416. The Revolution of German Farmers | Eva Vlaardingerbroek & Anthony Lee
Summary
In this episode, we speak with Eva Vladingerbroek and Anthony Lee about the ongoing farmer protests in Germany and other European countries. Eva is a political commentator from the Netherlands who has been involved in the Dutch farmer protests for years, and has been with the German farmers and truckers and dock workers and railway workers who have basically brought Germany to its knees in the last weeks, even though you may not have seen much of that in the so-called legacy media circles. With decades of experience helping patients, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson offers a unique understanding of why you might be feeling this way, and offers a roadmap towards healing. In his new series, "Dr. Peterson's New Series: Depression and Anxiety," Dr. Peterson provides a roadmap toward healing, showing that while the journey isn't easy, it's absolutely possible to find your way forward. If you're suffering, please know you are not alone. There's hope, and there's a path to feeling better. Go to Daily Wire Plus now and start watching Dr. B.P. Peterson on Depression & Anxiety. Let this be the first step towards the brighter future you deserve. Join us for that. - Jordan Peterson, MD, Daily Wire + Now and start helping those struggling with Depression & Anxiousness. - Let This Be the First Step towards the Brighter Future You Deserve. Dr. P.B. Peterson, Dailywire Plus is a new series that could be a lifeline for those battling depression and anxiety. We know how isolating and overwhelming these conditions can be and we know how to reach out to those listening who may be struggling. and we wanted to take a moment of hope and a moment to help them find a way to feel better. Today's episode is a reminder that we know that we're not alone, and we're all in this together. . Thank you for listening to DailyWire Plus! - Dr. Michael Peterson, the podcast is a tool to help you feel better, we're here to support you, not alone! Subscribe to our new podcast, DailyWired Plus, DailyWire + Now! - Subscribe to DailyWIRED, Subscribe to the DailyWire Plus - Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform Subscribe on Itunes, and Share it on your favourite streaming platform, and Subscribe on iTunes, Shoutout on your social media platforms, and much more! - Shout Out to:
Transcript
00:00:00.960
Hey everyone, real quick before you skip, I want to talk to you about something serious and important.
00:00:06.480
Dr. Jordan Peterson has created a new series that could be a lifeline for those battling depression and anxiety.
00:00:12.740
We know how isolating and overwhelming these conditions can be, and we wanted to take a moment to reach out to those listening who may be struggling.
00:00:20.100
With decades of experience helping patients, Dr. Peterson offers a unique understanding of why you might be feeling this way in his new series.
00:00:27.420
He provides a roadmap towards healing, showing that while the journey isn't easy, it's absolutely possible to find your way forward.
00:00:35.360
If you're suffering, please know you are not alone. There's hope, and there's a path to feeling better.
00:00:41.780
Go to Daily Wire Plus now and start watching Dr. Jordan B. Peterson on depression and anxiety.
00:00:47.460
Let this be the first step towards the brighter future you deserve.
00:00:57.420
Hello everyone. I have the opportunity today to speak with Eva Vladingerbroek and Anthony Lee.
00:01:13.760
Eva is a political commentator from the Netherlands.
00:01:16.060
She was integrally involved in the Dutch farmer protests in recent years and has recently been with the German farmers and truckers and dock workers and railway workers who've basically brought Germany to its knees in the last weeks,
00:01:32.620
even though you may not have seen much of that in the so-called legacy media circles.
00:01:38.660
Anyways, I talked to Eva today and to Anthony about just exactly what's been happening in Germany and the Netherlands and many other European countries as well with regards to these essentially populist uprisings similar, say, to the trucker convoy in Canada.
00:01:55.600
We discussed the scope of that movement, who was involved by group, the aims, the consequences, and the likely outcomes on the German and broader European political front in the upcoming years and beyond.
00:02:17.100
I'm in Berlin right now in Germany, and I've been on the road here in Germany all over the country for the past seven days, because for the past seven days, the country has witnessed some of the largest farmers' protests that Germany has ever seen.
00:02:31.620
And this protest wasn't actually just joined by farmers, but was a, what I would call, massive uprising of blue-collar workers, ordinary citizens, people who are just fed up with the German federal government, people that are fed up feeling like they have no right to exist, being taxed into oblivion, and just wanted to make a fist and say, we're done with you guys.
00:02:56.140
That was the general sentiment that I've witnessed around here, and I've been reporting on it.
00:03:01.580
I've been going out on the roads with the farmers, cheering them on, and on the first day, on Monday last week, I was on the A2, which is the busiest highway in Europe, where I met farmer Anthony Lee, who is sitting right beside me, who was part of the organization, and they conducted one of the largest roadblocks of the highway there that, well, I mean, I have ever seen, but I think Germany has ever seen.
00:03:24.500
And this was a roadblock that went on for kilometers, miles and miles on end.
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And I can still get emotional thinking back on it, because it really reminded me of the Dutch farmers' protests and even the Canadian Freedom Convoy.
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At a certain point, we saw all of the tractors going onto the road, because the truckers, the German truckers, came to help them block the road, and it was just the most massive thing that I've seen in a while.
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And so I met this hero of a man who's sitting right next to me, former Anthony Lee right there.
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And now we are in Berlin, because today was the grand finale of the protests of the past week.
00:04:01.960
And he actually spoke today on stage at the Brandenburger tour next to the federal government to tell the German government who's boss, essentially.
00:04:10.320
So, Anthony, why is it that you're involved in this?
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Like, what is it that has disrupted your life to the point where you're willing to use your valuable time, energy, and machinery to engage in political activity and protest,
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instead of doing what farmers usually do, which is like working 16 hours a day?
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So, how long have you been doing this, and exactly what's going on as far as you're concerned?
00:04:42.280
Well, yes, thank you, first of all, for having us on the show.
00:04:46.720
Well, personally, I'm just afraid of the future, of the future for my kids.
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And, like, I think every other farmer on this world, they want the next generation to carry on doing the job,
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which has been going on through dozens of generations in some of our cases in Germany.
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I know friends who are in the 15th, 16th generation.
00:05:10.060
And now we have a policy, not only now, actually, I would say the last 10, 15 years,
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we have a policy in Germany and all over Europe, actually, which is especially not farmers-friendly, to be polite.
00:05:26.300
And we started in 2019 with around about 15,000 tractors who came to Berlin to start this protest.
00:05:36.740
And we've been carrying on the last four years.
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And since two years, the last two years, we have, I would say, a green-dictated government in Germany,
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which is making life actually not only complicated, complicated for us farmers or for, like Eva said, the ordinary workers, the blue-collar workers.
00:06:03.820
So, yeah, this is why we started on the 18th of December last year with a new massive protest.
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And this is special now because all organizations are united like they've never been.
00:06:21.320
And we are standing together against this kind of policy.
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And like Eva said, today was one of the, I'd say it was even bigger than 2019.
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I don't have the numbers, but I came to Berlin this morning and I passed, I would say, probably 15, 20 kilometers long, well, yeah.
