How my group worked on German Parties:

I was unable to make the group meeting when we set everything up due to being sick. But my group members were extremely helpful in e-mailing me the powerpoint and helping me out. They seem to worked well together and the powerpoint seems put together well. I hope everything went swell during our presentation!

Green Party:

The Green Party of Germany

During my study I found out that The Green party is practically a non-violent, environmentalist group that leans to be more pacifists. The pacifism is clearly shown in their opposition toward restrictions on immigration and reproductive rights, support of marijuana legalization, the equality of rights for LGBT peoples, and their "anti-authoritarian" concepts of education and parenting. Principal campaign issues including pollution regulations, the use of nuclear power, NATO military action, and certain aspects of industrialized society proved that The Greens were an environmentalist group. The average person in the group when it first became clear that The Greens existed, were young, rebellious students trying to shake the political establishment. The Greens believe violence can be avoided, while not cooperating with those who commit violence.

The famous Four Pillars of the Green Party:

· Social Justice- the rejection of prejudices based on class, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or culture.

· Ecological Wisdom- a need to reduce the negative impact of human life on the planet and to find alternate ways to cohabitate with Earth’s other life forms.

· Grassroots Democracy - create policies that allow a matter to be handled by the lowest level of authority capable of addressing it effectively.

· Non-violence- a policy of rejecting violent acts as a way to defeat our opponents.

A well-known slogan for one of The Greens’ campaigns was, “turn away from the national and international division of labor” in favor of “consumer-oriented production for local and regional economic markets.” This slogan shows a bit of the environmentalist side of the group as well as their ideals of keeping things localized.

Brief History-

The Greens (Die Grünen) was founded on January 13, 1980 in Karlsruhe. It is thought to have started up because the generation at that time was tired of wars and fighting amongst neighboring countries. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Greens entered a number of state parliaments, and in 1983 they were elected to the federal parliament for the first time. In 1985 Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer became the minister of the German state Hesse, which made him the first ever Green minister. In 1998, the Greens joined the federal government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Today, the Greens rank amongst the most supportive of German militarism. The Greens are ready and willing to cooperate in government with the conservatives.

Peter Schwarz, in support of The Greens, wrote “The intensification of militarism, social inequality and attacks on democratic rights can be opposed only by a party that bases itself on the class struggle, unites the working class internationally, and fights on the basis of a socialist program for the abolition of capitalism.”

Sources:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j13.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_%2790/The_Greens
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,5123219,00.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0328/How-Germany-s-Greens-rose-from-radical-fringe-to-ruling-power
http://www.gruene-bundestag.de/service-navigation/english.html

Get to know the 16 German states:

Saarland:

Demographics:
1.      Southwest part of Germany, with France as it’s largest border
2.      Population is 1.063 million people
3.      Smallest state (besides the 3 city-states)
4.      It’s size is 991.9 mi squared or 634,816 acres

Economy:
1.      Main Industries:
a.       Saarstahl AG(Steel),                                         
b.      Villeroy & Bock(Ceramics)
c.       Automotive and Engineering
2.      Trade Partners: The United States is Saarland’s largest trading partner followed by Italy and the rest of Europe
3.      Income Per Capita: In the last three years, Saarland has been second to last with 1.19% GDP  in 2011

Cities:
1.      In the heart of Saarland lies its capital, Saarbrucken. The city is located at the Saar river in southwest Germany close to the border of France.
2.      Saarland also holds Homburg, Neunkirchen, Saarlouis, Völklingen, within its state.

History:
1.      Saarland became Germany’s 10^th  Federal State in 1957
2.In 1871 the Battle of Spichern and annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by the German Reich. 3.Roughly around 1918, the treaty of Versailles assigns the Saar mining area to France, while the adjoining workers’ housing area appending to them is put under the rule of a League of Nations government commission.
4.And in 1948, Saarland becomes part of France and is granted limited self-rule.

Cultural Information:
1.      In 1954 Saarland had their own soccer team and qualified for the World Cup.
2.      Between 1954 and 1959 Saarland had its own currency.
3.      Saarbucken, the capital of Saarland switched six times between France and Germany since the late 17 century.

Resources:

1.      http://www.eupedia.com/germany/saarland.shtml  08/29/12
2.http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=saarland,+saarland,+germany 08/29/12 3.http://www.saarland.de/english.htm 08/29/12 4.http://www.ahkitalien.it/fileadmin/ahk_italien/Dokumente/Wirtschaftstag/NEU_Praesentation_Bologna_30.April_engl_01.pdf  08/29/12
5.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_states_by_GDP  08/29/12
6.http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Germany/saarland.