelpke, an admitted western sectarian, ... who campaigned for the PDS in Parliament, but later quit, is now the chief of politics at 'Junge Welt,' a PDS propaganda rag ..."
[...]
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Norman Paech, number one on Hamburg's Left Party ticket (Caberta was #2), is no stranger to surveillance.
From: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, August 7, 2005
"Change from WASG to PDS
by Wolfgang Neskovic
Professor emeritus Norman Paech is leading the campaign for the Left Party in Hamburg. The law professor, who was under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the 1970s and 1980s, wants to make an issue of human rights in Chechnia, Cuba and the United States. He is followed by Hamburg Senate's anti-sect representative, Ursula Caberta, who makes a living dealing with Scientology. ..."
[...]
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From the April 4, 2005 edition of the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper
http://www.abendblatt.de
"WASG: Left Party elects state committee
The newly formed Left Party "Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit - Die Wahlalternative" (WASG) has elected its first state committee. Union leader Regine Brüggemann, Zaman Masudi who was born in Iran, Verdi representative Berno Schuckart and former SPD member Elisabeth Baum got the majority of the votes during the WASG's founding convention in the Wilhelmsburg Burgerhaus. Bernhard Müller, editor of "Sozialismus" magazine, became treasurer. The approximately 100 members present also voted into the extended committee former SPD Burgerschaft representative Ursula Caberta and Jan Röbke, an unemployed businessman."
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From the August 2, 2005 edition of the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper
http://www.abendblatt.de
Caberta replaced
Ursula Caberta, second on the Hamburg state candidacy list for the Left Party, will give up her job as the Hamburg Senate's anti-sect representative. Interior agency spokesman Marco Hase said that Ursula Caberta would be on the watch list during her political involvement. He said this was done with her complete agreement.
Caberta got her old job back in Hamburg once she lost the elections. Her first public action was to warn the public not to go to Sri Chimnoy training.
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After Caberta was elected to the WASG party, she and her party elected to ally the WASG with the PDS for the purpose of being put on the ballot.
From the August 19, 2005 of the n24 Internet newspaper
http://www.n24.de/
Lawyer says Left Party campaign lists were "manipulated"
by Tilman Steffen
Constitutional lawyers believe that putting members of the Wahlalternative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit (WASG) party on the state candidacy lists of the Left Party is a clear violation of election law. "One party is piggy-backing on the other party" to overcome the five-percent hurdle, criticized former Constitutional Judge Hans Hugo. He said this was "manipulation."
[...]
Hamburg the "crassest" violation
[...]
The crassest violation was in Hamburg, Berlin Constitutional lawyer Ulrich Battis told the Internet newspaper. The decision of the election manager to accept political scientist Norman Paech, unaffiliated and WASG's Mrs. Ursula Caberta on the Left Party's campaign list was "certainly problematic." An original Left Party member did not show up on the candidacy list until spot number three.
Legal Dilemma
Battis sees the collaboration between the two left parties as a legal dilemma. The fact that the combined votes of the Left Party and the WASG surmounts the five-percent hurdle is "an abuse which cannot be proved," he said. That was because the combination of campaign lists from different parties was "not legally regulated."
[...]"
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From Number 33 of 17 August 2005 "Jungle World"
"Everyone under one hat
Keynesians, Anti-imperialists and old acquaintances: the Left Party faction will be a colorful crew in the next Parliament. An overview by ivo bozic.
Some background: The PDS held its party convention in Gera in 2002. After two years under Gabi Zimmer the party disappeared as a faction from Parliament. Then came the day of reckoning. A power struggle sparked up between the "reformers," meaning celebrities Gregor Gysi, Lothar Bisky, Dietmar Bartsch, André Brie and Petra Pau, and the "orthodox," which consisted of the Communist Platform (KPF), the western Left and part of the East German nostalgists. Zimmer won by concentrating on the election of the national committee, thanks to support from the orthodox.
The fact that the PDS, which since then has attained seats in Europe's parliament, is anything but being left and is most well known for its German national tone, has not upset the allegedly Left Wing. With them the Left has gained office for music producer, former SPD man and former Stasi snitch Dieter Dehm and for former SPD representative Uwe Hiksch. Many of the reformers have taken flight and withdrawn back to private life.
Why the background. Because people like to forget that it was the Communist Platform and its clientele who paved the way for those leaving the SPD into the PDS. Today they criticize the estrangement from Socialism and the planned fusion with the WASG.
[...]
Today the PDS, which is now calling itself a Left party, has an opportunity to outdo the SPD, at least in the East. Surveys give them up to 12 percent in the federal election, but even if it's not that high, they will be able to form a respectable faction, for the first time with more representatives from the west than from the east. Several WASG representatives are lining up behind Lafontaine and Gysi, and suddenly the Left Party looks like it did in Gera, where it practically did itself in.
Add to that the association of colorful figures like federal judge Wolfgang Neskovic, who has become renowned for a "Recht auf Rausch," former leading editor of Hessian Radio Luc Jochimsen, and Hamburg Senate's anti-sect representative Ursula Caberta. We may also soon be hearing from Dehm, who made the campaign list in Schleswig-Holstein, in the Parliament.
[...]"
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From the August 1, 2005 edition of the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper
http://www.abendblatt.de
"[...]
Although unaffiliated top candidate Norman Paech was elected by overwhelming majority to spot number one over the weekend, Hamburg Senate anti-sect representative Ursula Caberta failed on the first ballot, but made the ticket on the second. "The comrades are voting as if everyone here were PDS," complained a state representative ...
In case he make the elections, number one candidate Paech wants to speak out against globalization. For the core issues of the left, though, like Hartz IV and joint citizens insurance, Paech is not an expert. "I have no idea of retirement accounts, and cannot make sense of financial or tax politics," he said. For that he has colleague Caberta, for which she will have to leave her place of employment. She is being replaced.
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2005 Election list of the Left Party
from http://fhh.hamburg.de/stadt/Aktuell/wahl/bundestagswahlen/2005/presse/bewerberinnen,property=source.pdf.
fhh is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
© Distribution with source desired
[...]
Page 2 2 I. State lists
[...]
5. The Left Party.PDS State Alliance Hamburg
(The Left.)
[All reside in Hamburg, except Kamin, who lives in Borken, and U. Caberta has a "c/o" address.]
1. Paech, Norman, Professor emeritus, born 1938 in Bremerhaven
2. Caberta y Diaz, Ursula, civil service, born 1950 in Hamburg
3. Fersoglu, Yavuz, attorney, born 1967 in Kavakosan
4. Schneider, Christiane, retailer, born 1948 in Hamburg
5. Schuckart-Witsch, Berno, social pedagogue, born 1951 in Niebüll
6. Wefing, Antje, choir singer, born 1972 in Bernburg/Saale
7. Kamin, Bernt, port specialist, born 1958 in Meldorf
8. Detamble-Voss, Christine, nurse, born 1944 in Wels, Austria
9. Kemski-Lilleike, Gerald, skilled worker, born 1951 in Hamburg
10. Asad, Renate, social pedagogue, born 1946 in Oberaula
11. Joithe-v. Krosigk, Wolfgang, IT-system consultant, unemployed, born 1950 in Berlin
12. Fritzsche, Olga, documentation specialist, born 1972 in Berlin
13. Burkhardt, Bela, student, born 1985 in Hamburg
14. Reiß, Beate, clerk, born 1955 in Osnabrück
Other political parties include:
6. Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (NPD)
7. Anarchistische Pogo-Partei Deutschlands (APPD)
8. Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands (MLPD)
9. Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz (Die Tierschutzpartei)
10. Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative (Die PARTEI)