Cash is freedom and protects against a surveillance state, say German politicians warning against left-wing interior minister’s new war on cash. ‘Concerns about organized crime must not be used to enter into mass surveillance of citizens.’

Citizens are being urged to use cash rather than a card when shopping as using cards to make purchases gives pervasive increasingly Stalinist regimes the power to spy on the spending habits of the electorate.

The battle over the right to cash is heating up in Europe, with German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser pushing for an upper limit for cash transactions to fall further. While she slyly connects the issue to the fight against organized crime, conservatives and other activists warn that the government is slowly eroding the ability of citizens to make cash transactions. This could set the stage for mass surveillance and restrictions on what citizens can buy and sell.

According to the sinister German minister, purchases of jewellery and watches with cash should be a thing of the past in order to fight organized crime. Faeser, earlier claimed that right-wing extremists are the biggest threat facing Germany, belongs to the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) which according to polls is less popular than the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party she describes as ‘a threat’.

Meanwhile, FDP deputy parliamentary group leader Konstantin Kuhle said that ‘concerns about organized crime must not be used to enter into mass surveillance of citizens.’

The Alternative for Germany says; The required cash upper limits are getting lower and lower by the traffic-light government. AfD, on the other hand, demands in its basic program the unrestricted retention of cash, because cash is freedom and protects against a surveillance state.’

Would restrictions on cash actually help fight organized crime and terrorism? Many are sceptical of her arguments, with one German Twitter user writing: ‘You have to be very naive to think that the cash cap is about counter-terrorism… Organized crime is not stupid. Money laundering has long been largely cashless via shell companies. Only in films is it still the case that they travel across the border with a suitcase of money,’ he said.

According to a poll, only one in five (21 percent) could imagine a cashless life. At the same time, a clear majority of 79 percent do not want to do away with cash.

In other European countries, namely Austria but also Poland, political parties are working to ensure the right to cash is protected forever. In Austria, a referendum signed by over 500,000 people demanded such a right be added to the constitution.

Is controlling migration more effective than cash restrictions in battling organized crime?

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