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And this was only from one direction to Berlin.
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And many didn't even make it into the city because it was packed.
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Okay, so there's a bunch of mysteries there to unpack.
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And the first thing I'd like to know that everybody who's watching and listening needs to know is what exactly has, what green policies in particular, like why do you characterize the policies as green first?
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And then what green policies are making your life as a farmer and farmers' lives in general untenable?
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And why is it having the impact that it's having?
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Provide me with some details about what it is that you're facing.
00:07:30.120
Well, our European government, the last years, I'd say, they came up with ideas of a green deal.
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And everything which you pronounce green is supposed to be something good, right?
00:07:47.920
And nobody really has, nobody wants to ruin the environment.
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Everybody wants to protect the environment, which is good, don't get me wrong.
00:07:55.780
But I'd say it's kind of an agenda to get rid of us, like we saw in Holland the last two years.
00:08:07.780
And we have a thing in Europe, in the European Union, which is a part of the Green Deal, they call it farm-to-fork strategy.
00:08:17.300
And there's four things you have to remember or know about this strategy.
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10% of the whole European farmland, they want to get out of use.
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I mean, 10% of Europe, which is kind of quite a lot.
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50% of plant protection, chemical plant protection, they want to cut down.
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I don't know how they made up this number, but it's a hell of a lot.
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It's like if you go to a doctor and the doctor is only allowed to use 50% of the medication.
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It's ridiculous because we need medication for our plants, which is actually totally normal.
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And then they want us to have 25% of the European Union, the farmland, only to use by organic farming.
00:09:09.120
Which I don't really have a problem with organic farming, but you use the devil of space or land,
00:09:22.140
And this fourth thing, what was the fourth thing?
00:09:28.800
Well, I mean, I think what's important to know is that just like with the Dutch farmers' protest,
00:09:33.660
we have, there is a sort of a structure to the attack on farming that isn't just on a national level.
00:09:39.740
There's definitely, as you said, there's a European Green Deal that we're working with,
00:09:43.480
which is pushed forward by unelected bureaucrats.
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In this case, forgive me, but a Dutch man, Frans Timmermans, who is the mastermind or the evil mastermind,
00:09:56.880
And then in every national country, there is a different set of policies that is used to target the specific farming groups.
00:10:04.280
So in the Netherlands, when we last talked, Jordan, about the farmers' protests there, I told you that it was about nitrogen, right?
00:10:11.880
The courts ruled in the Netherlands that we are facing a nitrogen crisis.
00:10:16.280
They are using European legislation for that to get rid of our farmers.
00:10:20.400
And here in Germany, what the mainstream will tell you was the main reason why the farmers now were particularly angry
00:10:27.880
or what sparked these protests was the elimination of tax breaks on agricultural diesel.
00:10:35.140
And the backstory to that is that the German government doesn't have their finances in check
00:10:41.020
and has a huge hole in their budget and was also trying to fill that gap.
00:10:47.620
And they said, well, let's go after what they call climate-feindliche subvention,
00:10:57.560
And so they said, we need to cut back on the tax break that the farmers get for agricultural diesel,
00:11:03.860
which those taxes normally only involve, like, for, you know, diesel for people who go out on the road.
00:11:10.920
And farmers, obviously, just use it on their own land.
00:11:14.560
So the fact that they came after the farmers now and tried to, you know,
00:11:18.880
fill their own gap in their own budget due to their own mismanagement,
00:11:23.440
and they target now the people that provide us with our daily meals,
00:11:29.860
But I would say, and I think you would probably agree with me, Anthony,
00:11:32.700
is that there is a general sentiment within the German population
00:11:39.000
that was very much reflected at these protests of just feeling like the German government
00:11:43.600
and not just the German government, also the Dutch government and European Union
00:11:46.780
is constantly acting contrary to the interest of ordinary people
00:11:51.340
who, in fact, pay their salaries because they are taxed already into oblivion, right?
00:11:57.080
So the general theme that we constantly heard there was a slogan basically saying
00:12:07.820
This was really a general dismay, great dismay, with the federal German government
00:12:16.560
So, Eva, let me ask you about that in more detail.
00:12:21.080
So, when the truck protest in Canada emerged, there were all sorts of idiot rumors,
00:12:32.280
that this was like a MAGA-style January 6th insurrection,
00:12:38.200
which is about the stupidest thing I can possibly imagine, or even by Russians.
00:12:42.160
But underneath that, there was a fear, you might say, as well as manipulation.
00:12:46.840
There was a fear that this sort of popular uprising was anti-democratic in its fundamental essence.
00:12:53.220
And, you know, when you say things like the government has to go,
00:12:56.520
I'm wondering how the two of you reconcile the fact,
00:13:02.120
reconcile the fact that Germany is led by a democratically elected government,
00:13:06.680
and yet these massive protests are emerging with the proposition that the government has to go.
00:13:11.960
And the question is, in a democracy, what does it mean that the government has to go,
00:13:17.420
and how do you see what's happening on the protest front in Germany,
00:13:22.080
acting in a manner that's commensurate with democratic principles?
00:13:26.920
Right. Well, I feel like it couldn't be more democratic what we are seeing right now,
00:13:30.660
because you are seeing people exercising their democratic rights to protest
00:13:34.600
against a government that doesn't represent their interest anymore.
00:13:38.620
I think the general support for the government has sunk to about 30 percent,
00:13:44.680
So there are people in power right now who have been in power for the past two and a half years,
00:13:49.240
who were elected by the German people, of course, democratically speaking,
00:13:53.820
but who have, I would say, messed up so majorly that they've lost the support of the people.
00:13:59.080
And that's exactly the opinion that those people have now gone out to voice,
00:14:04.620
Because, I mean, like you said, farmers are hands-on people that absolutely do not want to spend time
00:14:09.360
away from their farms, usually, because they simply can't afford it.
00:14:12.620
And the fact that they've now gone out in such large numbers to protest and make use of their democratic rights,
00:14:20.580
And what you see is that instead of celebrating that, the mainstream media,
00:14:24.980
exactly the way that you described the Canadian process,
00:14:27.720
they are now saying, well, this is an insurrection,
00:14:32.840
this is extremely far-right, you know, that's the,
00:14:38.200
And especially in Germany, in the historical context of this nation,
00:14:48.220
So being called far-right is not something that you want in Germany,
00:14:51.540
but it's been overused by the mainstream media and establishment so much so
00:14:55.980
that clearly people feel like, well, whatever, then I'll be labeled far-right,
00:15:01.720
but apparently they have nothing to lose anymore, right?
00:15:04.420
So it's laughable to me that, but I understand why they're doing it,
00:15:10.120
that they're trying to label these people as extremists,
00:15:12.820
when all that I've seen are people who are just fed up with not being heard,
00:15:18.920
who actually want more democratic legitimation to the government.
00:15:24.180
They want to be represented by the people in power.
00:15:30.380
they feel like they are being threatened in their existence.
