anti-immigration positions and prospects on the left

Submitted by myth (Germany), Dec 1, 2017 at 17:30

Anti-immigration is not entirely a right-wing issue. The left in Germany discovers its perspective on the anti-immigration movement.

"Neues Deutschland" (a while ago the East-German state sponsored paper) reports a course correction within "Die Linke" - The Left. Other papers report this is as well but I chose this paper for the sake of cold war nostalgia.

https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1069797.linke-wagenknecht-gegen-einwanderungsgesetz.html

(one needs to click: "x Jetzt nicht" to reveal the full article)

Prominent leaders Sarah Wagenknecht and Oskar Lafontaine explain their motivations to curb 2015-size immigration.Here's a quote from the article
Wagenknecht:»Wieso kann ein reiches Land wie Deutschland nicht seine Fachkräfte selbst ausbilden?«,
EN: "Why can't a rich country like Germany train skilled labour itself?"

Lafontaine:»Die Aufnahme von politisch Verfolgten und Kriegsflüchtlingen ist eine moralische Verpflichtung« »Bleiberecht und 1050 Euro für alle, die zu uns kommen, sind wirklichkeitsfremd.«
EN: "Admitting political refugees and war-refugees is a moral obligation. A right to stay and 1050 euro for everyone who comes to us is unrealistic."

The wheels were set in motion by the sexual assault new year's eve in Cologne on which Wagenknecht commented:

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/ansbach-merkel-und-die-fluechtlinge-linke-fallen-ueber-sahra-wagenknecht-her/13926864.html:
"Wer sein Gastrecht missbraucht, der hat sein Gastrecht eben auch verwirkt"

the same quote in English here
http://www.exberliner.com/features/opinion/konrad-werner-the-linke-is-not-like-the-afd/
"Whoever abuses their right to hospitality has forfeited it,"

Should the Left in Europe discover that 2015-style immigration hurts working-class people the most the left might regain their traditional constituency. Tommy Robinson in England has made this argument convincingly. The anti-immigration-Right in contrast wants to appeal to everyone, the nation, not just working class, who is dissatisfied with current levels immigration. I bet on the Left, not the Right, if and when they correct their course for good. Social democrats will be marginalised for they collaborated with Angela Merkel as part of the government when it counted in 2015.

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