Anni did not expect such an echo. This single mother, beneficiary of social mimima, living near Bochum in North Rhine-Westphalia, launched the hashtag in May #Iampoverty (#JeSuisTouchéeParLaPauvreté in French). It all started with a “umpteenth” press article accusing the long-term unemployed and benefit recipients (known as Hartz IV) of not knowing “managing their money”.
In a series of tweets, Anni then expels a “anger that had been rising for a long time”. “Hello, my name is Anni, I’m 39 and I’m fed up! I live from Hartz IV and that’s just not enough! No, I don’t spend money “unnecessarily”. No, I’m not asocial, lazy or dumb. I am touched by poverty. Point “, she wrote. Since then, the hashtag has been picked up by hundreds of people every week. Twice a month, rallies are organized in a dozen cities.
Two parties behind the discontent
“In rich countries like Germany, the poor hide and are ashamed”comments sociologist Christoph Butterwegge. “This hashtag breaks that circle for the first time. It’s an important step.”he believes, recalling that poverty “grows up” in Germany since the 2000s, with labor market reforms initiated by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
According to the latest annual report of the German Joint Charity Association, 13.8 million people earn less than 60% of the median income. “With the pandemic and today inflation, the richest are getting richer and the poorest are getting poorer. The social state has been weakened and is no longer sufficient to reduce these social inequalities.judges the sociologist.
If the shame that accompanies poverty still limits this movement on the ground, the radical left parties Die Linke and the extreme right Alternative for Germany (AfD) predict a “hot social autumn”. Inflation reached 7.9% in July and Russian gas has not arrived for two weeks. On September 5, the two parties called separately for demonstrations in Leipzig against rising energy costs.
Several thousand people responded, with on the far right side panels representing the Minister of the Economy Robert Habeck as a prisoner and the mention ” guilty “accused of launching a “economic war against Russia” and make the Germans pay the price. “People are going to be on the streets all winter long”assures Alice Weidel, co-president of the AfD, accusing the government of “force the Germans to freeze in the name of the climate, Ukraine or whatever”.
Limits of acceptability
Is Germany really about to experience a turbulent social autumn, or even “popular revolts” in the event of Russian gas cuts, as the head of German diplomacy mentioned in July? Clemens Fuest, director of the Ifo Economic Institute in Munich, does not believe it. “Germany is a welfare state. This should limit the grumbling”he believes, recalling that the government has already presented three aid packages against inflation.
“There is real nervousness but I don’t think people will demonstrate en masse,” also considers Tilman Mayer, of the University of Bonn. “On the other hand, if the Germans were to start freezing, or to have no more electricity because the nuclear power plants were stopped, things could change”nuances the political scientist.
In any case, the political authorities take seriously the possibility of a new mobilization of the extremes. “Unfortunately, the rapid succession of the pandemic, natural disasters and war in Ukraine as well as its geopolitical effects is an ideal breeding ground for sowing distrust in the state”Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann recently noted.