title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Before 1993, homosexual acts between consenting males were against the law in Russia, and homosexuality was considered a mental disorder until adoption of ICD-10 in 1999, but even after that military medical expertise statute was in force to continue considering homosexuality a mental disorder which was a reason to deny homosexuals to serve in the military. On 1 July 2003, a new military medical expertise statute was adopted; it said people "who have problems with their identity and sexual preferences" can only be drafted during war times. However, this clause contradicted another clause of the same statute which stated that different sexual orientation should not be considered a deviation. This ambiguity was resolved by the Major-General of the Medical Service Valery Kulikov who clearly stated that the new medical statute "does not forbid people of non-standard sexual orientation from serving in the military." However, he added that people of non-standard sexual orientation should not reveal their sexual orientation while serving in the army because "other soldiers are not going to like that; they can be beaten". President Vladimir Putin said in a U.S. television interview in 2010 that openly gay men were not excluded from military service in Russia. In 2013, it was reported that the Defense Ministry had issued a guideline on assessment of new recruits' mental health that recommends recruits be asked about their sexual history and be examined for certain types of tattoos, especially genital or buttocks tattoos, that would allegedly indicate a homosexual orientation.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: There have been notable objections to the organization of gay pride parades in several Russian cities, most prominently Moscow, where authorities have never approved a request to hold a gay pride rally. Former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov supported the city's refusal to authorize the first two editions of Nikolay Alexeyev's Moscow Pride events, calling them as "satanic". The events still went on as planned, in defiance of their lack of authorization. In 2010, Russia was fined by the European Court of Human Rights, ruling that, as alleged by Alexeyev, Russian cities were discriminating against the gay community by refusing to authorize pride parades. Although authorities had claimed allowing pride events to be held would pose a risk of violence, the Court ruled that their decisions "effectively approved of and supported groups who had called for [their] disruption." In August 2012, contravening the previous ruling, the Moscow City Court upheld a ruling blocking requests by the organizers of Moscow Pride for authorization to hold the parade yearly through 2112, citing the possibility of public disorder and a lack of support for such events by residents of Moscow.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Anti-gay purges in the Chechen Republic have included forced disappearances — secret abductions, imprisonment, and torture — by authorities targeting persons based on their perceived sexual orientation. An unknown number of men, who authorities detained on suspicion of being gay or bisexual, have reportedly died after being held in what human rights groups and eyewitnesses have called concentration camps.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Allegations were initially reported on 1 April 2017 in "Novaya Gazeta", a Russian-language opposition newspaper, which reported that since February 2017 over 100 men had allegedly been detained and tortured and at least three had died in an extrajudicial killing. The paper, citing its sources in the Chechen special services, called the wave of detentions a "prophylactic sweep". The journalist who first reported on the subject went into hiding. There have been calls for reprisals against journalists who report on the situation.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: As news spread of Chechen authorities' actions, which have been described as part of a systematic anti-LGBT purge, Russian and international activists scrambled to evacuate survivors of the camps and other vulnerable Chechens but were met with difficulty obtaining visas to conduct them safely beyond Russia.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: The reports of the persecution were met with a variety of reactions worldwide. The Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov denied not only the occurrence of any persecution but also the existence of gay men in Chechnya, adding that such people would be killed by their own families. Officials in Moscow were sceptical, although in late May the Russian government reportedly agreed to send an investigative team to Chechnya. Numerous national leaders and other public figures in the West condemned Chechnya's actions, and protests were held in Russia and elsewhere. A report released in December 2018 by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed claims that persecution of LGBT persons had taken place and was ignored by authorities.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: On 11 January 2019, it was reported that another 'gay purge' had begun in the country in December 2018, with several gay men and women being detained. The Russian LGBT Network believes that around 40 persons were detained and two killed.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In March 2021, Reuters reported that the European Union imposed economic sanctions on two Chechen officials accused of persecuting LGBT people in Chechnya.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Russia has traditionally been socially conservative on LGBT rights, with 2013 polls indicating a large majority of Russians oppose legal recognition of same-sex marriage, and support for laws restricting the distribution of "propaganda" that promotes non-traditional sexual relationships.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In 2019, a survey showed that 47% of Russian respondents agreed that "gays and lesbians should enjoy the same rights as other citizens," while 43 percent disagreed, a rise from 39% in 2013. This marks the highest level of support in 14 years.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In 2019, a poll showed that only 2% would show interest and a willingness to communicate if the neighbour was a homosexual couple or a member of a religious sect, the last of the category of people presented.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: According to a 2019 poll carried out by the Russian Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 7% of Russians agreed that same-sex marriages should be allowed in Russia, while 87% opposed the idea.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Anton Krasovsky, a television news anchor at government-run KontrTV, was immediately fired from his job in January 2013 when he announced during a live broadcast that he is gay and disgusted by the national anti-gay propaganda legislation that had been proposed although had not yet passed.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In September 2013, a Khabarovsk teacher and gay rights activist, Alexander Yermoshkin, was fired from his two jobs as school teacher and university researcher. A week earlier, he had been attacked by members of a local neo-Nazi group "Shtolz Khabarovsk". An activist group called "Movement against the propaganda of sexual perversions" had campaigned for his dismissal.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: The federal law banning LGBT propaganda among minors was passed unanimously by the Russian Duma; as the bill amended an existing child protection law, it is difficult to know whether or not all of the MPs, and their respective political parties, supported every aspect of the bill or not. A few political parties without members in the Duma have expressed some limited support for LGBT rights.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Yabloko is a member of the Liberal International, and has organized public demonstrations against intolerance under the banner of building a "Russia without pogroms".


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: The Libertarian Party of Russia, formed in 2007, has objected to the government ban on "gay propaganda" as a violation of people's right to freedom of speech.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In 2016, two openly gay men ran for seats in the Russian duma. While they admit that they probably will not win a seat, they were supported by a liberal coalition. They are also probably the first openly gay candidates to run for seats in the Russian parliament.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: The LGBT rights organisation Gayrussia.ru has been monitoring homophobic political parties since 2011. In the middle of 2013 their list included: United Russia, Communist Party of Russian Federation, Narodnaya Volya, National Bolshevik Party, National Bolshevik Front, Patriots of Russia, Eurasian Youth Union and Fair Russia.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: President Vladimir Putin has used the existence of transgender rights in other countries as justification for the potential deployment of nuclear weapons against Ukraine. In a speech given on September 30, 2022, Putin said "Do we want things that lead to degradation and extinction to be imposed on children from elementary school? Do we want them to be taught that instead of men and women, there are supposedly some other genders and to be offered sex-change surgeries? This is unacceptable to us.” before following up by stating that Russia would be willing to use “all means at our disposal” against Ukraine, and saying that the United States “created a precedent” when it used nuclear weapons against Japan in 1945, mirroring comments by other Russian officials that nuclear weapons were on the table.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: On 20 January 2013, six demonstrating LGBT activists in the provincial capital of Voronezh were attacked by over 500 people. The protest by these agitators, who appeared with Hitler salutes and hate slogans and threw snowballs, bottles and other objects at the demonstrators and then beat them up, was not registered. The police assigned 10 officers to this event. The employees of the nearby Adidas sports shop staged its mannequins with Hitler salutes in solidarity with the beating. At least three LGBT activists, including women, were injured and hospitalized during the resistance. On the same day, the author of the Petersburg law against 'homosexual propaganda', Vitaly Milonov, posted on his Twitter that "Voronezh is great".