00:15:32.800
They feel like they are ruled by people who essentially hate them.
00:15:39.260
I've just seen ordinary, hardworking people who are fed up
00:15:45.320
Anthony, Eva makes the case that you have to have a fair bit of gall
00:15:51.160
or desperation in Germany to ally yourself with a movement
00:15:58.320
not least because of the historical precedence of that terminology for Germany.
00:16:02.440
And so I'm wondering how you regard yourself politically
00:16:05.700
and maybe how you regard the majority of the people
00:16:11.740
What set of descriptors do you think might reasonably be applied to them?
00:16:17.260
And why is it that you decided that you would overcome the risk
00:16:21.100
associated with being tarred with the far-right brush
00:16:23.840
to continue the protest that you have been engaged in?
00:16:28.160
Well, I say my personal advantage is that I'm half British.
00:16:36.180
So, I mean, I was born in Germany and raised in Germany
00:16:54.540
Actually, it's getting less now because the media's overdone it
00:17:07.520
I mean, this government's been in charge for more than two years.
00:17:19.280
And we are the only country, industrially country,
00:17:25.900
which has a, they call it a negative growth in Germany.
00:17:33.520
And they blame it on Putin, on Russia or on the environment,
00:17:48.360
and was one of the wealthiest countries in Europe
00:17:52.760
And they managed to ruin our economy in less than two years.
00:18:06.920
And this is all because the Green Party in Germany,
00:18:15.720
And from the day we switched off these super efficient
00:18:30.740
which is mostly a nuclear power plant in any way.
00:18:38.260
We are reducing our best industry in the world,
00:18:45.220
You know, they are losing, what's the right word for it?
00:19:04.640
And you cannot say it's Russia to blame or anybody else.
00:19:09.220
If all the countries around you are having growth,
00:19:35.760
And there's so many people who are fed up of this government.
00:19:44.040
First of all, it's not easy to get coverage of the Germany,
00:19:57.300
and I think the same is probably true of what's happening in Spain
00:20:03.920
that the only place that I've really been able to track it is Twitter.
00:20:12.500
even to admit to the fact that it's happening at all.
00:20:19.260
and we've noted that it's happening in many countries,
00:20:22.100
Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Germany,
00:20:27.820
We've outlined the fact that there are factors at work.
00:20:31.100
So it's an overarching, bureaucratically imposed, top-down, hypothetically green agenda
00:20:37.120
that's aiming to make a moral virtue out of the so-called degrowth
00:20:42.220
that's indistinguishable from economic failure and catastrophic guidance.
00:20:50.480
which will do nothing but impoverish poor people
00:20:57.960
that'll take the forefront and the leadership in industrial development
00:21:01.320
and very rapidly if we don't get our act together.
00:21:09.780
can be seen in the fact that, as you guys pointed out,
00:21:16.040
that are part and parcel of this latest protest.
00:21:26.460
and what other groups of primarily working class,
00:21:53.980
They were trying to make their way onto the highway,
00:22:05.000
onto the highway with all these cars passing by?
00:22:09.940
I saw a huge convoy rocking up of these truckers
00:22:30.880
because it was such a true moment of solidarity
00:23:15.620
I guess you would translate into the middle class,
00:24:02.880
I would say that was the general image that I got.
00:56:29.000
of crisis that incentivizes them to burn up and
00:56:42.360
intelligent nuclear technology, for example, we
00:56:45.000
could raise the planetary standard of living to
00:56:47.220
the point where everybody locally would start to
00:56:50.080
become concerned about environmental issues and
00:56:52.600
act naturally in a manner that would provide for a
00:56:57.220
Instead, we're doing the opposite to virtue signal
00:57:00.300
We're cranking energy prices up, claiming that all
00:57:02.980
the industrial activity has to cease, making poor
00:57:10.000
All that's going to do, as it's already started to
00:57:12.520
do in Germany, is make both the economy and the
00:57:15.600
environment worse, and it's going to breed, well,
00:57:18.600
more and more uprising of the sort that we're seeing
00:57:24.420
And to say it again, counterproductive even by the
00:57:28.240
standards of the people who are hypothetically putting the
00:57:32.080
It's like, why the hell would you oppose nuclear power?
00:57:35.920
That's utterly insane, especially in a place like
00:57:38.380
Germany, especially when you Germans then have to import
00:57:41.600
nuclear power from the Scandinavians and the French.
00:57:49.120
But it baffles me already that we live in a time,
00:57:52.360
apparently, where we have to justify our existence with data.
00:57:54.900
You know, that's something that deeply bothers me.
00:58:01.520
I mean, and, you know, this will, of course, lend me another
00:58:07.940
But I think that the death of God that you so often discuss as
00:58:14.540
You know, if you forget that people have intrinsic value
00:58:17.480
because they are created in the image of God, and they're just a
00:58:21.180
number, and we have to work to net zero, and we need to now see if
00:58:25.400
you add something or take too much, and you have to justify your
00:58:29.580
own existence by quoting scientific studies, I think we've gone off
00:58:40.320
These people have their mouths full constantly.
00:58:42.520
They're always talking about human rights here and there.
00:58:44.920
But now we have come to a point where we have to justify our entire
00:58:48.140
existence to our Malthusian overlords, and I'm not okay with it.
00:58:55.720
And the whole Malthusian proposition, so let's just walk through that a
00:59:03.220
So let's just walk through that a minute, just to show exactly how wrong
00:59:08.920
Okay, so now there's lots of situations in which the use of biological
00:59:12.940
metaphors can shed light on human nature and even the nature of human, what
00:59:21.260
So psychologists use mouse models all the time, and that's partly because the
00:59:25.400
neurochemistry of a mouse brain, for example, is very similar to the
00:59:30.380
There's all sorts of analogs in behavior and function that are relevant.
00:59:34.200
But the Malthusian doctrine is based on a very low-level analogy.
00:59:40.660
If you put a microorganism in a Petri dish, so it has enough agar, enough food
00:59:48.100
substrate so that it can thrive, it will multiply to the point where, and
00:59:52.140
rapidly, geometrically or exponentially, to the point where it consumes all of its
00:59:56.260
resources, and then it will catastrophically collapse.
01:00:01.300
And so, and you can see that same thing occurring in some natural populations.
01:00:05.220
If you provide a natural population with no predation and a plethora of resources in a
01:00:11.580
constrained environment, then the population will grow until it consumes all the
01:00:19.460
So why aren't people microorganisms in a Petri dish?
01:00:25.600
Well, there are some constraints on what we can produce and consume.
01:00:30.580
Like there's different, what would you say, scarcity of different fundamental elements, for example,
01:00:37.860
such that some things will always be more expensive than others or almost others, almost always.
01:00:42.740
There's some natural scarcity, but here's the fundamental difference between human beings
01:00:50.760
So, we can produce, we can innovate, and we can produce variants of ourselves that can die
01:01:00.700
So on the innovation front, the innovation front, and these things are tied together, because
01:01:04.820
we can think, because we can transform cognitively, we don't have to die or vary genetically.
