Political Ash Wednesday
Left-wing politician distributes a joint on stage against the traffic light coalition
Ates Gürpinar is the federal manager of the Left Party. He speaks at the Left’s Political Ash Wednesday
© Screenshot / Youtube “The Left”
On Political Ash Wednesday, the distribution takes place across party lines. The Left’s managing director Ates Gürpinar also rails against the traffic light coalition – and highlights a law.
The government could make a mockery of itself on Political Ash Wednesday – and the opposition could really scold it. The Left follows this stage during their appearance in Bavaria.
The main speaker in Tiefenbach near Passau is actually Left Party leader Janine Wissler. But Ates Gürpinar, who stepped in for Bodo Ramelow and has been federal manager of the Left since January, is causing a surprise.
Gürpinar begins with the classic left-wing topics. He praises the protests against right-wing extremism, in which Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann also took part. Surprise – Herrmann was standing to his right. Short laughs.
Gürpinar praises ‘green’ progress on Political Ash Wednesday
What follows: swipes at the dominant German culture, by which Prime Minister Markus Söder would primarily understand Christmas trees, the demand for property taxes from multimillionaires and anger over the rearmament of the Federal Republic.
In any case, the traffic light coalition doesn’t get much done, says Gürpinar – but an election promise is finally being kept: the release of cannabis. Green progress, so to speak. The left-wing politician reaches for his desk and raises a rolled joint. Short laughs and cheers from the audience.
After the disputes in December, the “Progressive Coalition” did not want to pass the cannabis law immediately: “In the end it cannot be in the press, we can’t get anything done except the legalization of cannabis.” Instead, the traffic light decided: “Then we’d rather not get caught up in anything.”
But the planned cannabis legalization is coming and is scheduled to come into force on April 1st. The new regulation provides for the purchase of cannabis to a limited extent – a maximum of 25 grams per day – through non-commercial associations. The possession and consumption of cannabis will remain prohibited for young people under the age of 18.
The Federal Managing Director concluded his short speech with another left-wing swipe: “As the saying goes: It’s better to have borders without borders than tight borders.”
Sources: Political Ash Wednesday of the Left, information from news agencies