While his party has just entered a historic coalition, Green mayor of the southern German town of Tübingen, Boris Palmer, has no personal reason for sharing in the optimism. His party is on the verge of expelling their successful mayor for his outspoken anti-woke and anti-immigration stance.
Although elected with a 60 percent majority and very popular for his effective green policies — more so than elsewhere in Germany — the Greens of Baden_Württemberg officially launched his exclusion procedure this May.
Apparently, one of his main sins is having had published in August 2017, just before the 2017 federal elections, a book with the self-explanatory title of “Wir können nicht alle helfen” (“We cannot help everyone”). The book, along with his criticism of child adoption by same-sex couples, has infuriated many of the progressive members of the party.
He is also an outspoken critic of cancel culture, having had said that “cancel culture turns us into obedient talking machines that can push themselves to the edge of the abyss with every word.”
After having had studied history in his home town, Palmer joined the Green party in 1996 and has always been considered something of a loose cannon, often being criticized for not being a team player. He was also blamed for asking more for tolerance regarding political opinions that stray from his own party’s line.
“There is no opinion dictatorship and censorship (in Germany). But there is a culture of expletives against AfD voters, who consider this as infringement on their freedom of opinion,” Palmer said.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the most conservative party in the Bundestag and known for its strong stance against mass immigration.
Another area where Palmer wildly departs from the Green Party’s official line, is that he is of the opinion that reviving the economy is more important than saving every single COVID-19 patient.
“Let me be blunt: In Germany, we might be saving people who would be dead in half a year anyway,” he said in a TV interview in May 2020.
Last month, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the leadership of the Green Party of Baden-Württemberg officially applied for Palmer’s expulsion from the party.
