The new social question is: democracy or the rule of the financial markets. We are currently witnessing the end of an era. The neoliberal ideology has failed worldwide. The U.S. movement Occupy Wall Street is a good example of this.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the dominance of financial markets over democratic values, highlighting a shift in societal priorities.
Sigmar Gabriel's quote addresses the tension between democracy and financial markets, arguing that the neoliberal ideology, which prioritizes market freedom and deregulation, has failed globally. He points to movements such as Occupy Wall Street as manifestations of public discontent against the financial system that undermines democratic principles, suggesting a need for a reevaluation of societal values to prioritize democratic governance over the interests of financial markets.
In practice
During a political debate, you might use this quote to discuss the challenges facing modern democracies.
Finding the right form of debate regarding Israeli policies will remain a challenge in Germany. Even with every conceivable and warranted criticism, the danger always arises that it will be exploited by those who consciously or unconsciously present anti-Semitism in a new guise.
People are finding it harder and harder to relate to foreign policy.
Let me let you in on a little secret. There is no such thing as an international community. There are self-maximizing, self-interested states that will push their interests as far as possible.
I was the first American citizen to be elected to Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin. When you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. In a just and free society it would be foolish. That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black and a woman proves, I think, that our society is not yet either just or free.
Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
We all want prosperity, but not at the expense of liberty. Poverty is not as great a danger to liberty as is wealth, with its corrupting, demoralizing influences. Let us never have a Government at Washington owing its retention to the power of the millionaires rather than to the will of millions.
You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad - in fact, to do anything it wants.
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