01:01:17.280
And the fact that we can transform cognitively means that we can make constant scarcity into
01:01:27.080
Things we regard as natural resources, hydrocarbons, for example, oil, gas, those things were of
01:01:39.780
It wasn't until we figured out how to use them, how to substitute them for whale oil,
01:01:44.020
for example, that they became this unbelievable source of wealth that was immediately available
01:01:50.340
It was a cognitive transformation and revolution.
01:01:52.640
And there's no end to the degree to which we can use that cognitive revolution to increase
01:02:00.280
And that's exactly why, for example, that every baby born today will produce seven times
01:02:06.160
Now, you might say, at some scale, there's going to be some limit to plenitude, but it
01:02:11.240
isn't obvious at all what that's going to be, and it certainly isn't obvious that we've
01:02:16.220
And that's especially true when you consider the possibility of computation, because we're
01:02:21.120
in this situation now where our computing resources, which take up, you know, comparatively
01:02:25.740
little resources and energy, are multiplying at a rate that's absolutely beyond comprehension.
01:02:31.040
And we have no idea how much we're going to know in 10 years.
01:02:34.360
So the Malthusian notion, there isn't anything about the Malthusian notion that's correct,
01:02:44.260
And, you know, if you're going to treat people like yeast and bacteria, then we're going to
01:02:48.440
be in the same damn situation that we're in now, right, where we have to justify our
01:02:52.560
existence by data because the world is full of scarcity, and maybe only the elites who
01:02:58.080
have our best interests in mind are going to be allowed to thrive.
01:03:01.900
I think I can think of a far-right ideology that talked about people as being dirty, you
01:03:09.340
And now we are dealing with a left-wing ideology that is doing the exact same thing and making
01:03:17.620
And yet, they call the people who oppose to it far-right.
01:03:23.120
Well, I saw recently that Trudeau's minions are now, what would you say, working behind
01:03:30.180
the scenes to ensure that the public health officials at the World Health Organization who
01:03:36.360
are so concerned with the control of the next pandemic, just like they were with the last
01:03:40.900
one, are also now moving to ensure that climate catastrophe will be included within the domain
01:03:48.020
of public health concern that, you know, global overlords are going to be able to, yes, going
01:03:54.660
And your comment about, you know, far-right totalitarian governments treating people as if they're
01:04:03.640
infectious agents, right, cancers on the planet, let's say, we know perfectly well, again,
01:04:09.300
from the data, that that drives a totalitarian agenda.
01:04:12.440
As soon as you use language of contamination, pollution, and disgust to characterize someone,
01:04:19.340
let's say human beings, you immediately elicit the unconscious and conscious activations of the
01:04:26.460
disgust systems that protect us from contamination.
01:04:29.140
And those are very dangerous once they're activated.
01:04:36.380
Yes, and those people, those are the ones that the farmers, the truckers, the people
01:04:41.280
that we've seen out on the streets today have protested against.
01:04:46.260
And when I said that earlier in this conversation, we have been speaking to people who feel like
01:04:58.340
Obviously, they are feeling it in their own finances, but they can tell.
01:05:02.680
And I think that people ultimately on a human level, on a soul level, can feel when they are
01:05:12.680
And this, exactly, this notion that you are just describing right now, Jordan, that I think
01:05:25.260
And they are done with it because they realize that they are the ones paying for it and that
01:05:30.420
the state should be here to serve us, not the other way around.
01:05:35.720
Anthony, just out of curiosity, you know, you and Ava have just talked about the breadth
01:05:43.760
and depth of this protest and its positive effects.
01:05:47.720
But you closed by pointing out, for example, that the finance minister that you guys talked
01:05:53.000
to or that spoke to you right at the close of the protests doesn't seem to have learned
01:05:58.620
a damn thing, which doesn't surprise me in the least.
01:06:01.960
And so that makes me question just how effective what you've done so far is.
01:06:09.780
And then I'm also curious, like, why didn't your now united organization, given your 80% level,
01:06:17.680
of public support, call for something approximating a general strike and just bring the whole
01:06:34.320
Well, actually, it's against the law to do this general strike because it obviously is
01:06:41.460
But I reckon we have to come to the stage where we have to break the law.
01:06:55.940
But we have to talk about that between us, between the organizations.
01:07:08.300
Either they turn back to a policy which is for the people, like Eva said, which is definitely
01:07:15.700
I mean, we forgot loads of things which are going completely wrong in Germany.
01:07:19.720
I mean, we have a farming minister who's telling us we should only eat, and this is not a joke,
01:07:30.000
This is honestly what they are trying to tell us, 10 grams, right?
01:07:35.840
When the politicians start telling you what you can and can't eat, we've crossed a line.
01:07:41.620
It's like, you don't get to tell me where I set my thermostat.
01:07:44.880
You don't get to tell me what I can drive and when.
01:07:47.040
And you certainly bloody well don't get to tell me what I can eat.
01:07:49.780
Like, fundamentally and seriously, to hell with you.
01:07:53.640
And what it also indicates to me, and increasingly clearly, is that once you're waving the flag
01:07:59.680
of planetary savior on the environmentalist front, once you've turned 100% to that kind
01:08:06.480
of nature worship, there is absolutely no level of control whatsoever that you won't
01:08:12.520
stoop to and justify by your moral pretension, right?
01:08:16.500
Redounding to your credit and increasing your power at the same time as it does.
01:08:23.900
So, this begs the question, though, doesn't it?
01:08:26.100
Like, I watched Claudine Gay resign from Harvard, and I've watched the moderate left-wingers
01:08:33.220
flap about now in increasing consternation, recognizing as they do the absolute danger of the diversity,
01:08:42.740
That's part and parcel of this, what would you say, radical leftist line of anti-human thinking.
01:08:49.500
But, at the same time, I see that I don't believe that Harvard as an institution has learned
01:08:54.380
a damn thing, and I don't believe that the moderates on the Democrat side in the United
01:08:59.380
States, for example, have any idea whatsoever how deep the ideological corruption and rot has
01:09:07.360
And so, you've pushed forward this protest, but as you said yourself, you still have members
01:09:14.660
of the government firmly in charge who think that we should eat 10 grams of meat a day and
01:09:19.500
who don't believe that they're going to throw you a bone or two maybe in the near future,
01:09:24.540
but the probability that they're going to revisit the ideology upon which they've based their
01:09:29.420
political empire strikes me to be close to zero.
01:09:32.020
So, again, you said the future's uncertain and unpredictable.
01:09:36.200
What do you think's going to happen and what should happen?
01:09:38.660
We have three elections this year in East Germany.
01:09:43.320
In East Germany, the polls show that the far-right party, the AfD in Germany, is by far in the lead
01:09:53.520
in these polls, and which will be like an earthquake in our politician in Germany, because we never
01:10:03.240
And if this happens, and I reckon it will, because like you said, they will not change
01:10:09.560
Things will change rapidly in Germany, because like you know, politicians, they want power.