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Unlike in many western nations, LGBT persons in Russia are not protected by specific legal protections. Violent criminal acts carried out against these persons are prosecuted as criminal offences under Russian law, but the fact that these crimes are motivated by the sexual orientation or gender identity of the victim is not considered an aggravating factor when the court determines the sentence. Among the more vicious crimes that would qualify as hate crimes outside of Russia and are reported in the press would include the following;


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In Tsarist Russia, young women would sometimes pose as men or act like tomboys. This was often tolerated among the educated middle classes, with the assumption that such behavior was asexual and would stop when the girl married. However, cross-dressing was widely seen as sexually immoral behavior, punishable by God promoted through the Church and later criminalized by the government.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In Soviet Russia, sex reassignment surgeries were first tried during the 1920s but became prohibited until the 1960s. Later they were performed by Irina Golubeva, an endocrinologist, authorized by psychiatrist Aron Belkin, who was the strongest Soviet advocate for transgender people until his death in 2003.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: On 29 December 2014, Russia passed a road safety law, allowing the government to deny driver's licenses to people with several classes of mental disorders according to ICD-10. Class "F60-69 Disorders of adult personality and behaviour" includes "F64 Transsexualism" Russian and foreign critics perceived the law as a ban on transgender drivers: journalist Yelena Masyuk questioned the relevance of a person's transgender identity in regards to their ability to drive. On 14 January 2015, Russia's Health Ministry clarified the law, stating that it would only deny licenses to those with disorders that would impair their ability to drive safely, and explicitly stated that one's sexual orientation would not be considered a factor under the law, as it is not considered a psychiatric disorder.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In 2018, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation developed a draft medical certificate that will help transgender people with confirming their gender identity on their legal documents. The Ministry of Justice approved this document on January 19, 2018. Up to this point, changes related to the gender change could only be made to the documents on the basis of a court decision. The Ministry of Health explained that, in accordance with the legislation, the registry offices make changes to the birth certificate if a mentioned certificate is submitted.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: A certificate of gender change required to change person's gender in documents such as a birth certificate and passport, and can be obtained on the basis of a medical commission consisting of a psychiatrist, a sexologist and a medical psychologist. Neither sex-affirmative surgery nor hormone replacement therapy required. The minimum duration of psychiatric observation is not specified in the final document of the Ministry of Health.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Between 2006 and 2013, ten regions enacted a ban on "propaganda of homosexualism" among minors. The laws of nine of them prescribe punishments of administrative sanctions and/or fines. The laws in some of the regions also forbid so-called "propaganda of bisexualism and transgenderism" to minors. As of May 2013 the regions that had enacted these various laws, and the years in which they had passed the laws, included: Ryazan Oblast (2006), Arkhangelsk Oblast (2011), Saint Petersburg (2012), Kostroma Oblast (2012), Magadan Oblast (2012), Novosibirsk Oblast (2012), Krasnodar Krai (2012), Samara Oblast (2012), Bashkortostan (2012), and Kaliningrad Oblast (February 2013). Then, Arkhangelsk (2013) and Saint Petersburg (2014) removed the law.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In 2019, Russia cut and censored gay sex scenes in the movie musical "Rocketman" based on the life of British singer Elton John, a decision he criticized, saying it is "cruelly unaccepting of the love between two people."


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Federal laws passed on 29 June 2013 ban the distribution of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships" among minors. Critics contend the law makes illegal holding any sort of public demonstration in favour of gay rights, speak in defence of LGBT rights, and distribute material related to LGBT culture, or to state that same-sex relationships are equal to heterosexual relationships. Additionally the laws have received international condemnation from human rights campaigners, and media outlets that even display of LGBT symbols, such as the rainbow flag, have resulted in arrests, and incited homophobic violence.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: The law subjects Russian citizens found guilty to fines of up to 5,000 roubles and public officials to fines of up to 50,000 roubles. Organizations or businesses will be fined up to 1 million roubles and be forced to cease operations for up to 90 days. Foreigners may be arrested and detained for up to 15 days then deported, as well as fined up to 100,000 roubles. Russian citizens who have used the Internet or media to promote "non-traditional relations" will be fined up to 100,000 roubles.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: The statute amended a law that is said to protect children from pornography and other "harmful information". One of the authors of the statute, Yelena Mizulina, who is the chair of the Duma's Committee on Family, Women, and Children and who has been described by some as a moral crusader, told lawmakers as the bill was being considered, "Traditional sexual relations are relations between a man and a woman... These relations need special protection". Mizulina argued that a recent poll had shown 88% of the public were in support of the bill.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Commenting on the bill prior to its passage, President Putin said, during a visit to Amsterdam in April 2013, "I want everyone to understand that in Russia there are no infringements on sexual minorities' rights. They're people, just like everyone else, and they enjoy full rights and freedoms". He went on to say that he fully intended to sign the bill because the Russian people demanded it. As he put it, "Can you imagine an organization promoting pedophilia in Russia? I think people in many Russian regions would have started to take up arms... The same is true for sexual minorities: I can hardly imagine same-sex marriages being allowed in Chechnya. Can you imagine it? It would have resulted in human casualties." Putin also mentioned that he was concerned about Russia's low birth-rate and that same-sex relationships do not produce children.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Critics say that the statute is written so broadly that it is in effect a complete ban on the gay rights movement and any public expression of LGBT culture.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In July 2013, four Dutch tourists were arrested for allegedly discussing gay rights with Russian youths. The four were arrested for allegedly spreading "propaganda of nontraditional relationships among the under-aged" after talking to teens at a camp in the northern city of Murmansk.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In March 2018 the Russian authorities forbade the biggest gay website Gay.ru because of "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships".


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In December 2022, an amendment to the propaganda law was signed into law by Putin, extending it to all age groups. It also prohibits the distribution of materials that promote "pedophilia", or give minors a "desire to change their sex".


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: According to a survey conducted in June 2013 by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), at least 90% of those surveyed were in favor of the law.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Russian historian and human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva has called it "a step toward the Middle Ages".


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: In January 2016, the State Duma rejected a proposal by the Communist Party to punish people who publicly express their homosexuality with fines and arrests.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: International human rights organisations and the governments of developed democracies around the world have strongly condemned this Russian law. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned this Russian statute and another similar one in Moldova (which was later repealed) as discriminatory and has made clear that the Russian statute in question is a violation of international human rights law, including the right of gay children to receive proper information. The European Parliament has condemned Russia for homophobic discrimination and censorship and the Council of Europe has called on Russia to protect LGBT rights properly. The European Court of Human Rights had previously fined Russia for other infringements of LGBT rights. In 2012 the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that a similar statute in the Russia's Ryazan Region was discriminatory, infringed on freedom of expression, and was inadmissible under international law – a Russian court in Ryazan later agreed and struck it down. Some members of the gay community commenced a boycott of Russian goods, particularly Russian vodka.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: Many Western celebrities and activists are openly opposed to the law and have encouraged a boycott of Russian products – notably Russian vodka – as well as a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, which were scheduled to be held in Sochi, unless the Games were relocated out of Russia.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: United States President Barack Obama said that while he did not favour boycotting the Sochi Olympics over the law, "Nobody's more offended than me about some of the anti-gay and lesbian legislation that you've been seeing in Russia". Obama subsequently, in September 2013, met with Russian gay rights activists during a visit to St. Petersburg to attend a meeting of the G-20 nations' leaders. Obama said that he was proud of the work the activists were doing. His aides had said that Obama's opposition to the anti-gay propaganda law was one reason Obama had canceled a meeting previously planned to have been held with Russian President Putin during the trip.


