Berlin university meeting discusses election of Trump and the return of German militarism
By
our correspondents
7 January 2017
On Tuesday, January 4 more than 60 students and young workers attended the second meeting organized by the IYSSE group at Berlin’s Humboldt University as part of its campaign for this year’s elections to the university student parliament. On December 14 several hundred students had attended a lecture given by David North.
On Wednesday the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) invited Johannes Stern as speaker. Stern is a member of the IYSSE and of the World Socialist Web Site editorial board in Germany. He regularly writes on issues of militarism and state rearmament.
Stern began his contribution with a characterization of the Trump government, due to enter office on January 20. “This will be the most right-wing government the United States has ever seen,” he said, adding that the incoming cabinet was composed of right-wing extremists, generals, and politicians notorious for their hostility to social programs. The new president is intent on destroying all social achievements and plans to lead the US into new wars.
The new American government is the product of profound social and political processes. The crisis of the capitalist system has become increasingly acute since the end of the Soviet Union. Unprecedented levels of social inequality, ceaseless wars with millions of victims and the growth of totalitarian state measures were the hallmarks of this development. “The same issues and conflicts that led to the Russian revolution in 1917 are back on the agenda at the beginning of 2017,” Stern said.
Developments in Europe are characterized by the same contradictions as those in the US, Stern stressed. The…