01:10:17.500
And even though they now say, we'll never compromise, we'll never go together with this
01:10:23.680
party, I reckon just because they want the power, they will.
01:10:28.460
And that will be a landslide, it will be a completely change in Germany.
01:10:32.700
But saying that, that might even still, I still have hope, I don't know if hope's the right
01:10:42.140
word, that our actual government will change the way they govern.
01:10:48.600
Not by 180 degrees, which we need, but maybe a few degrees.
01:10:54.560
And that might, these two options are on the table, and only these two options.
01:10:59.580
Okay, well, something similar to that has happened in the Netherlands.
01:11:04.000
So now, Eva, what's the status of the government in the Netherlands?
01:11:07.780
And is Geert Wilder going to head up the new government?
01:11:13.020
And what do you think, again, let's talk about this a little bit, what do you think
01:11:16.760
the dangers are that present themselves in consequence of that in the Netherlands?
01:11:24.120
And we could also talk about the AfD to some degree, because they're certainly pilloried as
01:11:28.580
far-right in Western media, certainly in North America.
01:11:32.280
You know, they're viewed as, to right of Viktor Orban, I would say, and he's definitely persona
01:11:38.980
So let's start with the situation again in the Netherlands, and then move to what you see,
01:11:47.520
I'd like to hear your thoughts about the AfD as well.
01:11:50.080
OK, so we are still in the process of forming a coalition right now.
01:11:54.940
As I said, we have a very scattered political landscape.
01:11:57.460
And so all of the parties that one will need to form or have negotiations and form ultimately
01:12:05.580
So without that, it's going to be difficult to pass any legislation, obviously.
01:12:11.540
What is now happening is that the, let's just say, the legacy parties, the establishment
01:12:17.600
parties that have ruled the Netherlands, and I would say destroyed it actively for the past
01:12:22.880
30 years, are doing everything in their power to stall that process.
01:12:27.800
Because Geert Wilders is becoming increasingly popular.
01:12:32.020
As I said, he got one out of four votes in the elections just a month ago.
01:12:40.080
So the last thing that they want right now is the coalition formation process to fail and
01:12:46.460
for new general elections to be called, because then he's going to become even bigger.
01:12:51.040
So what I think the political strategy at home is, is they're going to stall that process for
01:12:57.240
The parties, the moderate right-wing party, the centrist parties, they're going to pretend
01:13:04.120
And then they're going to drag it out so long, and they're going to say at a certain point,
01:13:10.020
And they're already saying that he has said things that go against the constitution and
01:13:14.520
that are a threat to the rule of law, et cetera.
01:13:19.540
And I think that that is something that we see everywhere is that this, you know, this
01:13:24.220
So we have to be prepared for all of these games.
01:13:28.500
However, I think something similar might happen in Germany.
01:13:31.720
But what I do think is that the genie is out of the bottle with the people.
01:13:37.300
And that, to me, is ultimately the only thing that matters.
01:13:40.180
I don't put any of my solace in the political party system anyway.
01:13:43.660
What I do care about is the willingness of people to stand up for what they believe is
01:13:47.780
right and to not be intimidated by people who lie about them and about what they stand
01:13:54.440
So what I think is going to happen in Germany with AFD, the people that I've met from AFD,
01:13:59.680
what I've seen about AFD, is they are conservative people who essentially are saying, well, the
01:14:05.520
idea, Merkel's idea to let 1.2 million migrants in in one year in 2015 might have not been the
01:14:13.340
You know, to me, that's a very legitimate standpoint.
01:14:16.980
Especially because there is no alternative, no pun intended, in Germany, really, asides
01:14:23.020
from the parties that have destroyed the country very actively.
01:14:26.760
So I think that they are going to win by a much larger margin than the polls suggest right
01:14:32.420
Just like what happened for us, because the PVV was also not, you know, they weren't
01:14:36.560
polled at the extent that they now have won the elections with.
01:14:39.820
And I think that that will change something in the mindset of the Germans, because like
01:14:45.620
I said, if even in Germany, that label doesn't hold enough power anymore to deter people from
01:14:52.920
voting for change, then you really know that the government is messed up, right?
01:14:57.140
You really know the establishment is messed up and that the people are fed up.
01:15:01.100
So I personally, I think that Germans who want change have no choice, really, but to vote
01:15:09.920
And I would say, essentially, not for any party that has governed the nation in the last
01:15:15.180
Okay, so do you see, and I'd like both your opinions on this, it's so difficult to get
01:15:22.480
a handle on any of this, say, because, you know, I've been watching the political landscape
01:15:28.280
And certainly the idea of Geert Wilders has raised my hackles in the past.
01:15:36.340
And I would say that's because I'm profoundly, at least because I'm relatively ignorant about
01:15:41.660
politics in the Netherlands and still susceptible to the consensus view developed by the low-resolution
01:15:57.240
And so I'd like to know from both of you, what dangers, if any, you think this tilt towards
01:16:04.640
this more, we've already taken apart the notion of the right.
01:16:09.600
God only knows even what that is anymore, given the overuse of the term.
01:16:13.800
But do either of you have any qualms about these political transformations?
01:16:19.480
Do you think that they could, just because you're fighting something that in and of itself
01:16:25.000
is reprehensible and destructive doesn't mean that the weapons that you use to fight it
01:16:33.720
So, Ava, maybe you could start by commenting on that, especially with regards to the AFD.
01:16:38.460
And then, Anthony, you could chime in with regard to Germany.
01:16:42.480
Well, I mean, these are both the upsides and the downsides of democracy in general that
01:16:48.920
So, of course, the instrument or the alternative can also turn bad.
01:16:57.660
And the fact that we have to form coalitions in our democratic systems, at least, that's
01:17:03.700
somewhat of a safeguard in a sense that they are going to have to work together with other
01:17:09.500
So let's say, God forbid, that these parties turn out to have crazy ideas that we absolutely
01:17:14.240
didn't want and didn't vote for, we have to either trust in the fact that the system will
01:17:20.900
correct it, or I think you can throw away the entire concept of democracy almost all
01:17:27.140
So I think that a lot of people here are trying to use the possibility of maybe AFD going too
01:17:36.340
far in certain aspects or not having, I hear another argument often that they say, oh, well,
01:17:42.120
they don't have good people, they don't have enough people with enough qualities to govern
01:17:47.620
I'm like, well, I don't know if the people who are in power right now do.
01:17:50.960
Like, clearly, you know, you guys have a bit of an issue on your hands.
01:17:56.080
And I think that that is essentially what this country needs.
01:18:01.260
And like I said, I'm not one to put all of my solace and trust and hope in the political
01:18:05.540
system anyway, but it is very clear to me that Germany and Europe in general is on a
01:18:17.500
And I, you know, because I find myself in the position so often that I've been called
01:18:21.740
far right for what I think are perfectly valid opinions that I care a little bit less at
01:18:28.700
You know, I'm like, no, I think something just needs to change here.
