ZCZC
BFF-44
GERMANY-POLITICS-INTERNET-CDU-LEAD
German YouTuber’s diatribe against Merkel’s party goes viral
BERLIN, May 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A German YouTuber’s hour-long rant
against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party has gone viral, attracting more
than five million views by Thursday and putting politicians on the back foot.
In the online video “The destruction of the CDU”, Rezo, who has more than a
million followers, accused the CDU-led government of making policies “for the
rich” while failing to act on crucial issues like climate change.
Posted on May 18, a week before the European Parliament elections, the clip
swiftly went viral, spreading Rezo’s message of “how the CDU is currently
destroying our lives”.
“Go to vote … Otherwise the pensioners will decide your future, and that
won’t be cool,” said Rezo, appealing to his mostly young audience.
The YouTuber with a trademark blue fringe poking out from under a baseball
cap charged that the Christian Democratic Union is “destroying its
reputation, election result, and finally itself”.
In a message to the ruling coalition, Rezo said: “You say that young people
should be political, so then you have to handle it when they think your
politics are shit.”
The reach of the clip dwarfed the German audience of 1.68 million who
watched the main pre-election TV debate, between Manfred Weber of the centre-
right EPP bloc and his Socialist challenger Frans Timmermans.
CDU heavyweights have hit back against the 26-year-old online star.
Party chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is poised to succeed Merkel
when the veteran leader steps down by 2021, dismissed the wide-ranging attack
by asking “why we’re not also being held responsible for the seven plagues in
ancient Egypt”.
– ‘Let us talk’ –
CDU general secretary Paul Ziemiak accused Rezo of “false claims” and
“making things seem easier on the Internet than they actually are”.
But the 33-year-old former youth wing chief conceded that his party
was struggling to reach younger generations.
“We need to be more present online,” said Ziemiak. “We must use the
Internet more to make complex questions more understandable.”
As the centre-right party scrambled to put out the fire, satirical magazine
Postillon joined in the mockery with a doctored picture of Kramp-Karrenbauer
holding out the party’s riposte on a VHS-cassette titled “CDU destroys Rezo”.
It also emerged that the CDU’s youngest MP, 26-year-old Philipp Amthor, had
recorded a clip aiming to counter Rezo.
But the party’s leadership on Thursday canned the attempt by the
bespectacled young lawmaker, reported Bild daily, citing unnamed CDU sources.
Instead, Ziemiak published a series of seven tweets in which he invited
Rezo to a dialogue.
“We don’t do everything right,” he conceded. “You have made points of
criticism that are justified.
“Let us talk about your criticism of the CDU, but please also listen to us
on how we see things.
“Not as a show but … out of concern for our future and about the ways to
make our planet future-proof, about ideas for better solutions.”
BSS/AFP/1818 hrs