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Transnational Thursday for March 27, 2025

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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The German Grunen are an electorally serious political party that frequently joins coalition governments (occasionally including ones led by the CDU/CSU) - the sort of animal rights extremist who breaks into a politician's home would consider them contemptible sell-outs.

The coalition isn't going to find an agriculture minister who is acceptable to the eco-loonies - because joining a CDU-led government is unacceptable per se. They are probably going to find an agriculture minister who lives in a more defensible location.

I also agree with the other two. Hardcore activists and mainstream Grüne/Linke are part of the same circles at university and get along well despite their differences. There is some grumbling here and there, but they have no problems working together, since they fundamentally share the same worldview.

For a public example, Nancy Faeser, part of the mainstream SPD and minister of the interior under the Ampel (which "protects us from enemies of our constitution", among other things) outright published an article in a magazine from one of the largest antifa orgs, one which has been noted as working together with violent leftwing extremists. Unsurprisingly, Faeser has been going after right-leaning journalists while completely ignoring the extreme left.

It is as @ArjinFerman says.

Die Grünen (and to a lesser extent die Linke) are married to the activists, which form the so-called APO (Außerparlamentarische Opposition / extra-parliamentary opposition). The two don't compete; they cooperate.

the sort of animal rights extremist who breaks into a politician's home would consider them contemptible sell-outs.

Sure, in the same way American leftists consider the Democrats sell-outs, and then dutifully campaign for them.

American left-idiotarians were rather noisily campaigning against Biden in the recent elections on the grounds that he was insufficiently pro-Palestinian.

Sure, some of them made grumbling noises over Palestine, all of them were 100% all-in for Biden in 2020, and most of them were still dutifully campaigning for the Democrats in 2024.