They event chose to give a raise to the police and not the healthcare workers.
I only hope the EU steps in soon or we'll see Poland drifting towards an authoritarian regime
They event chose to give a raise to the police and not the healthcare workers.
I only hope the EU steps in soon or we'll see Poland drifting towards an authoritarian regime
https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article207246011/Heidelberg-...
First, the measures in Germany are of course vigorously debated, and legal challenges are going ahead.
Second, that particular lawyer has declared all measures against the COVID-19 unconstitutional and has unilaterally "revoked" them on her website. She then became paranoid when there was a car parked near her house for a long time, hid behind cars, and asked passers-by to call the police, declaring herself to be "Public Enemy #1".
Yes. She might have followers, you know.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatr...
After all, government knows best. This is not normal times; in this crisis, citizens' lives are at stake, so the government should be able to do anything, as long as they loudly claim their intentions are pure. Anyone who opposes the government isn't a criminal, because that would guarantee them some due process; they're an insane person who needs to be involuntarily treated. For their own good, of course.
/s
Actually doing something is curbed in many ways.
> unilaterally "revoked" them on her website.
So what, that's like Stallman redefining terms. Hardly a cause for concern, I wonder if some readers are mentally unstable if they take that seriously.
> declaring herself to be "Public Enemy #1"
If your website is shut down, why would you not get anxious?
The whole thing is an overreaction.
What you can't do is unilaterally decide that you don't like a law and ignore it. Asking other people to gather outside for a demonstration when this kind of action is currently disallowed is incitement and therefore illegal.
As others have said, debates around the current measures are allowed and happening. Several parties have already filed lawsuits. In all cases that I know of, the constitutional court has rejected the preliminary injunctions. This means that, while the constitutional court may still decide in the future that the laws were anti-constitutional, they have decided that the harm to the individual due to these laws does not outweigh the harm of these laws not being enforced _were_ they constitutional.
As to whether they needed to shut down the web site or whether that is actually legal: I don't know. But the police, especially local police, sometimes does things of questionable legality, as in every country. Of course, you can always sue the police and demand that your website be restored, and then the courts will examine your arguments. It's not a perfect system (no system is), but you do have legal options.
The majority of Germans is against the television protection money. You have to pay this protection money even if you do not own a television, or else you'll be thrown in debtor's prison and your credit score is ruined.
The protection money ruled "constitutional" by the Verfassungsgericht. That is how democracy works.
So, since you are so informed: What should I do? Found my own party, vote AfD? Neither of these is an actual option for me.
If you want to change that, you could move to Switzerland, where voters actually do regularly vote on issues, but be warned, that that system comes with its own set of disadvantages. Also noteworthy: the Swiss people recently voted on whether to keep the equivalent of the Rundfunkgebühr, and they overwhelmingly said yes, as soon as they realised how much they would otherwise lose; you see, it's one thing to claim you're against something when asked randomly during some survey, it's another to actually go and vote against it once you know your opinion matters and you've had some time reviewing the pros and cons.
By the way, I don't own a car and I still have to pay money for streets; I don't have children and have to pay for school; and I've never received unemployment benefits, yet have to pay for it. I don't complain about any of that because I think having public goods is a good thing.
You've asked me what I think you should do. I've outlined a lot of things in my previous post. That none of these is an "actual option" for you or that you think people won't care about your cause is not a failure of democracy. Nobody ever said that change is easy.
- she may or may not be generally paranoid, I would not be surprised either way
- she called the police because she felt surveilled and pursued
- her initial treatment by the police is really inappropriate if it happened as she describes (being cuffed behind her back on the ground, being pushed onto the floor in the psychiatric clinic headfirst) and I still would not be surprised if it happened that way
- I would not be surprised if this is unfortunately 'normal' for police encountering who they think of as a 'confused' person
- Aside from the way she described being treated by the police her experience might(!) be reasonable treatment for a person suspected of being paranoid with potential future self-harm. I do not know how this diagnosis is determined and whether it is accurate in this case.
- she seems very focused on herself and a conspiracy, talking about how 'of course' each of the police and the doctor/psychiatrists and everyone in Germany and everyone in the world knows her (I did not know of her for one), and that the receiving doctor/psychiatrist took ten minutes to arrive as he/she still had to receive orders 'from the top'
- the strongest indicator for being paranoid is that she states that the people in Germany and this world should wake up to this fake pandemic, which is orchestrated and that not a single person has died yet in Germany. The sincerity with which she states this reminds me of other conspiracy theorists on the far right.
Poland (radical right government) and Hungary (far right government) have a pact where they veto any EU actions against one of them.
Members of EU are sovereign states. I think kicking them out of the union is only way to proceed if their system does not fit into the EU anymore.
Same will happen in Italy in a few years.
"I think kicking them out of the union is only way to proceed if their system does not fit into the EU anymore."
To keep the EU clean, yes, but it won't accomplish anything locally: far right governments would actually love to get out of the European Union so they can do their nasty stuff unsupervised.
It's not EUs job to do that.
There is genuine grassroots support for illiberal government in both countries. People in these countries are divided and have to fight it out among themselves. The responsibility is to upkeep liberal democracy is in the hands of the people.
For a country to be eligble for EU membership, it has to be a democracy and be a signatory of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and acknowledge the legitimacy of the european court of human rights and European Court of Justice.
While the ECHR is not a EU institution, it is a cornerstone of european diplomacy both inside and outside the union.
The Italian government is allegedly markedly left, and locked a lot of people in their homes with two administrative acts (no action from the Parliament for many weeks), has made a government commission against fake news on the epidemic (with outside journalists, but it still smells like a Ministry of Truth), and is using quite a bit of pressure to keep people in their homes (nothing violent, but a presence and controls by the police far higher than normal). Regional governments of any sides are following up in the same manner up to threatening arrest if you are walking out if you don't have a documented reason.
Oh, and the Parliament is essentially shut down, and so the judicial system for the most part: everyone is too afraid of death.
Also the way they address Italians, like parents scolding children, is unbearable. The population is made up of citizens, not loyal subjects.
Simply put, as far as I can see the current pandemic has brought out the worst authoritarianism from all political sides.
Populations are made of children citizens. Italy voted Berlusconi into power multiple times.
I'm strong supporter democracy but the idea that voters are "adults" does not hold water. You need the mechanisms of liberal democracy and institutional processes for any resemblance of rationality to emerge from democratic process. Democracy is inherently dangerous.
People are indeed capable of acting irrationally. But they're still citizens and not subjects of the government, which is still accountable to them (for the good and the bad), or should be, at least.
This specific government acts in bad faith, far more than what can be considered tolerable (and the meaning for the choices made is lost completely).
Speak for yourself.
(or in this case, the checks map Oder)
(I’m simplifying, of course; I’m no lawyer).
You can either be an activist and do something to convince your fellow citizens - or - enjoy (the hopefully soon to be reestablished) freedom of movement in the EU, move to a proper democracy and vote with your feet.
That was in Switzerland. The doctor [1] has a history of challenging establishment narratives and was previously arrested in conjunction with the chemical attacks in Syria.
I have read second hand accounts that assert that he was arrested, taken to a mental hospital, and has been released.