title: LGBT rights in Russia

text: The law was also condemned by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German cabinet secretaries, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, as well as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch (AP), often called perfect pitch, is a rare ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone. AP may be demonstrated using linguistic labeling ("naming" a note), associating mental imagery with the note, or sensorimotor responses. For example, an AP possessor can accurately reproduce a heard tone on a musical instrument without "hunting" for the correct pitch.


title: Absolute pitch

text: The frequency of AP in the general population is not known. A proportion of 1 in 10,000 is widely reported, but not supported by evidence; a 2019 review indicated a prevalence of at least 4% amongst music students.


title: Absolute pitch

text: The allied ability to sing a note on demand, which by itself is termed "perfect pitch", appears to be much rarer.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch entails or implies relative pitch. If a listener can absolutely and immediately identify two notes, they can derive the interval between them. People may have absolute pitch along with the ability of relative pitch, and relative and absolute pitch work together in actual musical listening and practice, but strategies in using each skill vary.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Adults who possess relative pitch but do not already have absolute pitch can learn "pseudo-absolute pitch" and become able to identify notes in a way that superficially resembles absolute pitch. Certain people who train to name notes may become able to identify all 12 notes of the scale with 90% accuracy or above.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Scientific studies of absolute pitch commenced by the 19th century, focusing on the phenomenon of musical pitch and methods of measuring it. It would have been difficult for the notion of absolute pitch to have formed earlier because pitch references were not consistent. For example, the note known as 'A' varied in different local or national musical traditions between what is considered as G sharp and B flat before the standardisation of the late 19th century. While the term "absolute pitch", or "absolute ear", was in use by the late 19th century by both British and German researchers, its application was not universal; other terms such as "musical ear", "absolute tone consciousness", or "positive pitch" referred to the same ability. The skill is not exclusively musical.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Physically and functionally, the auditory system of an absolute listener evidently does not differ from that of a non-absolute listener. Rather, "it reflects a particular ability to analyze frequency information, presumably involving high-level cortical processing." Absolute pitch is an act of cognition, needing memory of the frequency, a label for the frequency (such as "B-flat"), and exposure to the range of sound encompassed by that categorical label. Absolute pitch may be directly analogous to recognizing colors, phonemes (speech sounds), or other categorical perception of sensory stimuli. For example, most people have learned to recognize and name the color "blue" by the range of frequencies of the electromagnetic radiation that are perceived as light, those who have been exposed to musical notes together with their names early in life may be more likely to identify the note C. Although it was once thought that it "might be nothing more than a general human capacity whose expression is strongly biased by the level and type of exposure to music that people experience in a given culture", absolute pitch may be influenced by genetic variation, possibly an autosomal dominant genetic trait.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Evidence suggests that absolute pitch sense is influenced by cultural exposure to music, especially in the familiarization of the equal-tempered C-major scale. Most of the absolute listeners that were tested in this respect identified the C-major tones more reliably and, except for B, more quickly than the five "black key" tones, which corresponds to the higher prevalence of these tones in ordinary musical experiences. One study of Dutch non-musicians also demonstrated a bias toward using C-major tones in ordinary speech, especially on syllables related to emphasis.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch is more common among speakers of tonal languages, such as most dialects of Chinese or Vietnamese, which depend on pitch variation to distinguish words that otherwise sound the same—e.g., Mandarin with four possible tonal variations, Cantonese with nine, Southern Min with seven or eight (depending on dialect), and Vietnamese with six. Speakers of Sino-Tibetan languages have been reported to speak a word in the same absolute pitch (within a quarter-tone) on different days; it has therefore been suggested that absolute pitch may be acquired by infants when they learn to speak a tonal language (and possibly also by infants when they learn to speak a pitch-accent language). However, the brains of tonal-language speakers do not naturally process musical sound as language; such speakers may be more likely to acquire absolute pitch for musical tones when they later receive musical training. Many native speakers of a tone language, even those with little musical training, are observed to sing a given song with consistent pitch. Among music students of East Asian ethnic heritage, those who speak a tone language fluently have a higher prevalence of absolute pitch than those who do not speak a tone language.


title: Absolute pitch

text: African level-tone languages—such as Yoruba, with three pitch levels, and Mambila, with four—may be better suited to study the role of absolute pitch in speech than the pitch and contour tone languages of East Asia.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch is the ability to perceive pitch class and to mentally categorize sounds according to perceived pitch class. A pitch class is the set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves apart. While the boundaries of musical pitch categories vary among human cultures, the recognition of octave relationships is a natural characteristic of the mammalian auditory system. Accordingly, absolute pitch is not the ability to estimate a pitch value from the dimension of pitch-evoking frequency (30–5000 Hz), but to identify a pitch class category within the dimension of pitch class (e.g., C-C-D ... B-C).


title: Absolute pitch

text: An absolute listener's sense of hearing is typically no keener than that of a non-absolute ("normal") listener. Absolute pitch does not depend upon a refined ability to perceive and discriminate gradations of sound frequencies, but upon detecting and categorizing a subjective perceptual quality typically referred to as "chroma". The two tasks— of identification (recognizing and naming a pitch) and discrimination (detecting changes or differences in rate of vibration)— are accomplished with different brain mechanisms.


title: Absolute pitch

text: The prevalence of absolute pitch is higher among those who are blind from birth as a result of optic nerve hypoplasia.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch is considerably more common among those whose early childhood was spent in East Asia. This might seem to be a genetic difference; however, people of East Asian ancestry who are reared in North America are significantly less likely to develop absolute pitch than those raised in East Asia, so the difference is more probably explained by experience. The language that is spoken may be an important factor; many East Asians speak tonal languages such as Mandarin and Cantonese, while others (such as those in Japan and certain provinces of Korea) speak pitch-accent languages, and the prevalence of absolute pitch may be partly explained by exposure to pitches together with meaningful musical labels very early in life.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch ability has higher prevalence among those with Williams syndrome and those with an autism spectrum disorder, with claims estimating that up to 30% of autistic people have absolute pitch. A non-verbal piano-matching method resulted in a correlation of 97% between autism and absolute pitch, with a 53% correlation in non-autistic observers. However, the converse is not indicated by research which found no difference between those with AP and those without on measures of social and communication skills, which are core deficits in autistic spectrum disorders. Additionally, the AP group's autism-spectrum quotient was "way below clinical thresholds".


