Now. How we renew our country

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Annalena Baerbock performing in January 2020

Now. How we renew our country is the name of a book by Annalena Baerbock , politician from Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen . It was published by Ullstein Verlag on June 21, 2021 . The book combines autobiographical descriptions with the author's view of the world and with her political positions. The book, a SPIEGEL bestseller, can be seen as part of Baerbock's election campaign for the 2021 federal election .

At the end of June there were allegations that Baerbock had copied from other works for the book. Baerbock replied that it was not a non-fiction book and that footnotes were unnecessary. From her party it was said that the plagiarism allegations were part of a character assassination campaign against the candidate.

Origin and content

The author Michael Ebmeyer helped write the 240-page book . He, according to Baerbock, spoke to her for a long time in December 2020 and January 2021. The transcriptions of the conversations had become the basis on which Baerbock wrote the book.

Programmatically, the book does not provide anything new, says Sophie Garbe in SPIEGEL online . These are statements that sound good, but from which it is not clear what should follow from them. It becomes more specific when it comes to own questions about the minimum wage, which should be increased. According to Baerbock, measures against climate change shouldn't call the market into question, the EU should take in refugees, but borders should definitely be controlled. According to Garbe, Baerbock wanted to “take away the fear of too much change”. Baerbock continues the green story of recent years that the Greens are the new party in the middle of society.

According to Claus Heinrich, Annalena Baerbock remains vague in the book. You avoid specific answers to many political questions.

Regarding the autobiographical, Garbe said that Baerbock used personal information specifically for political messages. For example, that her father taught her and the sisters how to change a tire on a car so that you don't have to stand by the roadside and hope for a man to help. Baerbock wrote "again and again [...] about the role of a woman and a young mother" in order to stand out from the other candidates for chancellor Scholz and Laschet . However, Baerbock dosed exactly the amount of closeness that they allowed in the book, according to Garbe.

Allegations of plagiarism

On June 28th, Stefan Weber published a blog post with the title: “Plagiarism allegation against Annalena Baerbock's book 'Jetzt. How we renew our country '”. The Austrian media scientist accused Baerbock of several copyright violations. He quoted passages from her book and contrasted them with quotations from works by other authors. He complained that some word matches were identical.

Weber added later. Among other things, Baerbock also wrote off sustainability researcher Maja Göpel and Green politician Jürgen Trittin . Weber emphasized that he was reviewing the book on his own initiative. There was no order and no payment from others.

In connection with the plagiarism allegations, Lars Wienand and Jonas Mueller-Töwe said on t-online that there had been “backers” for a dirt campaign against Baerbock. According to his own statements, the plagiarism hunter Martin Heidingsfelder was called by an acquaintance who wanted to win Heidingsfelder for a campaign against Baerbock. Heidingsfelder refused. The acquaintance then pointed out to Heidingsfelder that he would contact another plagiarism hunter, namely Weber. Wienand and Mueller-Towe: “t-online has no evidence that the alleged client actually turned to Weber and that he accepted the possible order. Heidingsfelder's descriptions and the temporal context, however, allow this suspicion, even if the plagiarism hunter Weber asserts that he is working on his own account. "

Baerbock switched on the media attorney Christian Schertz immediately after the first allegations . This claimed that the text passages were not copyright infringements. Baerbocks Verlag Ullstein said that Baerbock only listed facts that were generally accessible. Even simple formulations used to convey such facts are not protected by copyright. The spokesman for Baerbock condemned the allegations as "attempted character assassination". Weber tried to damage Baerbock's reputation with allegations about his résumé.

Baerbock himself only commented on the allegations on July 1 in a live interview with Brigitte magazine . She rejected the criticism and said that ideas from many other people were incorporated. But she did not write a non-fiction book, but described the world with facts and realities and what she plans to do with the country. She put the allegations against her in connection with the 2016 election campaign in the USA, in which truth and falsehood mixed up.

debate

Björn Drake from the ARD main studio expressed doubts about the allegations. The book is a “political non-fiction book and not a scientific dissertation with corresponding citation rules”, as Weber also said. Only factual information was taken over, no intellectual property.

