Street protests - playing Putin’s game?

This Monday’s newsletter discusses plans from the far-left for a heißer Herbst of social protest. What is this, and why has it led some to draw parallels to the break down of the Weimar Republic?

Photo by Moises Gonzalez on Unsplash

Background

The left-wing Linke party has promised a heißer Herbst (hot autumn) of street protests against the government’s decision to impose a gas levy on people’s heating bills. As of October, the average home will pay something like €300 to keep companies like Uniper afloat. 

Uniper, Germany’s main gas importer would have gone bankrupt if the government hadn’t come to the rescue with a €15 billion bailout last month. Unable to buy the required gas from Gazprom, the Düsseldorf-based company and its competitors have had to source the fossil fuel from elsewhere at vastly higher costs.

The idea behind the levy is that it doesn’t distort the market. The companies will still have an incentive to buy as cheaply as they can.

But critics describe it as a blunt instrument that will hit poorer homes much harder than wealthier ones.

For the left-wing Linke Partei, the levy is “a complete catastrophe” which will “drive millions into poverty.” They say that the real solution is to tax energy companies such as RWE (whom they call the “war’s winners”) on the additional profits they’ve made this year. They promised to provide a vent for “the deep anger” of the German public with their street protests.