For the first time we got on a GREEN state list for the federal election with the topic “Politics for older people”. I’m really happy about 9th place (out of a total of 12 places) on the state list of the Hamburg Greens – a big step towards a really diverse society!
Here is an excerpt from my online application speech:
Dear friends,
we will not win the federal elections without the old people – that becomes very clear if you take a closer look at the election results of the state elections in Baden-Württemberg and the state elections in Hamburg. And because of that, I’m here today.
I am Christa Möller-Metzger and have been active in the GREEN senior citizen’s policy for a good seven years now, for over a year I have been the senior political spokeswoman for the GREEN in the Hamburg citizenship.
My most important messages today:
- 36% of all voters are over 60 – that’s more than twice as many as in the group of the under 30-year-olds.
- People over 60 voted more than average!
- And: The proportion of older green voters has also risen continuously in Hamburg in recent years!
However, we are still a long way from Baden-Württemberg, where over a third of the over 60s voted GREEN!
And I can already hear that some are now saying: yes, yes, that’s the Kretschmann effect, you can’t compare it. Yes, you can! The so-called Kretschmann effect is 13%. That’s a lot – but doesn’t explain that almost three times as many older people there voted GREEN.
Therefore, my request:
Let us also bring the perspective of the older Hamburgers into this election campaign. Visually, with photos on posters, on share pics and postings, during discussions at the stand or in panel discussions …
Annalena Baerbock said in her first speech as a candidate for chancellor that she wanted to open up the party and make politics for the broader population of society. That only works if we take all generations with us, because demographic change is here. Every fourth person with us is already over 60 years old, we have to be prepared for that.
That’s why I stand up for the age- and generation-friendly city, the age-friendly city. A project of the World Health Organization, which 1,000 cities and municipalities around the world have joined. The good thing about the concept is that it means improvements for all generations: e.g. B. in mobility, if we require wide footpaths and bike paths, then that also helps parents who are out and about with prams or who want their children to get home safely from school.
We need lively places for people, not just for consumers, open spaces and modern quarters with cross-generational meeting places – the coexistence of generations no longer happens by itself. I would like to have age-friendly benches, not just in parks, but in squares and streets where you can just watch the colorful life. And special friendship benches that you can sit on when you feel like talking. As a society, we have to start talking again, talk to each other, not about each other, in the respective bubble.
A particularly large number of people felt lonely during the pandemic. B. increased by 30%. But otherwise, too, many people feel alone – and it’s not just the older ones, especially many younger ones. There are more similarities between young and old than some think.
I would like to sponsor projects like Housing for Help: Students live with older people for whom the apartment or house has become too big, and part of the rent is paid by mowing the lawn, shopping or going for a walk together. Or flexible living: apartments can be enlarged or reduced, depending on the living situation. Because that is what most older people want: to stay in their own four walls.
And of course, there are not the elders, and also not those who conservatively always choose the same thing. The old 68ers z. B. are now around 75!
The topics of the elderly are just as diverse as those of all other generations: They are about climate, peace, mobility, health, sport, exchange in the neighborhood, to culturally sensitive care, caring relatives and queer people who have been Hardly anyone has on their radar when it comes to care, it’s about age discrimination, social commitment and participation.
So far, participation has not worked so well with digitization, half of the over 65-year-olds – namely those with a low income and a not so good education, i.e. usually older women and migrants – are currently excluded from digital participation. We have to take countermeasures.
In Hamburg, I was able to initiate digital training courses, rental equipment and more WiFi with a corresponding application. Loan equipment is particularly important because old-age poverty is a growing problem. This is another reason why we need more flexible retirement, so that those who want to and can work longer can also do so. That would also make it easier to finance adequate pensions.
The elders of today are no longer those of 20 years ago. We need new images of old age that correspond to real life. Today people live longer and stay fit longer. This is a great development – and not a threat to society. You just have to take care of it in good time, set the right course now – and understand that we need diversity that also includes the elderly, because diversity can only enrich and advance society.
