“The new rule of German farmers: if a farmer crosses the country by car, the traffic light is out.” The German columnist Willy Hentjes published an article with this title on January 9 in the magazine NIUS, criticizing the Scholz government in the context of the general farmers’ strike.
A “traffic light” (German: Ampelkoalition) in Germany is a coalition government made up of three parties: the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP).
“Whoever irritates the farmers reaps the storm”says the author of the article.
According to, “No child in a German village would think of making fun of farmers.”since they are the ones who always have a pragmatic solution to each problem and for a conflict they need very good reasons, because “the farmer is just smart”. Otherwise, no farmer would ever be able to organize 24-hour, year-round work at home, says a German journalist.
And only in the city is the word “farmer” a bad word, Hentjes points out. “For many people in this country, a farmer is the embodiment of a primitive way of life that supposedly no longer exists in the age of smartphones and milking robots.”. After all, many people believe that food is produced in supermarkets and not in the countryside, the journalist emphasizes.
Hentjes points out that the majority in Germany still thinks differently from urban residents. “Most people in this country know our farmers and understand their importance to society.”he claims.
“In 1950, one in four Germans worked in agriculture or forestry (24.6%). Today it is only 1% of the population. My father, as a farmer’s son, knew how to drive a tractor, not a bicycle, and my mother’s father was a milk inspector. “The farming gene remains an integral part of the DNA in rural areas, and in almost every family there are people who have experience working on a farm.”says the German journalist.
Hentjes believes that the members of the government (Olaf Scholz, Cem Ozdemir, Robert Habeck, Christian Lindner and others) no longer have any connection with ordinary Germans. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t try to fill the billion-dollar hole owed with farm money and they wouldn’t spare any expense.”declares.
In his opinion, the farmers went on strike because they were simply too patient.
“Why should the people who provide us with food have to atone for the government’s mistakes?” asks Hentjes.
According to one German observer, most German residents share the farmers’ view that something is fundamentally wrong in the country. And that the problem is not in the population, but in the government.
“No one who has even an ounce of sympathy for the people of his country would have thought of provoking a peasantry that is already boiling. Only a “traffic light” can deal with this.”concludes.
Also read: German farmers with tractors stormed Berlin
Source: Rossa Primavera
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