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch might be achievable by any human being during a critical period of auditory development, after which period cognitive strategies favor global and relational processing. Proponents of the critical-period theory agree that the presence of absolute pitch ability is dependent on learning, but there is disagreement about whether training causes absolute skills to occur or lack of training causes absolute perception to be overwhelmed and obliterated by relative perception of musical intervals.


title: Absolute pitch

text: One or more genetic loci could affect absolute pitch ability, a predisposition for learning the ability or signal the likelihood of its spontaneous occurrence.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Researchers have been trying to teach absolute pitch ability in laboratory settings for more than a century, and various commercial absolute-pitch training courses have been offered to the public since the early 1900s. In 2013, experimenters reported that adult men who took the antiseizure drug valproate (VPA) "learned to identify pitch significantly better than those taking placebo—evidence that VPA facilitated critical-period learning in the adult human brain". However, no adult has ever been documented to have acquired absolute listening ability, because all adults who have been formally tested after AP training have failed to demonstrate "an unqualified level of accuracy... comparable to that of AP possessors".


title: Absolute pitch

text: While very few people have the ability to name a pitch with no external reference, pitch memory can be activated by repeated exposure. People who are not skilled singers will often sing popular songs in the correct key, and can usually recognize when TV themes have been shifted into the wrong key. Members of the Venda culture in South Africa also sing familiar children's songs in the key in which the songs were learned.


title: Absolute pitch

text: This phenomenon is apparently unrelated to musical training. The skill may be associated more closely with vocal production. Violin students learning the Suzuki method are required to memorize each composition in a fixed key and play it from memory on their instrument, but they are not required to sing. When tested, these students did not succeed in singing the memorized Suzuki songs in the original, fixed key.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Musicians with absolute perception may experience difficulties which do not exist for other musicians. Because absolute listeners are capable of recognizing that a musical composition has been transposed from its original key, or that a pitch is being produced at a nonstandard frequency (either sharp or flat), a musician with absolute pitch may become distressed upon perceiving tones believed to be "wrong" or hearing a piece of music "in the wrong key". This can especially apply to Baroque music that is recorded in Baroque tuning (usually A = 415 Hz as opposed to 440 Hz, "i.e.", roughly a half step or semitone lower than standard concert pitch). An absolute listener may also use absolute strategies for tasks which are more efficiently accomplished with relative strategies, such as transposition or producing harmony for tones whose frequencies do not match standard equal temperament. It is also possible for some musicians to have displaced absolute pitch, where all notes are slightly flat or slightly sharp of their respective pitch as defined by a given convention. This may arise from learning the pitch names from an instrument that was tuned to a concert pitch convention other than the one in use, "e.g.", A = 435 Hz (the Paris Opera convention of the late 19th and early 20th centuries) as opposed to the Anglo-American modern standard A = 440 Hz. When playing in groups with other musicians, this may lead to playing in a tonality that is slightly different from that of the rest of the group.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch shows a genetic overlap with music-related and non-music-related synesthesia/ideasthesia. They may associate certain notes or keys with different colors, enabling them to tell what any note or key is. In this study, about 20% of people with perfect pitch are also synesthetes.


title: Absolute pitch

text: There is evidence of a higher rate of absolute pitch in the autistic population. Many studies have examined pitch abilities in autism, but not rigidly perfect pitch, which makes it a controversial study. It is unclear just how many people with autism have perfect pitch because of this. In a 2009 study, researchers studied 72 teenagers with autism and found that 20 percent of the teenagers had a significant ability to detect pitches. Children with autism are especially sensitive to changes in pitch.


title: Absolute pitch

text: Absolute pitch is not a prerequisite for skilled musical performance or composition. However, there is evidence that musicians with absolute pitch tend to perform better on musical transcription tasks (controlling for age of onset and amount of musical training) compared to those without absolute pitch. It was previously argued that musicians with absolute pitch perform worse than those without absolute pitch on recognition of musical intervals; however, experiments on which this conclusion was based contained an artifact and, when this artifact was removed, absolute pitch possessors were found to perform better than nonpossessors on recognition of musical intervals.


title: Peter North (actor)

text: Alden Joseph Brown (born May 11, 1957), known professionally as Peter North, is a Canadian retired pornographic actor, director and producer. He has 2,588 credits as an actor (plus 13 as a director).


title: Peter North (actor)

text: In a 1996 interview published in North's hometown newspaper "The Daily News", North stated that he was "discovered" while modeling athletic wear at a private party in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. A man within the adult film industry, whom North did not name, attended the party, was impressed by North's physique and gave him his business card.


title: Peter North (actor)

text: North began his adult film career in 1983. Initially, North performed in gay pornography under the name Matt Ramsey. He transitioned to straight pornography soon after. North has appeared in over 2,000 adult films and also directed more than 70 films (notably, his "North Pole" and "Anal Addicts" series), most of them between 1998 and 2007. He has also produced over 20 films, including 15 in the "North Pole" series. In 2001, he successfully launched his own production company Northpole Entertainment. According to North's official website, he chose his stage name because "Your penis is also referred to as your Peter and when you are erect, it faces North. Plus, I am from the North."


title: Peter North (actor)

text: North became involved in the U.S. government's 1986 investigation of Traci Lords' underage involvement in the industry. Lords was underage when she made most of her movies, including several sex scenes with North. The government eventually dropped the investigation. In a 1996 interview in "Details" magazine, North commented on his involvement in the scandal by saying: "Traci Lords didn't do much for me. She reeked sex, looked good and young. But I didn't know that she was that young. When the scandal broke, I thought it was a lot of baloney on her part. She knew what she was doing and she deceived a lot of people. She was sexually aggressive off camera to many people, so the whole 'innocence corrupted' scenario she came up with was a total farce."


title: Peter North (actor)

text: In 1994, North published a guide to meeting and bedding beautiful women entitled "Penetrating Insights".


title: Peter North (actor)

text: North is a member of the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) and the Adult Video News (AVN) Hall of Fame.


title: Peter North (actor)

text: In 2004, North was featured in a book and film project "Thinking XXX" by photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.


title: Peter North (actor)

text: Peter and Nadia North married in the summer of 2014; the couple have performed together in several adult videos.


title: Peter North (actor)

text: On July 15, 2019, "TMZ" reported that Nadia North was granted a restraining order against her husband following two episodes of domestic violence in June of that year. One of the incidents reportedly left her with a concussion, and she alleges that there have been a total of about 20 such violent encounters with North.


title: Peter North (actor)

text: In his memoir, "Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia" (2009), Kenny Gallo recounts an altercation with North, which arose from North having starred as a bottom in homosexual pornographic films. Gallo stated that North was very sensitive about that particular period of his life and wished to keep it secret. Gallo stated he had received threatening phone calls from North in which North stated that Gallo "would pay" if he spread the information further. Gallo then set up a meeting with North in person to discuss the matter further. Gallo brought some back-up in the form of a "tattooed Nazi drug dealer" named "Speedy". Gallo and Speedy met up with North and threatened North with grievous bodily harm to his face and genitals. Gallo claims that, in the heat of the moment, he reached in his pocket for a knife but was stopped by Speedy before using it.


title: Make America Great Again

text: "Make America Great Again" or MAGA () is a campaign slogan used in American politics popularized by Donald Trump in his successful 2016 presidential campaign. The slogan became a pop culture phenomenon, seeing widespread use and spawning numerous variants in the arts, entertainment and politics, being used by those who support and oppose the presidency of Donald Trump.


title: Make America Great Again

text: Since its popularization in the 2010s, the slogan has been accused by some of being a loaded phrase. Multiple journalists, scholars, and commentators have called the slogan racist, regarding it as dog-whistle politics and coded language. Some have rejected the racist characterization, saying that the slogan is instead patriotic or American nationalist. The slogan was also at the center of two events, the Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax and the January 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation.


title: Make America Great Again

text: While not necessarily invoked as a formal slogan, the phrase has appeared in politics and literature on numerous occasions.


title: Make America Great Again

text: Republican senator Alexander Wiley employed the phrase in a speech at the third session of the 76th Congress ahead of the 1940 presidential election: "America needs a leader who can coordinate labor, capital, and management; who can give the man of enterprise encouragement, who can give them the spirit which will beget vision. That will make America great again."