01:18:32.700
And I try to trust in the democratic system and that it will correct itself.
01:18:37.980
That terrifying specter Maloney in Italy, who everyone and sundry was warned about in no
01:18:45.720
uncertain terms forever, you know, tantamount to Mussolini and her fascist proclivities has
01:18:51.320
turned out to be a hell of a lot more moderate, even than the people who voted for her might
01:18:57.160
So these specters of fascism that keep looming turn out to have a lot less teeth than feared
01:19:04.160
when they end up, what would you say, when they end up acquiring a certain degree of political
01:19:11.240
Now, you know, Orban has been the most successful conservative figure in some ways in on the European
01:19:18.540
scene, and he's still demonized roundly and continually in the Western media.
01:19:24.220
But it's also been my apprehension with regard to Hungary that things are nowhere near as dismal
01:19:30.520
there as they might have been, given all the fear that was engendered around Orban's policies.
01:19:38.500
And then, Anthony, we'll turn to your feelings about the AfD in Germany.
01:19:44.920
I mean, when I go to Hungary, for example, personally, and when I speak to other people
01:19:49.820
who go there, a lot of people feel like they can finally take a breather.
01:19:54.680
You know, this is what Europe used to be like 50 years ago, 30 years ago in some countries,
01:19:59.600
And I am upset as a 27-year-old that I have never experienced Europe as safe, as functioning,
01:20:09.740
as sane, normal, dare I say, you know, as I find a city like Budapest to be.
01:20:20.180
My grandfather sure as heck had that experience.
01:20:25.960
You know, I have always, growing up, had to be afraid going out after dark.
01:20:30.620
You know, it's just, that's our reality right now.
01:20:35.280
And that's our reality not because it happened like a natural disaster, but because people
01:20:44.140
And I think that everybody can agree to the fact that a country like Hungary is not, you
01:20:51.140
know, the dictatorship that they make it out to be in the media.
01:20:53.680
What I saw at the time, especially the last time I was in Budapest, I was there for a
01:20:59.120
symposium on promotion of the family, which seemed to be, you know, a relatively positive
01:21:10.420
I mean, if you're in the airports in Budapest, for example, what you see are a plethora of
01:21:15.720
posters celebrating the family as the core bedrock social institution of the polity.
01:21:24.220
And that just doesn't strike me as particularly Nazi in its derivation, especially.
01:21:30.360
And so this, and I know the president of Hungary to some degree, and she's a woman who is quite
01:21:36.820
admirable in my estimation, who spent most of her career trying to figure out how to protect
01:21:42.960
the family and how to economically incentivize the role that women play in reproduction in
01:21:50.440
keeping with opening up the opportunities for them on the economic front in general.
01:21:55.040
And it's produced policies that have decreased abortion substantially without force, decreased
01:22:01.220
divorce, increased the marriage rate, and also increased the rate at which women are
01:22:09.240
And so none of that particularly screams fascism to me.
01:22:13.200
And the fact, too, that we've seen, well, that the consequences of the election of baloney
01:22:20.100
and also one of the so-called far-right parties in Sweden seems to me to indicate that there's
01:22:26.760
a lot more fear there than is justified by the consequences, especially in contrast to this
01:22:34.180
absolutely insane, utopian, self-serving, moralizing, green agenda that provides an absolute
01:22:40.500
excuse for everything you can possibly conceptualize.
01:22:44.580
Anthony, in terms of the AFD, how do you think it is being perceived by the protesting class now,
01:22:53.920
the people that you've been talking to, the truckers, the farmers, the people who work
01:22:58.520
for the railways, the dock workers, because they were all involved in this protest as well.
01:23:02.860
And what dangers do you as a German citizen see on the fascist side, so to speak, as a consequence
01:23:15.080
Well, me, myself, I'm in politics for the last eight years.
01:23:20.300
And I was in the CDU, that was a party from Angela Merkel.
01:23:24.820
And I left the party about a year ago, and I moved to the parties called Freie Wähler.
01:23:32.160
I would say they are the old CDU, as I knew it 20 years ago.
01:23:36.800
And the AFD, yes, it's a far-right party, which is gaining on popularity massively.
01:23:47.240
And the main reason is, I think, is the same reason like in Italy and in Sweden, migration.
01:23:53.400
We have a massive migration problem in Germany.
01:23:56.940
We have, I say, around about five to six million people since 2015 who came to Germany.
01:24:03.460
And at the moment, we are way over 300,000 this year.
01:24:21.780
We had a massive problem with migrants in them days, because the migrants who come now
01:24:29.940
And like I said, we don't even know who is coming, because they come in, they are allowed
01:24:36.380
to stay here, even though it's against the law.
01:24:40.760
The government doesn't obey the law like it should be.
01:24:43.980
And governments like Sweden, I mean, Sweden is very liberal, as I know it.
01:24:50.700
I mean, even Denmark, you didn't mention Denmark, because Denmark isn't governed by a right-wing
01:24:56.920
party, but they are governed by a female president who is a social democrat.
01:25:02.700
But what she did is she uses the same methods, the politics, the right-wing party kind of is.
01:25:12.360
And that's why the right-wing parties in Denmark aren't existent anymore, to be honest.
01:25:19.680
So it's not who runs a country, which right or left-wing, it's what policy do you do in
01:25:29.760
And talking about the AFD, it's very, very strong in East Germany, because the East Germans,
01:25:38.780
I think they have, we say they're better antennas, which, you know what I mean?
01:25:47.640
So the older people who lived in a climate like they did, they know if something's not
01:25:57.340
And that's why they turned to the AFD more than we in the West do.
01:26:03.780
And many say they should be forbidden, the party should be forbidden.
01:26:09.360
And I say, who are we, the people, to say it should be forbidden or it's not a democratic
01:26:24.500
If they say, yes, they should be forbidden, okay.
01:26:28.540
But me or the press, aren't the people or the institutions to say that?
01:26:35.460
So, like I said a few minutes ago, it will be very interesting to see how the AFD and the
01:26:41.480
CDU, if they compare with each other, if they go together after the three elections we have
01:26:47.140
in East Germany, that will be very, very interesting.
01:26:49.780
Well, you talked about antenna, you know, and I've traveled extensively with my wife through
01:26:55.200
Eastern Europe in the last years, multiple times, many, many different countries, meeting
01:27:03.440
And certainly one of the things I saw was that the survivors of the Soviet regime, which is
01:27:12.200
all those people, are much more sensitive to the dangers posed and the reality of the radical
01:27:19.900
leftist agenda that is sweeping over the Western world in the hypothetical guise of the continuance
01:27:31.740
And much more likely, as they did in Hungary, in consequence, and to Poland in some degree,
01:27:36.400
although not recently, but in Hungary, to favor modes of apprehension and governance that
01:27:43.960
keep the communist spectre, that spectre of centralized planning, for example, at as much
01:27:51.900
And so, that seems to be reflected, for example, in the attitude of the East Germans that you
01:27:58.960
just described toward the globalist, utopian, quasi-green agenda that we've been discussing.
