Martin Schulz, the rival
who wants to unseat Angela Merkel as chancellor in September, made headlines
before the election with his criticism of Donald Trump. In an interview with
DER SPIEGEL he now describes the U.S. president as a "risk to the whole
world" and expresses shock over his "merciless nepotism."
Interview Conducted By Florian
Gathmann
The following passages have
been excerpted from the interview with Martin Schulz DER SPIEGEL published
online on Thursday. The former president of the European Parliament is running
against Angela Merkel as the center-left Social Democratic Party's chancellor
candidate.
DER SPIEGEL: Before the U.S.
election, you told us that as president of the United States, Donald Trump
would be "not only a problem for the EU, but also for the entire
world." You were right.
Schulz: It has actually been
far worse.
DER SPIEGEL: What do you mean
by that?
Schulz: It was clear to me
that the White House's solemn atmosphere would not civilize Trump. But the
merciless nepotism with which he conducts politics, in which he places himself
and his family above the law, I wouldn't have considered that possible. And on
top of that there is this reduction of complex political decisions to 140
characters. When it comes to a U.S. president, I consider the reduction of
politics to a tweet to be truly dangerous. Trump is a risk to his country and
the entire world.
DER SPIEGEL: How would you
deal with Trump if you became chancellor?
Schulz: Fifteen years ago to
the day, Gerhard Schröder showed how it is done by giving an unequivocal 'no'
to a U.S. president on his war of aggression against Iraq that violated
international law. At the end of the day, men like Donald Trump need to be
given that which they themselves dispense: clear messages. I would confront him
as clearly and explicitly as possible. It is not only the right, but also the
duty, of the leader of a German government to do that.
DER SPIEGEL: That sounds a bit
like a staged fight.
Schulz: Trump believes
politics is a staged fight. But it is not. Still, clear words are sometimes
needed in politics. In that sense, I believe I am better than Mrs. Merkel.
The only way to defeat Trump—
and to redeem what is worth saving in liberal democracy—is to detach ourselves
from liberal democracy’s corpse and establish a new Left.
Elements of the program for
this new Left are easy to imagine.
Trump promises the
cancellation of the big free trade agreements supported by Clinton, and the
left alternative to both should be a project of new and different international
agreements.
Such agreements would
establish public control of the banks, ecological standards, workers rights,
universal healthcare, protections of sexual and ethnic minorities, etc.
The big lesson of global
capitalism is that nation states alone cannot do the job—only a new political
international has a chance of bridling global capital.
Excerpt from:
“We Must Rise from the Ashes
of Liberal Democracy”
BY Slavoj Žižek
http://inthesetimes.com/article/19918/slavoj-zizek-from-the-ashes-of-liberal-democracy
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