title: Make America Great Again

text: The slogan was found in some advertising associated with Barry Goldwater's unsuccessful 1964 presidential campaign.


title: Make America Great Again

text: "Let's make America great again" was famously used in Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. At the time the United States was suffering from a worsening economy at home marked by stagflation. Using the country's economic distress as a springboard for his campaign, Reagan used the slogan to stir a sense of patriotism among the electorate. Within his acceptance speech at the 1980 Republican National Convention, Reagan said, "For those without job opportunities, we'll stimulate new opportunities, particularly in the inner cities where they live. For those who've abandoned hope, we'll restore hope and we'll welcome them into a great national crusade to make America great again."


title: Make America Great Again

text: The phrase was also used in speeches by Bill Clinton during his 1992 presidential campaign. Clinton also used the phrase in a radio commercial aired for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential primary campaign.


title: Make America Great Again

text: During the 2016 electoral campaign, Clinton suggested that Trump's version, used as a campaign rallying cry, was a message to white Southerners that Trump was promising to "give you an economy you had 50 years ago, and... move you back up on the social totem pole and other people down."


title: Make America Great Again

text: Author Octavia E. Butler used "Make America Great Again" as the presidential campaign slogan for a character, Andrew Steele Jarret, in her 1998 dystopian novel, "Parable of the Talents". Jarret is described as "a demagogue, a rabble-rouser, and a hypocrite [who] pulled religion and government together and cemented the link with money from rich businessmen".


title: Make America Great Again

text: Christine O'Donnell's book about her unsuccessful 2010 bid as the Republican nominee for a US Senate seat in Delaware was published by St. Martin's Press on August 16, 2011, as "Troublemaker: Let's Do What It Takes to Make America Great Again".


title: Make America Great Again

text: In December 2011, Trump made a statement in which he said he was unwilling to rule out running as a presidential candidate in the future, explaining "I must leave all of my options open because, above all else, we must make America great again." Also in December 2011, he published a book using as a subtitle the similar phrase "Making America #1 Again"which in a 2015 reissue was changed to "Make America Great Again!"


title: Make America Great Again

text: On January 1, 2012, a group of Trump supporters filed paperwork with the Texas Secretary of State's office to create the "Make America Great Again Party", which would have allowed Trump to be that party's nominee if he had decided to become a third-party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Trump himself began using the slogan formally on November 7, 2012, the day after Barack Obama won his reelection against Mitt Romney. By his own account, Trump first considered "We Will Make America Great", but did not feel like it had the right "ring" to it. "Make America Great" was his next slogan idea, but upon further reflection, he felt that it was a slight to America because it implied that America was never great. After selecting "Make America Great Again", Trump immediately had an attorney register it. (Trump later said he was unaware of Reagan's use in 1980 until 2015, but noted that "he didn't trademark it.") On November 12 he signed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office requesting exclusive rights to use the slogan for political purposes. It was registered as a service mark on July 14, 2015, after Trump formally began his 2016 presidential campaign and demonstrated that he was using the slogan for the purpose stated on the application. Trump used the slogan in public as early as August 2013, in an interview with Jonathan Karl.


title: Make America Great Again

text: During the 2016 campaign, Trump often used the slogan, especially by wearing hats emblazoned with the phrase in white letters, which soon became popular among his supporters. The slogan was so important to the campaign that at one point it spent more on making the hatssold for $25 each on its websitethan on polling, consultants, or television commercials. Millions were sold, and Trump estimated that counterfeit versions outnumbered the real hat ten to one. "...but it was a slogan, and every time somebody buys one, that's an advertisement."


title: Make America Great Again

text: Following Trump's election, the website of his presidential transition was established at greatagain.gov. Trump said in 2017 and 2018 that the slogan of his 2020 reelection campaign would be "Keep America Great" and he sought to trademark it. However, Trump's 2020 campaign continued to use the "Make America Great Again" slogan. Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, used the phrase "make America great again, again" in his 2020 Republican National Convention speech, garnering ridicule and comparisons to the catchphrase "again-again" from "Teletubbies". In late 2021, this phrase became the name of a pro-Trump Super-PAC, which was also mocked.


title: Make America Great Again

text: A 2020 executive order, titled "Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture," was nicknamed "Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" by proponents and the press.


title: Make America Great Again

text: Less than a week after Trump left office, he spoke to advisors about possibly establishing a third party, which he suggested might be named either the "Patriot Party" or "Make America Great Again Party". In his first few days out of office, he also supported Arizona state party chairwoman Kelli Ward, who likewise called for the creation of a "MAGA Party". In late January 2021, the former president viewed the proposed MAGA Party as leverage to prevent Republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate impeachment trial, and to field challengers to Republicans who voted for his impeachment in the House.


title: Make America Great Again

text: Donald Trump took the campaign slogan to social media (primarily to Twitter), using the hashtags #makeamericagreatagain and its acronym #maga. In response to criticism regarding his frequent and untraditional usage of social media, Trump defended himself by tweeting "My use of social media is not Presidentialit's MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!" on July 1, 2017.


title: Make America Great Again

text: In the first half of 2017, Trump repeated his slogan on Twitter 33 times. In an article for Bloomberg News, Mark Whitehouse noted "A regression analysis suggests the phrase adds (very roughly) 51,000 to a post's retweet-and-favorite count, which is important given that the average Trump tweet attracts a total of 107,000."


title: Make America Great Again

text: Trump attributed his victory (in part) to social media when he said "I won the 2016 election with interviews, speeches, and social media." According to RiteTag, the estimated hourly statistics for #maga on Twitter alone include: 1,304 unique tweets, 5,820,000 hashtag exposure, and 3,424 retweets with 14% of #maga tweets including images, 55% including links, and 51% including mentions.


title: Make America Great Again

text: Donald Trump set up his Twitter account in March 2009. His follower-count increased significantly following the announcement (June 16, 2015) of his intention to run for president in the 2016 presidential election, with particularly notable spikes occurring after his securing the Republican Party nomination (May 3, 2016) and after winning the presidency.


title: Make America Great Again

text: Regarding its use since 2015, it is considered a loaded phrase. Marissa Melton, a Voice of America journalist, among others, explained how it is a loaded phrase because it "doesn't just appeal to people who hear it as racist coded language, but also to those who have felt a loss of status as other groups have become more empowered." As Sarah Churchwell explains, the slogan now resonates as America First did in the early 1940s, with the idea "that the true version of America is the America that looks like me, the American fantasy I imagine existed before it was diluted with other races and other people."


title: Make America Great Again

text: Writing opinion for the "Los Angeles Times", Robin Abcarian wrote that "[w]earing a 'Make America Great Again' hat is not necessarily an overt expression of racism. But if you wear one, it's a pretty good indication that you share, admire or appreciate President Trump's racist views about Mexicans, Muslims and border walls." The "Detroit Free Press" and the "Los Angeles Times" reported how several of their readers rejected this characterization and did not believe the slogan or MAGA hats are evidence of racism, seeing them more in patriotic or American nationalist terms. Nicholas Goldberg described the slogan as "fabulous", writing: "It was vague enough to appeal to optimists generally, while leaving plenty of room for bitter and resentful voters to conclude that we were finally going back to the days when they ran the world." Polling has shown that about ten percent of black voters identified as Trump supporters, while about thirty percent of Hispanic voters identified as Trump supporters.