01:28:05.020
You know, my sense has been quite strong in recent years that the bastion of European civilization,
01:28:13.740
that would be Judeo-Christian civilization in Europe, is now shifted to Eastern Europe rather
01:28:19.180
And, you know, with the UK playing a rather ambivalent role in that regard, because it's
01:28:24.220
a country that's very split, with the Brexit people more aligned with the Eastern Europeans
01:28:30.140
and the, well, the Labour Party, which is most likely to be the next government, much more
01:28:34.820
aligned with the globalist utopians in Brussels.
01:28:41.760
The protests in Germany have come to their current conclusion.
01:28:46.760
And then, Anthony, maybe you can tell us what's, well, what's the next move that lays in front
01:28:59.860
And what do you hope to have happened in the near future?
01:29:03.300
Well, talking about communism and the agenda and the similarities with the agenda that we
01:29:09.880
are facing right now, I've spoken very often about the global war on farming, right?
01:29:16.840
That's the reason why I decided to join the protests in the Netherlands to speak out, is
01:29:21.500
I want to make people aware of, again, this utopian green deal and the net zero agenda and
01:29:30.360
ultimately the Agenda 2030, which is a United Nations agenda that I think is at the core of
01:29:36.760
this. And that agenda, to me, reeks of communism more than anything else.
01:29:42.620
But you have to really see through the pretexts that they use.
01:29:46.520
So, everybody, the entire world, right, is part of the United Nations.
01:29:51.120
And the United Nations have laid out sustainable development goals that are ultimately at the
01:29:56.600
top of the hierarchy, you know, for all of these policies that we are facing right now,
01:30:01.280
that if you look at them at face value, they look very noble. You know, I think one of the
01:30:07.300
first ones is to end world hunger. But then if you think about how they would put that into
01:30:13.260
practice, none of those goals can ever be achieved or attained without the redistribution
01:30:18.780
of wealth, good, goods, foods, rights. And so that ultimately, to me, is this is neo-communism
01:30:27.720
or neo-feudalism, you could even say, I guess, packaged just a little bit nicer, you know?
01:30:34.320
It's like, oh, we are here to save you. But if you look at the reality of things, and I think that
01:30:39.740
we are all currently already experiencing that, what will happen, just like with communism in the
01:30:44.660
old days, is that the ordinary people will become poorer and more miserable, and the top layer will
01:30:50.760
become even richer. And that's what we are facing today. And I will continue, I guess, my fight and
01:30:57.320
my fight for the farmers in that sense, because I truly believe that the farmers are the one group,
01:31:02.960
especially, and I know that this is also a very radical thing to say in a European context, but
01:31:07.820
we in Europe, we don't have a Second Amendment. I think that the sort of the spirit of, you know,
01:31:13.760
wanting to protect your people against a tyrannical government is not as embedded in our minds as it
01:31:19.340
is in, let's say, the American debate, right? Yeah, yeah.
01:31:22.420
So it's really important that people become aware of the fact that, yes, we can also face
01:31:27.620
tyrannical governments. And the pretty words that they use are just pretty words, but you are going
01:31:35.260
Well, so the farmers, so you see, and this seems to be a leitmotif for your political operating,
01:31:42.500
is that you seem to react as if, if it bothers the farmers and the truckers, it's probably wrong.
01:31:53.600
And that seems to me to be an extremely useful rule of thumb. And it's also one you'd think the
01:31:59.200
bloody leftists would adhere to, given their hypothetical concern with the working class,
01:32:03.820
right? Because you can't get more bedrock working class than farmers and truckers.
01:32:08.360
So, and that does seem to me to be a reasonable measurement tool. You know, if the policies are
01:32:15.360
bothering the farmers and making them protest, something is up because that's just not how
01:32:20.920
farmers operate, not generally. And the same can be said for truckers. When they're goaded into
01:32:26.400
political action, something genuinely rotten is occurring. And, you know, with this regard to
01:32:31.800
these sustainable development goals, if you wanted to feed the bloody poor, the first thing you would do
01:32:37.280
is lower energy costs by whatever means necessary. And so if you think you can quintuple energy costs
01:32:43.960
and feed the poor, you're an idiot or you're malevolent, you know, or you're narcissistically
01:32:49.920
self-serving or some terrible combination of all of that.
01:32:53.280
Yeah. Yeah. So my goal for now is to, I mean, I want this agenda abolished, right? I want the 2030
01:32:59.920
agenda abolished. I don't want to vote for politicians who say, oh, you know, yeah, maybe it goes a little
01:33:05.580
too fast. Let's push it to 2035. You know, a fast way to hell or a long way to hell, it's still a way
01:33:13.020
to hell. And I just want the whole thing gone. So that's where I see my role in this. And I want to
01:33:17.900
continue my political commentary. And, you know, in that sense, I met you guys in service because I
01:33:22.700
have not forgotten where my food comes from. And I want to be able to continue to eat healthy foods
01:33:27.400
and live my life freely and decide where I travel, when I travel, who I meet, what I eat.
01:33:33.660
And I don't want the damn globalists in my business. So I know that if I don't, if the farmers fall,
01:33:39.020
like I said, they are the group in our society that can make a true, you know, stance against
01:33:44.780
the globalists. They have the manpower, as we've seen, to really paralyze an entire country. And so I
01:33:51.000
hope that they do go and strike and that they don't let themselves be intimidated by these people who
01:33:56.620
will come after you, but then will let illegal migrants flood your nation and won't send them
01:34:01.200
back, talking about equality before the law. I mean, you know, I, so I, that's, I'm at your
01:34:07.360
service. I will support you as much as I can. And I find it extraordinarily important what you've done
01:34:12.360
and very brave, especially in a nation like Germany. So. Okay, Anthony. So what's, what's next for you
01:34:20.980
personally? The protests, this current round of protests is folding down. So what do you go back
01:34:27.340
to? And then what do you see unfolding in front of you and your protesting peers in the, well, let's
01:34:33.580
say in the next year or in the next year, we have to get rid of this government, no matter how this year,
01:34:40.780
Germany cannot survive two more years of this government. And I mean it, honestly. I told you
01:34:49.620
earlier, we, we had our finance minister, he's free, he's from the Free Democratic Party. And he told us
01:34:56.160
today on stage, because I forgot to mention this, we in Germany are farmers, we have to leave 4% of our
01:35:05.260
land not ceded. So nothing is allowed to happen on this land because our green minister wants this
01:35:15.840
to happen. Saying in the same sentence, we have to fight because there are so many people starving to
01:35:24.140
death on this world. We have to fight for every handful of grain. This is ridiculous. It's insane
01:35:31.300
actually. And he's right in one point. Every 3.8 seconds, a human being dies, starves to death. Every 13
01:35:41.900
seconds, a child under five years dies of lack of food, right? And in the same sentence, we are over flooded
01:35:53.040
with grain from Ukraine. And then we have to, we have to leave 4% of our land where we have to pay tax, and we're not
01:36:01.280
allowed to cede anything on this land. It's insane. But our finance minister today said, it's a point we
01:36:08.660
can talk to. So there's a, there's a, there's a goal, maybe, to divide these two parties in this
01:36:17.480
government. I mean, they are divided anyway. But we can, we can really put pressure on, on these free
01:36:24.960
democratic elected persons, people or politicians, because they are below 4%. In Germany, you need 5%
01:36:33.400
to make the jump into parliament. So all these, all these people, all these politicians from the free
01:36:41.120
democratic party, obviously they have interest in the next, to be in the next parliament or whatever,
01:36:46.340
either in charge or not. But if we, if we put pressure on that, that's, this will make us, uh, or give us a chance
01:36:53.720
to divide and maybe get rid of the government. So, um, this is what we're going to do. We're going to,
01:36:59.720
and, and, and, and I mean that we have to escalate another level in our protest. And, um, we, we are capable of
01:37:07.720
doing that easily. And watch them come after you for saying this, by the way, like talking about the
01:37:12.760
totalitarian spirit of the Germans, that, that never left. And it's very much present in, uh, in the
01:37:18.100
current government. They, they, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they, because they've already attacked
01:37:22.820
you so massively in the media. I wouldn't be surprised if this would lend us an investigation
01:37:28.660
with what they call, what is it, the, the Verfassungsschutz, like the protection of the constitution.
