Survey: More Than 60% of Germans Believe Capitalism, Democracy Are Mutually Exclusive
It's been 25 years and change since the Berlin Wall came down, but as it turns out, many Germans now aren't so big on the whole capitalism thing.
A graffiti painting, part of the so-called East Side Gallery on the 1.3-kilometer-long section of the Berlin Wall Memorial near the River Spree, photographed in July 2013. (Shutterstock)
It’s been 25 years and change since the Berlin Wall came down, but as it turns out, Germans now aren’t so big on the whole capitalism thing.
A poll published Tuesday suggests that nearly a third of Germans believe capitalism is at the root of their country’s hunger and poverty problems. Although Germany’s economy has fared better recently than that of many neighboring nations, most of the respondents signaled a shared belief that real democracy cannot thrive within the current capitalistic framework. Reuters reported about the poll Tuesday:
The poll of 1,400 people found that 59 percent of Germans in the formerly communist east consider communist and socialist ideals a good idea for society. In western Germany, 37 percent said they considered communist and socialist ideals to be good.
The survey was conducted at Berlin’s Free University by the Emnid polling institute.
–Posted by Donald Kaufman.
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