"Flipped My lid over those Rheinmetall shares" - Jan van Aken spills the beans
Jan van Aken discusses his stake in Rheinmetall, a German arms manufacturing company.
Written by: Chelsea Townsend, Chemnitz
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Left Party co-chairman Jan van Aken is sending shivers down the spines of Rheinmetall's top brass, as he contemplates stirring up a hornet's nest at the next shareholders' meeting.
In an impassioned speech delivered to over 500 party faithful in Chemnitz, van Aken revealed that eight years ago, he dropped a cool 150 euros on a couple of Rheinmetall shares - and boy, are they paying off!
"You don't need shares if you're planning on investing," van Aken clarified. "You need them if you fancy making a big fuss at a shareholders' meeting." And as for those humble 150 euros, they've snowballed into a whopping 3200 euros, thanks to the stock's stratospheric rise.
"It's sickening to think that people are making a killing out of other people's misery and suffering," van Aken fumed, branding Rheinmetall's profits as a form of war profiteering. That's why he's advocating for an excess profits tax, to rein in the earnings of companies like Rheinmetall and funnel that money back into the public purse.
Parliamentary group leader Sören Pellmann echoed van Aken's sentiments in his own address. Pellmann criticized the CDU's renewed focus on defense spending, accusing the party of choosing armed buildup over social security - and to make matters worse, the federal government is planning to loosen the country's spending rules in the name of national security.
According to Pellmann, "We've never seen an arms race like this before." He went on to commend the Left as the only force in the Bundestag standing firm against militarization and setting their sights on social justice.
Van Aken and Pellmann's speeches come on the heels of the Left's party conference in Chemnitz, which saw a proposed resolution on war and peace discussed and adopted by delegates. It seems not everyone in the party is on board with the Left's hardline stance on arms manufacturers and excessive defense spending.
One delegate from Hesse, for instance, accused parts of the party of clinging to "beliefs that drift further and further from reality," particularly on matters of war and peace. She argued that current tensions with Russia necessitate robust defense spending to ensure the safety of NATO territories.
However, this position is a minority one within the Left. The resolution adopted by the delegates makes it clear that any fears of Russian aggression are merely a smokescreen for massive rearmament. The strengthening of NATO and the justification of extravagant defense budgets are portrayed as transparent attempts to convince the public of the necessity of arms buildup when, in reality, the proposed reforms serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful.
Sources: ntv.de
- The Left Party
- German Defense Policy
- Friedrich Merz
- Chemnitz
- Party Congress
Enrichment Data:- Jan van Aken's perspective on Rheinmetall shares and arms manufacturers can be characterized as critical and skeptical, with a focus on holding such companies accountable for profiting from military conflicts.- He advocates for an excess profits tax to rein in the earnings of companies like Rheinmetall and to redirect those funds to socially beneficial initiatives. This stance is based on the belief that such companies unfairly capitalize on conflict situations and the human suffering it entails.- Van Aken sees arms manufacturers as entities working against social justice and promoting the interests of those who profit from conflict, rather than serving the needs of the general public.
- EC countries could consider implementing an excess profits tax on companies like Rheinmetall, following the proposal made by Jan van Aken, as a means to address the alleged war profiteering by such businesses and redirect the funds towards social welfare.
- In the realm of business and politics, the Left Party in Germany is advocating for a shift in policy to prioritize employment and vocational training programs over defense spending, as they believe war profiteering by companies such as Rheinmetall is detrimental to social justice and general-news issues.
