- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

German New Civil Defense Plan Aims to Get Militarization Support - Left Party

© Flickr / DIE LINKEBundesparteitag der Partei DIE LINKE
Bundesparteitag der Partei DIE LINKE - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The freshly adopted German civil defense plan, which proposes integrating civilian agencies in support of the German army and prepares nation for a life-threatening development, only generates fear and aims at gathering people's support for militarization of the country, the member of parliament for the Left Party Ulla Jelpke told Sputnik.

German Flag - Sputnik International
Germany's New Civil Defense Plan Unrelated to Terror Threat - Interior Minister
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere unveiled a 69-page report dubbed Concept for Civil Defense, where he detailed the plan "in case of an existence-threatening development in the future that cannot be ruled out", making civilian backing of troops a priority and instructing citizens, among the other points, to stockpile food and water in case of terrorist or cyber attacks.

"This new 'Concept for Civil Defense' is not a concept for civil protection or disaster control – it gives instructions for civil defense, meaning the inclusion of civilians in a military master plan. This concept generates fear; its only purpose is to build up a massive support for extended surveillance and militarization among the civilian population," Jelpke said.

The lawmaker also stressed that some provisions like "possible threat coming from hostile state actors using hybrid warfare" was "a barely disguised accusation against Russia".

"This must be seen in the context of an aggressive NATO policy against Russia, as well as in the context of the participation of Germany in international military operations," she concluded.

Jelpke added that in the past years Germany saw a steady process of internal militarization and many attempts of the federal government to establish domestic deployments of the German army despite it is forbidden by the constitution with the new White Paper of Defense, released this summer, proposing such deployments in cases of terror acts in Germany.

View of the Berlin skyline seen from Potsdamer Platz to Alexanderplatz, including the TV Tower, the Berlin Cathedral (R), the Berlin palace under construction and the city's town hall (Rotes Rathaus, R) - Sputnik International
Germany's New Civil Defense: Why Germans Urged to Stock Food, Drinking Water
"Apparently, the federal government is preparing for a violent crackdown of civil unrest, strikes and protests. Those will be the inevitable consequences of ongoing aggressive foreign and neoliberal economic policies, which lead to an increasing impoverishment of many people," she warned.

The spokesman for the Berlin branch of the right "Alternative for Germany" party Ronald Glaser agreed that with this civil defense plan the government was preparing for the civil unrest, though he gave another explanation of its reasons.

"If there are dangers, that threaten our country at that point, it is civil unrest, brought to us by unsatisfied refugees, who have been invited to our country by our government with wrong promises," the spokesman told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Asked whether Germany was returning to aggressive foreign and military policies, Glaser labeled these perceptions "hot air" and call it exaggeration.

"On the other hand: Germans take it seriously. They talk about it in public, and some stores seem to be sold out at the end of a day, which was unlikely to happen until now," he admitted.

This week, the first leaks of the Civil Defense Concept with advises to stockpile food and water led to people panic buying.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала