Always listening to the interests of the “security authorities”: NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) Duisburg (9 September 2024)
The “black-green” NRW state government has approved a large “security package” with a number of measures. What tightening measures are included?
The CDU and the Greens are using the horrific Islamist attacks in Solingen to put together an internal security package that will massively accelerate the authoritarian restructuring of society. CDU Chancellor Hendrik Wüst calls it the most comprehensive “security and migration package” in the history of North Rhine-Westphalia. A series of toughening laws have been passed. Among other things, surveillance is being expanded by giving the State Constitutional Protection Agency more powers. In the future, data from 14-year-olds will be stored, while the current age limit is 16. This is being marketed as a measure to prevent young people from becoming radicalized.
We also need to provide legal grounds for accessing private operators’ video surveillance systems in public places. We need to use facial recognition software to identify so-called threats. We also need to centrally track politically unpopular content on the Internet to speed up the blocking of online services. AI should act as a kind of virtual investigator to police the digital space. In addition, the Constitutional Protection Agency should have access to encrypted messenger services.
Wüst has brought stricter measures to the forefront in the area of migration.
Asylum seekers’ rights are severely restricted and they are being deported. The state is campaigning against ‘irregular migration’. The law provides a central overview of those subject to deportation. People from so-called safe countries of origin are required to remain in the camps indefinitely until a decision is made on their asylum application and they leave the country or are deported. Until now, these refugees have been transferred to the municipality after 24 months. Three additional court rooms for asylum proceedings are to be set up at the administrative court. NRW is also planning a second deportation prison in addition to the one in Büren.
The federal government also has requirements. What direction are the states taking?
“Black-green” seeks to use federal congressional initiatives for a range of measures, including data retention—a form of mass surveillance of communications that the Supreme Court has repeatedly labeled a violation of fundamental rights. jW) insert. The plan is to strengthen residency rights. This includes strengthening the so-called Dublin system. Suspected members of terrorist organizations and those identified as their supporters should be more easily deported. The state government is demanding that the federal government take central responsibility for the so-called Dublin relocations in the future, to ease the burden on local governments.
And what does the left think about this?
The state government is part of the right-wing shift and is implementing many of the demands that the AfD has adopted. We must emphasize this because this development is very dangerous. This shows once again that there is a lack of a left-wing opposition in the state parliament, despite some criticism from within the SPD and the FDP. We oppose this with all our might and confirm that the entire approach is fundamentally wrong. The entire debate completely ignores the social causes. For example, why do people join IS (“Islamic State”)? jW) Eh? The causes can be found, above all, in the development of poverty, the West’s war policy, and racism. Rather than branding refugees across the board and defining them as scapegoats again, this is where we must begin and respond to this bourgeois policy.
Who are you looking for allies to put pressure on?
We try to join forces with social movements to create the widest possible contradiction in society. In this context, this primarily includes trade unions, peace movements, fundamental rights movements, and refugee support.
