Die PARTEI
Die PARTEI (English: the party) is a populist political party in Germany founded in 2004 by editors of the German satirical magazine Titanic.
The name
"PARTEI" stands as an acronym for Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative (translated to English: Party for Work, Rule-of-Law, Protection of Animals, Advancement of Elites, and Basic Democratic Initiative.) The term "die Partei" (Partei=party preceded by a definite article) was in the German Democratic Republic synonymous with the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and in Nazi Germany with the NSDAP.
Goals
The party refers to itself as a harbor for voters who have been disappointed with other parties. It plans to engage in a (self-declared) "populist campaign."
- rebuilding the Berlin Wall.
- reform of the health insurance system
- protection of our natural resources
- a reduction in working hours and the scrapping of the Hartz IV and other laws introduced by "the neoliberal Schröder regime" (as an alternative to the Agenda 2010)
- a new constitution discussed and ratified by the people (according to artikel 146 German constitution).
The party's stated goals are easily identified as anti-neoliberal, left-leaning and relatively close to the stance taken by left social democrats, leftist Greens, or the new Labour and Social Justice Party. The only programme point that cannot even remotely be found in other parties' programmes is the resurrection of the wall that once divided East and West Germany, something that, according to certain polls, some 20% of all Germans wish for.
Die PARTEI and Titanic magazine
The Titanic is the party's official media organ. Titanic writers already took part in several elections in Germany. At the German federal election, 2002 they put up a stand, supposedly for the Free Democratic Party shouting racist slogans, in January 2003, several Titanic authors, pretended to be candidates of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Hesse. At the elections 2003 in Bavaria Titanic surrendered in the name of the Bavarian Social Democrats ("SPD: Wir geben auf"), who always face the superiority of the Christian Social Union.
Campaign 2005
In June 2005, die Partei agreed with the Anarchist Pogo Party to join forces in an alliance, Zweckbündnis, for the German federal election, 2005.
See also
External links
- Official site (German)
- Titanic (German)
- Commentary on the European non-English press