title: Make America Great Again

text: A 2018 study using text mining and semantic network analytics of Twitter text and hashtags networks found that the "#MakeAmericaGreatAgain" and "#MAGA" hashtags were commonly used by white supremacist and white nationalist users, and had been used as "an organizing discursive space" for far-right extremists globally.


title: Make America Great Again

text: "Make America Great Again" has been the subject of many parodies, jokes, instances of praise, references, and criticisms which base themselves off of the four word slogan.


title: Make America Great Again

text: "Keep America Great" has been the most popular derivative of "Make America Great Again", with Trump's 2020 presidential campaign adopting it as the official slogan, though often used alongside "Make America Great Again".


title: Make America Great Again

text: Upon Trump announcing his candidacy for president in the 2024 election, commentators described his use of the tagline "Make America Great and Glorious Again" ("MAGAGA"). The term has come to be a humorous descriptor for Trump's re-election bid, and many outlets have commented on the humor that "MAGAGA" provides, usually on the word "gag" being part of the acronym.


title: Make America Great Again

text: After Donald Trump popularized the use of the phrase, the phrase and modifications of it were widely used in reference both to his election campaign and to his politics. Trump's primary opponents, Ted Cruz and Scott Walker, began using "Make America Great Again" in speeches, inciting Trump to send cease-and-desist letters to them. Cruz later sold hats featuring, "Make Trump Debate Again", in response to Trump's boycotting the Iowa January 28, 2016, debate. The phrase has also been parodied in political statements, such as "Make America Mexico Again", a critique of Trump's immigration policies regarding the U.S.–Mexico border.


title: Make America Great Again

text: Adult film star Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had an affair with President Trump, took part in a "Make America Horny Again" strip club tour. The tour followed Trump's initial 2016 campaign trail and part of the revenue was donated to Planned Parenthood.


title: Make America Great Again

text: John Oliver spoofed the slogan on his show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" in a segment dedicated to Trump, urging viewers to "Make Donald Drumpf Again", in reference to the original ancestral name of the Trump family. The segment broke HBO viewership records, garnering 85 million views.


title: Make America Great Again

text: One of the most widespread anti-Trump derivatives of "Make America Great Again" during the Trump presidency and the 2020 election was "Make America Think Again", often combined with 2020 Democratic primary candidate Andrew Yang's preferred version of "Make America Think Harder" ("MATH"). The slogan has been spotted at numerous anti-Trump events from Democratic political rallies to marches to social media, with Live Science noting "Think Again" as one of its top hashtags for 2017.


title: Make America Great Again

text: In June 2017, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, rebuked Trump over withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. The last sentence of the speech delivered by him was "make our planet great again." Members of the Fridays for Future Movement have also frequently used slogans like "Make Earth Greta Again", referring to activist Greta Thunberg. In 2019, Grant Armour and Milene Larsson co-directed a documentary film named "Make the World Greta Again".


title: Make America Great Again

text: "Make America White Again" has been semi-frequently used by hate groups which align politically with Trump. Australian political commentator and former Liberal party leader John Hewson also used the slogan in reference to his belief that recent global movements against traditional politics and politicians are based on racism and prejudice. He comments: "There should be little doubt about US President Donald Trump's views on race, despite his occasional 'denials', assertions of 'fake news', and/or his semantic distinctions. His election campaign theme was effectively a promise to 'Make America Great Again; America First and Only' and—nod, nod, wink, wink—to Make America White Again."


title: Make America Great Again

text: "Make America Great Again" has been frequently parodied in advertising, the media, and other outlets of popular culture, with varying levels of comparison to Trump from none at all to a rebuke of the former president and his ideology. In advertising, the slogan was parodied by Dunk-a-roos as "Make America Dunk Again", the video game "" as "Make America Nazi-Free Again", the film "" with "Make America Bait Again", Snoop Dogg with the song "Make America Crip Again", " episode" "" with Gabriel Lorca vowing in one scene to "make the Empire glorious again".


title: Make America Great Again

text: Political commentator and author Peter Beinart published a 2006 book titled "The Good Fight: Why Liberalsand Only LiberalsCan Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again" drawing on the philosophy of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr after the Invasion of Iraq and early years of the War on Terror. In 2011, Christine O'Donnell published a book about her Republican Senate campaign in the 2010 Delaware special election titled "Troublemaker: Let's Do What It Takes To Make America Great Again".


title: Make America Great Again

text: During remarks at the White House on May 4, 2022, President Biden referred to former President Trump’s "Make America Great Again" movement, saying, "This MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that's existed in American history, in recent American history." On September 1, 2022, he dedicated remarks at the White House "on the continued battle for the soul of the nation" to attacks on "Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans", saying that "Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic." and that "MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies".


title: Make America Great Again

text: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said America "was never that great" during a September 2018 bill signing. Former US Attorney General Eric Holder questioned the slogan in a March 2019 interview on MSNBC, asking: "Exactly when did you think America was great?" During John McCain's memorial service on September 1, 2018, his daughter Meghan stated: "The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great." Trump subsequently tweeted "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" later that day.


title: Make America Great Again

text: During his campaign for the 2019 Indonesian presidential election in October 2018, former opposition leader Prabowo Subianto used the phrase "make Indonesia great again", though he denied having copied Trump.


title: Make America Great Again

text: During the Swedish European Parliament election in May 2019, the Swedish Christian Democratic Party used the slogan "Make EU Lagom Again".


title: Make America Great Again

text: The Spanish right party VOX used as slogan ""Hacer a España grande otra vez"", or "Make Spain Great Again".