Baerbock's book and procedure was also defended by ZDF journalist Felix W. Zimmermann and former Green politician Ralf Fücks. No intellectual work had been taken over, only generally known facts. These are not protected by copyright. The lawyer Christine Libor counters this by stating that plagiarism and copyright infringement are not the same thing. Copyright is about "creative services" and formulations. In the case of plagiarism, someone adorns himself with foreign feathers, it could also be present if it was not a matter of copyright infringement. The criticized text passages in Baerbock's book could be sufficiently creative that they could be protected by copyright. A non-scientific book like Baerbock's is more about an ethical, not a legal question.

Stefan Kuzmany calls the plagiarism allegations "puny" in SPIEGEL Online. It is only a "hastily knocked together book" for the candidacy for chancellor, not a scientific work. The accusations do not concern “capital offenses”, but they are nevertheless devastating for the candidate because there has already been a debate about the inconsistencies in the résumé. Kuzmany admits to Baerbock that, as a woman, she was criticized particularly harshly in the election campaign. However, this is hardly avoidable with the top candidates for the federal election, and as Chancellor she must be able to endure it. "Because it will not help to argue now via media lawyers that Baerbock did not violate the copyright at all - the impression of imposture still remains." He sums up: "The response of this company to Annalena Baerbock will be clear. Your chancellor campaign is as good as done. "

Hugo Müller-Vogg interpreted Baerbock's book as an attempt to present herself as a thought leader. In doing so, she reported content from other authors as her own findings. It would be up to the courts to resolve the issue of copyright infringement. But Baerbock has already discredited himself politically. But “a top candidate without any government or administrative experience would depend on trust”. The live talk with Brigitte was a good chance to "clarify the matter". The simple defense strategy was to emphasize that it was not a non-fiction book. But, according to Müller-Vogg, even a school child would not get away with this excuse. As soon as the allegations became known, Baerbock should have admitted that she should have worked more carefully. You missed the liberation possible in the live talk.

supporting documents

  1. ^ Sophie Garbe: Klima, Bullerbü and Grandpa Waldemar . In: SPON, June 17, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  2. ^ Sophie Garbe: Klima, Bullerbü and Grandpa Waldemar . In: SPON, June 17, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  3. ↑ Claus Heinrich: "Now" by Annalena Baerbock: The green candidate for chancellor remains vague in her book . In: SWR2.de, June 30, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  4. ^ Sophie Garbe: Klima, Bullerbü and Grandpa Waldemar . In: SPON, June 17, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  5. ↑ Stefan Weber: Plagiarism allegation against Annalena Baerbock's book “Jetzt. How we renew our country ” . In: Scientific Honesty Blog, June 28, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  6. ↑ Copied from your party colleague? Plagiarism checker adds eight passages against Baerbock . In: Focus, July 2, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  7. ↑ Plagiarism hunter publishes further information on Baerbock book . In: RND, June 30, 2021, accessed July 2, 2021.
  8. ^ Lars Wienand, Jonas Mueller-Töwe: Backers were looking for plagiarism hunters for anti-Baerbock campaign . In: t-online, July 1, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  9. ↑ Björn Dake: What is behind the plagiarism allegations . In: tagesschau.de, June 30, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Didn't write a non-fiction book" . In: tagesschau.de, July 1, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  11. ↑ Björn Dake: What is behind the plagiarism allegations . In: tagesschau.de, June 30, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  12. ↑ Christine Libor in conversation with Axel Rahmlow: When does a text count as plagiarism? In: Deutschlandfunk, June 30, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  13. ↑ Stefan Kuzmany: That too . In: SPON, June 30, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.
  14. ↑ Hugo Müller-Vogg: Do we know this woman? Baerbock is just gambling away the most important things on the way to the Chancellery , in: Focus. June 30, 2021, accessed July 2, 2021.
  15. ↑ Hugo Müller-Vogg: No trace of self-criticism! Baerbock leaves great opportunities in live talk, in: Focus, July 1, 2021, accessed on July 2, 2021.

ISBN: 9783550201905