German daily Die Welt and Focus Online reported that, among other things, because the SPD does not take the problems caused by immigration seriously, Endruschat has now left the party.
“The SPD lacks the willingness to deal with the real problems,” Endruschat told Focus Online. In addition to Muslim clan crime, there is also a problem that the party does not ask itself at which points the integration failed. “The SPD has no interest in even recognizing the problems related to immigration.”
The councilor told Die Welt that the SPD showed both in Essen, in North Rhine-Westphalia and in the federal government “no interest in even recognizing the problems surrounding immigration”. His former comrades are too arrogant, and he witnessed this attitude several times.
For example, at a party event with young immigrants: “They asked the comrades present that more Germans should to come to their school classes, since without thorough mixing nobody could really learn German there. But my party friends didn’t want to hear that.”
He finally left the SPD when a candidate was nominated for the upcoming city council election instead of him, someone who had converted from the Left Party to the SPD a few years ago. This is a meaningful sign of the development of the SPD. The party has “in the past two years made a clear left turn, an advance to the left”.
When asked whether anything had changed since the 2015 debate about failed integration in Essen that he initiated, Endruschat replied: “Unfortunately not. But, a leading Essen Social Democrat, whom I do not want to mention by name, has now moved from a district with many migrants to a district with few migrants. That, of course, makes it easier for him to stay true to his ‘there-are-no-problems’ course.”
The growing Muslim population is a problem for Germans. “Not only because of the sometimes very reactionary mosques, but also because of the perceived loss of homeland,” Endruschat said, reaffirming his warning against the Muslimization of entire city districts that was expressed two years ago.
For many Germans, a Muslim street scene is not necessarily homely. “And the fact that we regularly have Turkish or Lebanese flags hanging on our front doors does not exactly increase the feeling of home for long-established residents.”
Former Berlin finance senator and bestselling author Thilo Sarrazin (SPD) has also accused his party of suppressing any internal discussion about Islam in Germany.
Unlike the MEP Guido Reil (AfD), he will not change to the right-wing party, Endruschat said. He was still attached to the idea of a pluralistic social democracy that allowed a left and a right wing. “In the AfD I would be out of place. They are getting stronger without me. Unfortunately.”
And the councilor warned that they could become even stronger. If the AfD sacked its overtly radical right-wing minority, it could be even more dangerous for the CDU and SPD.
One comment
The SPD has been losing voters, and members, unhappy over its “soft” leftism and its putting politics over ideology through its coalition with Merkel’s CDU in government. Opening the door to hard leftists and Islamists seems to be the answer for the party higher-ups. But it’s unlikely this will do much except drive more SPD rank and file members–and voters–away, and move the party leftward.
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