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: A Wrinkle in Time is a 2018 American science fantasy adventure film directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell, based on Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 novel of the same name. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Whitaker Entertainment, the story follows a young girl who, with the help of three astral travelers, sets off on a quest to find her missing father. The film stars Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Levi Miller, Storm Reid, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peña, Zach Galifianakis, and Chris Pine.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: It is Disney's second film adaptation of L'Engle's novel, following a 2003 television film. Development began in 2010, with DuVernay signing on to direct in February 2016. Principal photography began on November 2, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Near the end of filming, production moved to New Zealand, where photography ended on February 25, 2017. With an estimated production budget of $103 million, the film became the first $100-million-budget live-action film to be directed by an African-American woman.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: With a total production and marketing budget of around $150 million, the film was one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time, with losses of up to $130.6 million. The film received mixed reviews from critics.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Thirteen-year-old Meg Murry struggles to adjust at school due to bullying and depression, four years after the disappearance of her father Alex, a renowned astrophysicist. Meg and her gifted younger brother Charles Wallace are sent to the principal after Charles scolds a pair of gossiping teachers, and Meg retaliates against Veronica, Meg's neighbor and longtime bully. Meg and her mother Kate discover Charles with an unusual visitor, Mrs. Whatsit, who claims that the tesseract – a method of space travel Alex was studying – is real.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Meg and Charles meet her classmate Calvin O'Keefe, who joins them at the house of Mrs. Who, another strange friend of Charles who speaks only in quotations. Calvin has dinner with the Murrys, and Kate remembers Alex's commitment to their research despite public ridicule. In the backyard, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who appear with Mrs. Which, revealing themselves as astral travelers. Explaining that they have come to help find Alex, who has transported himself across the universe, the Misses lead Meg, Calvin, and Charles through a tesseract to the distant planet Uriel.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: The planet's sentient flowers confirm that Alex visited Uriel, and Mrs. Whatsit transforms into a flying creature, carrying the children into the sky. Calvin nearly falls to his death after noticing a dark planet that Mrs. Which identifies as Camazotz, home to an evil energy known as "the IT". They tesser to the planet Orion to seek the help of a seer named Happy Medium. Mrs. Which reveals that the IT spreads negativity throughout the universe, including on Earth: Charles' gossiping teachers were jealous of the principal's promotion; Veronica judges herself for her weight; the Murrys' kindly neighbor is mugged by severely insecure teens; and Calvin's father is an abusive perfectionist.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Happy Medium helps Meg overcome her self-doubt, and they learn that her father tessered to Uriel, then Ixchel, but was trapped on Camazotz. The Misses insist they regroup on Earth, but Meg's determination to save her father overrides the tesseract, unintentionally redirecting them to Camazotz. Unable to stay, as Camazotz's evil is stronger than their light, the Misses bestow gifts before departing: Mrs. Who gives Meg her glasses to see what is really there, Mrs. Whatsit gives Meg the knowledge of her faults, and Mrs. Which gives the children the command to never separate.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: A forest appears, separating Meg and Calvin from Charles, and they are pursued by a tornado-like storm. Meg uses the storm's own force to slingshot her and Calvin atop a cliff wall, where they reunite with Charles. They find themselves in a neighborhood of look-alike homes, children, and mothers; one woman invites them inside but Meg declines, reminding Calvin and Charles not to trust anyone. Their surroundings transform into a crowded beach, where a man introduces himself as Red, assuring them Alex is safe, and offers them food. When Charles says it tastes like sand, Red possesses him through the IT, which Red is actually a puppet of.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Meg and Calvin chase after Red and Charles through the crowd, but are trapped in a seemingly empty, spherical room. Red deactivates while Charles taunts Meg and Calvin. Using Mrs. Who's glasses, Meg finds an invisible staircase to another room where her father is imprisoned. After a tearful reunion, they are dragged by Charles to meet his master. As Calvin and Meg fall under the IT's power, Alex opens a tesseract to escape with the two of them. Refusing to abandon Charles, Meg projects back to Camazotz and confronts the IT in its malevolent, neuron-like form.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Charles and the IT try to force Meg to give in to darkness, menacing her with an idealized version of herself, but Meg embraces her own imperfections and uses her love for her brother to free him. The IT dissipates as the Misses reappear, congratulating Meg and Charles on becoming "warriors of light", and Meg tessers them home. Alex is reunited with his family, and Calvin leaves to confront his father, as Meg looks to the sky, thanking the Misses.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: In October 2010, Walt Disney Pictures retained the film rights for the 1962 novel "A Wrinkle in Time", by Madeleine L'Engle, which had previously been made as a 2003 television film. Following the financial success of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (2010), Disney hired Jeff Stockwell to write the screenplay for Cary Granat and his new Bedrock Studios. Granat had previously worked with Disney on the "Chronicles of Narnia" and "Bridge to Terabithia" films. The project's budget was slated to be $35 million, which the company compared to "District 9" and "Bridge to Terabithia", both of which were made for less than $30 million.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: However, "A Wrinkle in Time" was part of a new California Film Commission tax credit program, which offset production costs considerably. On August 5, 2014, Jennifer Lee was announced as the screenwriter, taking over from Stockwell, who wrote the first draft.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: On February 8, 2016, it was reported that Ava DuVernay had been offered the job of directing the film, and she was confirmed to direct later that same month. She became the first African-American woman to direct a live-action film with a production budget of more than $100 million. The decision received positive sentiments in the media industry. Oprah Winfrey was happy to see this because DuVernay herself broke barriers for nonwhite people in the film industry. "So I do imagine, to be a brown-skinned girl of any race throughout the world, looking up on that screen and seeing Storm, I think that is a capital A, capital W, E, some, AWESOME, experience."


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Irene Monroe of "The Cambridge Day" expressed her feelings that Ava DuVernay was a superb choice of a director, due to the fact that she was able to highlight and expose the struggles experienced by young African-American girls.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: On July 26, 2016, "Variety" reported that Oprah Winfrey began final negotiations to join the film to play Mrs. Which, the eldest of the three Mrs. Ws, celestial beings who guide the children along their journey. In September, 2016, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling were reported to be in talks to join the film, with Witherspoon to play Mrs. Whatsit, a chatty, grandmotherly sprite, and Kaling to play the quotation-reciting Mrs. Who. On September 13, 2016, Storm Reid was cast in the lead role of Meg Murry, a young girl traumatized by the disappearance of her scientist father years before.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: In October 2016, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Chris Pine were cast as Meg's parents, Drs. Kate and Alex Murry. On November 1, 2016, additional cast announcements included Zach Galifianakis as Happy Medium, André Holland as Principal Jenkins, Levi Miller as Calvin, and Deric McCabe as Charles Wallace, along with Bellamy Young, Rowan Blanchard and Will McCormack. Later, Michael Peña joined the cast to play Red. The film producers are James Whitaker and Catherine Hand.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Principal photography on the film began November 2, 2016, in Los Angeles, California. Tobias A. Schliessler was the film's cinematographer, Naomi Shohan was production designer, Paco Delgado was costume designer, and Rich McBride was the film's visual effects supervisor. During production, DuVernay asked McBride to be as flexible as possible on visual effects sequences to enable her to make changes and incorporate new ideas during shooting.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Filming for "A Wrinkle in Time" took place in multiple locations including Eureka, California, in Humboldt County, starting November 29, 2016.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: After Los Angeles, production moved to New Zealand for two weeks. During the last two weeks of February 2017, filming locations for "A Wrinkle in Time" were in Central Otago, New Zealand. Actors and crew were in New Zealand for two weeks to shoot scenes in the Southern Alps, including at Hunter Valley Station near Lake Hāwea, with cast and crew treated to a traditional Māori powhiri and karakia. Filming wrapped up in New Zealand's South Island after two weeks, and DuVernay declared the cast and crew's love for New Zealand in an Instagram post.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: On September 28, 2017, Ramin Djawadi was announced as the composer for the film, replacing Jonny Greenwood, who was initially chosen to compose and score the film. On February 20, 2018, it was announced that the soundtrack would feature appearances from Sade, Sia, Kehlani, Chloe x Halle, Freestyle Fellowship, DJ Khaled, and Demi Lovato.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: "A Wrinkle in Time" premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on February 26, 2018, with its theatrical release on March 9, 2018. This was a month ahead of its initial release date of April 6, 2018. The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on June 5, 2018. It became available for streaming on Disney+ in the United States on March 25, 2020 after being available since launch elsewhere.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: "A Wrinkle in Time" grossed $100.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $32.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $132.7 million. A combined $250 million was spent on production and advertisement. Following Disney's Q2 earnings report in May 2018, Yahoo! Finance deduced the film would lose the studio $86–186 million, and in April 2019, "Deadline Hollywood" calculated the film lost $130.6 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: In the U.S. and Canada, "A Wrinkle in Time" was released alongside "The Hurricane Heist", "Gringo", and "", and was projected to gross $30–38 million from 3,980 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $10.2 million on its first day, including $1.3 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut at $33.3 million, finishing second behind Disney's own "Black Panther" ($41.1 million in its fourth weekend). In its second weekend, the film made $16.6 million, dropping 50% to fourth place. On June 15, in its 15th week of release, the film returned to a total of 285 theaters, often as part of a double-feature with "Incredibles 2". It ended up making $1.7 million (a 1,600% increase from the previous weekend), pushing the total U.S. gross to $100 million.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Internationally, the film opened in six countries alongside the U.S. and grossed $6.3 million in its opening weekend, Russia being the largest market with $4.1 million.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, ""A Wrinkle in Time" is visually gorgeous, big-hearted, and occasionally quite moving; unfortunately, it's also wildly ambitious to a fault, and often less than the sum of its classic parts." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 75% overall positive score; audience members under age 18 gave it an average grade of "A−" and a positive score of 89%.