01:37:34.260
There's a whole agency that comes after ordinary people and, and censors them.
01:37:39.100
Okay. Well, but, well, but, but let, let's, um, let's put all that in context. I mean, one of the
01:37:44.460
things that I've been struck by in listening to you two is that you both, both implicitly and
01:37:51.180
explicitly indicated your belief that the best possible way of sorting all of this out is through
01:37:58.420
the democratic means that we already have in place. Now you talked about the necessity for protest
01:38:03.580
protest and the right to protest and sometimes the necessity for civil disobedience, but nowhere in
01:38:10.000
any of our discussion that did either of you indicate that there's any better way forward than
01:38:15.680
the electoral process and the checks and balances that are associated that with that, with regard
01:38:23.060
to say the necessity for coalition building in both the Netherlands and in Germany. And so if they do
01:38:29.780
come after you, um, it isn't because you've been calling for violent revolution and it isn't because
01:38:36.000
you're basically turn the government on its head and establish some sort of dictatorship radicals, you
01:38:42.340
know, you, you, you both, and this is actually something that's very positive to see is you do believe, you
01:38:47.200
appear to believe that, um, we can work out these problems within the democratic frameworks that we've
01:38:54.100
already established. And more importantly, that there is no better way that we know of to work
01:39:00.640
them out. And that seems to me to be correct. You know, I mean, it's incumbent on us if we're facing
01:39:07.080
political or ideological strategies that we don't agree with to find our way forward in a manner that
01:39:14.780
doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. And so, well, and then you see the example in the
01:39:20.960
Netherlands too, of the fact that the kinds of protests that it hasn't been as effective in
01:39:25.460
Canada, by the way, but although we'll see what the long-term consequences are in the next election,
01:39:31.620
you know, you, you have shown in the Netherlands, the, the, the farmers there certainly showed that
01:39:36.240
these wide scale protests, civil protests, and they have been markedly civil like they were in Canada
01:39:42.320
do can and do have a walloping impact on the structures of governance. And so, you know,
01:39:48.140
maybe we need to take something approximating a five-year view of this, you know, that this is
01:39:53.140
the beginning of something new and we don't want to get too hot and bothered about doing anything too
01:39:58.480
radically stupid and we can let the electoral process play itself out. And, and so does that
01:40:04.100
seem in keeping with what you're hoping, both of you? Absolutely. And let me point out our protests
01:40:10.400
in the last week. I mean, we had, we had probably 200,000 farmers and tractors out on, on the roads
01:40:17.880
and we had so many, um, normal workers out. The, the, the truck drivers were out on the streets
01:40:24.640
and we, it was so friendly and, and peaceful. We had no, I mean, in Holland, we saw some scenes
01:40:31.940
where police even used the weapon on one farmer. There was nothing like that. I mean, honestly,
01:40:37.680
not even nobody, nobody got arrested. Nobody got even a ticket for a fine for anything. I mean,
01:40:43.500
imagine that so many people out on the street and, um, in, in context to that yesterday,
01:40:49.740
we had a demonstration in Berlin, a left wing demonstration, uh, um, with 21, um, injured police
01:40:59.400
officers. Right. This is, this is one, one demonstration in Berlin and one week of demonstrations
01:41:06.260
all over Germany with hundreds of thousand people out, not even a ticket, not even a fine, nothing.
01:41:12.260
So nobody can tell us we are not peaceful. And, and like I said, I was a police officer. I know what,
01:41:20.220
um, some demonstrations can turn out to be and still be, and still be in legal rights. And, and we will
01:41:27.860
carry on peaceful, friendly, but we need to, um, increase the power. And like, if I said,
01:41:35.180
we have the power, we can shut down the country for good and we will do if necessary.
01:41:42.600
So, so that's also a very optimistic set of observations because, you know, not only did you
01:41:48.600
point out that the people who were protesting did so like the Canadian truckers did with extremely
01:41:55.900
peace of peaceably. In fact, the crime rate in Ottawa fell during the trucker convoy, but also the
01:42:02.680
authorities in Germany, as you pointed out, responded in kind, right? And that there wasn't provocation
01:42:09.180
and there wasn't violence. And so that's all the more reason why we can be optimistic that these
01:42:15.060
difficult discussions that we're having about how we're going to conduct ourselves into the future
01:42:21.020
can be done within the confines of, of the legal frameworks and the electoral frameworks that are
01:42:27.040
already established. And with hopefully a certain degree of goodwill and intelligent foresight on all
01:42:33.640
sides. So, well, good. All right. Well, look, you two, thank you very much for agreeing to talk to me
01:42:40.800
today. Well, we'll keep in touch, all three of us with any degree of luck, because I definitely want
01:42:46.740
to watch as this unfolds. I certainly share your sense, Ava, that if it's upsetting the farmers and
01:42:53.720
the truckers, then something serious has gone astray and that everyone should be attending to.
01:42:59.600
That's particularly true for farmers in places like the Netherlands and Germany, who are, as Anthony
01:43:05.140
pointed out, well, generally extraordinarily competent people in a very, very difficult enterprise with
01:43:12.440
their ears to the ground and their eyes open and also very unlikely to act politically unless necessity
01:43:20.060
has driven them to that extreme. And for everybody watching and listening on YouTube, your time and
01:43:28.020
attention is much appreciated. You want to be alert to the goings on in Europe, on the populist uprising
01:43:36.600
front in Spain, in Poland, in Germany, in the Netherlands, because this is a harbinger of
01:43:43.680
things to come. All right. Till we talk again. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Thank you.