European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 25, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A  Gavvn  and Snitken of a Tifton of inca to fool g0miff/t parliament Maverick West German greens facing crisis Over party s future by Serge Schmemann new Yorac times even years Afler the first scruffy greens elbowed their Way into the stodgy world of West German politics the environmentalists Are finding Hal Success can be the Bane of Radical politics. The Maverick party movement rather since the greens disdain the More conventional Label is in crisis it is so splintered that a recent Congress was unable to agree on what to do with 60 million Marks �33 million in government funds available Lor political studies. Some Green members of the bundestag or parliament have gone so far As to Rock two of the ideological pillars of the Gorman far left suggesting that perhaps it would not be so to put out of nato or to immediately close All Aton Power plants. Characteristically there v Ore greens who welcomed Tho purgative Eifret of the 11515, but veterans like Petra k a a founder of he movement have despair of he mudslinging and intolerance that have set on party gatherings. She remains ardently do Solbu. O the original idea of a Radical opposition Dedic. A to the environment and non violence. The situation of the teens makes one tired and  said Kelly who Cut her Radical Teeth in the United Stales in the Laic 1960s and is now 39. The actions she said have become locked in a kind of holy War with mullahs of Bolh Camps throwing incredible personal Zander this is the typical left Wing sickness of the 70s." she said it s one of the most tragic things you can think of Hal the a pen Mont is tailing. Whal s sad is that the criticism irom the outside does t seem to shake anyone to s Tike walking into suicide " Page in the stars and stripes by the conventional measures of politics things have never been better for the greens. In National elections last january their share of the popular vote jumped irom 5.6 percent to 8,3 percent and they added 17 seats in the 496-member bundestag for a total of 44. The movement can also claim to have had a tangible effect on German politics the mainstream parties for example have been made More sensitive to environmental concerns. It has also provided expression for a Wido Range of concerns beyond the environment the Issue through which it first became Well known for example the greens Are pushing new legislation on compensation for previously neglected victims of nazism like homosexuals. Gypsies victims of medical experiments and forced labourers the greens have also expanded into a european movement with seats in the european parliament and in the Legislatures of seven countries. A Green is in Britain s House of lords. But Success inevitably rears temptations and new pressures which have sorely tested what was always a fragile coalition the most divisive Issue has been whether to use the seats in the National and the state Legislatures to forge coalitions with the older parties. The debate has grown bitter splitting the greens into the believers in the realpolitik of deals and alliances and the fundamentalists who believe the movement should remain undefiled by base politicking. Whal has kept the greens together according to outside commentators is the recognition that a big bang As the Prospect of a bitter dissolution is dubbed would scatter and Irish the movement. The divisions were there from tha outset when environmental idealists like Kelly and disgruntled socialist intellectuals joined forces with communist splinter groups feminists and others leftists from the 1970s to torm inc greens. Sunday. October 25.1937 but since the National election last january the dispute has divided the greens increasingly into two warring Camps with Tho boiler organized marxists of the Purist Wing controlling Morolo the parly s swelling bureaucracy and the More prominent realists gaining the Edge in publicity. Tho disputes came to a head in september when the greens gathered in Oldenburg to decide what to do with the 60 million Marks they Are entitled to for financing political  the allocation was made possible through a lawsuit the greens died against the purportedly Independent foundations that other parties maintained to work Oul their policies and to shelter jobless members. No less than four models Lor a foundation Scio proposed ranging Tom a Himich Boll found Hon proposed by the revered writer s family and supported by prominent leftist intellectuals Loa feminist research organization alter Long and acerbic debate he question was Scal Back to a comm Loco. The results of the parly Congress at Oldenburg were Cala strophic said Zoschka Fischer a loader of the realist Wing and a major advocate of using Tho classic Toots of mainstream politics to Advance the parly s goals alliances coalitions and compromises with other parties Fischer became the first Green to enter a provincial government serving briefly two years ago As minister of the environment in a social democratic government in i to slate of Hesse. "1 Don t want to just complain that inc Rivers arc ditty i want to clean them up Fischer said Tho coalition was strongly opposed by the greens National organization and Cven Lually collapsed but Fischer and prominent realist allies like Otto Schily a lawyer who gained Fame in the 1970s defending accused terrorists have continued trying to bring he Grozena More into the mainstream of Gorman politics most recently they assailed two of the last surviving issues on which the croons were agreed when Hoy challenged the Wisdom of leaving nato and suggested Hal atomic Power plants should to phased Oul gradually not abruptly. For Schily a former social Domo Cral who wears Nock ios to work and maintains an Active Law practice the positions were simply a recognition of political realities. The slogan out of nato is nonsense he said. I m in favor of dissolving Bolh military blocs but it o not feasible now As germans we have to define our foreign policy in the context of our past we have to remember that Germany is divided because of Germany s dark past to cause Germany started two world  Scilly t critics charged that he shifted positions to make the greens More acceptable As a Coa lion partner Lor the social democrats. The opposition would lose its Teeth if it became too Legal said Thomas Ebermann. A Leader of the Purist Wing who traces his heritage to the 1960s communist factions of Hamburg. Wearing an open neck plaid shirt and sandals As he Cham smoked Mari Boros Ebermann seemed to illustrate the difference Between the wings. It was a contrast he appeared to cherish Otto personifies the wish for a serious Republic Ebermann said. I represent the wish to change Tho system. So Between us we mix a wish for capitalism without corruption and no capitalism at All " the notion of Power sharing is opposed Loo by Kelly who has stayed oui of the factional fighting achieving a piece of the governmental action she seemed to argue would hopelessly violate the Green Ideal. I believe in the idea of being a moral conscience in parliament she said. Agreeing to Power at any Price is the first sign of corruption my idea is to slay in opposition learning Lobo an effective nonviolent opposition oriented to the ecology and  tha real Tel however dispute Hal they have sold Oul the cause. We Are sometimes attacked As traitors who surrender holy principles said Udo Knapp. A longtime strategist for the reads Wing but it s easy to be socialist and Radical it s much More Radical  position and change the course " so tar nobody is prepared to sound the death Knell tar the greens and the greens being the greens there were those who welcomed the schism it s a crisis yes but k in t the first or the  said a come Michalik one of the leading Green feminists and a crisis in t a negative act you can learn a lot living through it and i Hope the parly wit learn and become stronger irom this  i imagine it there was a major ecological disa Lei said Woermann. The greens would Puu quickly together