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Alonso Duralde of "TheWrap" praised the film's visuals and performances, writing, "Awash in bold colors, bright patterns and ebullient kids, director Ava DuVernay's new take on 'A Wrinkle in Time' dazzles its way across time and space even if it doesn't quite stick the landing." David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "C+" and praised what he described as its ambition, saying: "It almost doesn't matter that the movie is too emotionally prescriptive to have any real power, or too high on imagination to leave any room for wonder; DuVernay evinces such faith in who she is and what she's doing that 'A Wrinkle in Time' remains true to itself even when everything on screen reads false." Jamie Broadnax, a freelance writer and member of the "Critic's Choice Awards," tweeted that after seeing the film for the second time, she still was unable to conceptualize and take in the visuals displayed throughout the film and the numerous performances from various characters. Kat Candler, an American independent filmmaker, stated that the film was a "gorgeous love letter to the warriors of the next generation". Mercedes Howze of the "New Pittsburgh Courier" stated that the visuals were extraordinary and that the film "continues to make lasting impressions on innocent minds to change what it looks like to be a young black woman".


title: A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film)

text: Vince Mancini of "Uproxx" gave the film a negative review, saying, "...if anything, the trouble with 'Wrinkle' is that you never really get a sense of DuVernay's personal touch. In fact, it feels a lot like Brad Bird's big-budget, equally smarmy 2015 Disney film "Tomorrowland". Both attempt to be so broad and universal that they feel disconnected from anything human. But universality doesn't work that way, no matter how much you tell everyone to think like a kid." Conner Schwerdtfeger, former entertainment journalist for "CinemaBlend", stated that the movie was "all over the place and underperformed," but that DuVernay deserves some praise for the attempt at filming the seemingly unfilmable. Sean Mulvihill in "Living Luminaries: On the Serious Business of Happiness," stated that the film had no flow, and although some moments "come alive" in the film, it could not save it. Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" felt that the film was "unable to charm or disarm" the audience. Wenlei Ma, film and TV critic of "news.com.au," stated that, following the halfway mark in the film, movie-goers find themselves "not caring about the other characters besides Meg" and that it seemed to "drag" in the latter half. She called the film a disappointment, regardless of the value parents find in the messages for children via quotations from Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left (; stylised as and in its logo as ), commonly referred to as the Left Party ( ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative. Through the PDS, the party is the direct descendant of the Marxist–Leninist ruling party of the former East Germany, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. Since 2022, The Left's co-chairpersons have been Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan. The party holds 39 seats out of 736 in the Bundestag, the federal legislature of Germany, having won 4.9% of votes cast in the 2021 German federal election. Its parliamentary group is the smallest of six in the Bundestag, and is headed by parliamentary co-leaders Amira Mohamed Ali and Dietmar Bartsch.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left is represented in nine of Germany's sixteen state legislatures, including all five of the eastern states. As of 2021, the party participates in governments in the states of Berlin, Bremen, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as a junior partner, as well as in Thuringia, where it leads a coalition with the Social Democratic Party and The Greens headed by Minister-President Bodo Ramelow. The Left is a founding member of the Party of the European Left, and is the third-largest party in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament. In December 2021, The Left had 60,681 registered members, making it the sixth-largest party in Germany by membership. The Left promotes anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, and anti-militarism, and is neutral on European integration. It is the furthest left-wing party of the six represented in the Bundestag.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The main predecessor of The Left was the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which emerged from the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) of East Germany (GDR). In October 1989, facing increasing unpopularity, the SED replaced long-time leader Erich Honecker with Egon Krenz, who began a program of limited reforms, including the legalisation of opposition groups. He also loosened restrictions on travel between East and West Berlin, which inadvertently led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and his resignation. He was succeeded by Gregor Gysi, part of a group of reformers who supported the Peaceful Revolution. His ally Hans Modrow, the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers, became the "de facto" national leader. Seeking to change its image, the party expelled most of its former leadership, including Honecker and Krenz; the new government negotiated with opposition groups and arranged free elections. The SED adopted the name "Party of Democratic Socialism" and oriented itself as pro-democratic, socialist, and supportive of East German sovereignty. The party chose Modrow as its lead candidate for the 1990 East German general election but was decisively defeated, finishing in third place with 16.4% of votes cast. The PDS was excluded from further political developments due to the aversion of the opposition, now in power, which considered it essentially tied to the dictatorship.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: After debuting with a meagre 2.4% nationwide in the 1990 German federal election immediately after reunification, the PDS gained popularity throughout the 1990s as a protest party in the eastern states. In the 1998 German federal election it won 5.1% of votes, enough to win seats outright without relying on direct constituencies as it had in 1994. By the 2000s, it was the second-largest party in every eastern state legislature except Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Despite electoral successes, the PDS faced internal strife due to ideological disputes, a chronic decline in membership, and a near-complete lack of support in the western states, which has been home to 85% of Germany's population. The 1994 German federal election also saw a "red socks" campaign used by the centre-right, including the CDU/CSU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), to scare off a possible red–red–green coalition (SPD–PDS–Greens). Analysts have stated that such a strategy likely paid off, as it was seen as one of the decisive elements for the narrow victory of Kohl for the CDU/CSU–FDP. The campaign was criticized as an obvious attempt to discredit the whole political left; the PDS reinterpreted it for itself by printing red socks.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: In January 2005, a group of disaffected Social Democrats and trade unionists founded Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG), a left-wing party opposed to federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Agenda 2010 labour and welfare reforms. The party made a modest showing of 2.2% in the North Rhine-Westphalia state election in May, but failed to win seats. The election saw the incumbent SPD government defeated in a landslide, which was widely interpreted as a sign of the federal SPD's unpopularity. Chancellor Schröder subsequently called an early federal election to be held in September.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: WASG continued to gain members, prompting the PDS leadership to propose an alliance between the two parties. With the established eastern base of the PDS and WASG's potential for growth in the west, the parties hoped to enter the Bundestag together. They agreed to form an electoral pact, in which they would not run against one another in direct constituencies and would create joint electoral lists featuring candidates from both parties. They also agreed to unify into a single party in 2007. To symbolise the new relationship, the PDS renamed itself the Left Party.PDS (). The joint list ran under the name The Left.PDS (), though in the western states, where the PDS was shunned for its association with the GDR, "PDS" was optional. The alliance's profile was greatly boosted when former federal Minister of Finance Oskar Lafontaine, who had left the SPD after the North Rhine-Westphalia election, joined WASG in June. He was chosen as the party's lead candidate for the federal election and shared the spotlight with Gregor Gysi of the PDS.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: Polls early in the summer showed the unified Left list winning as much as 12 percent of the vote, and for a time it seemed possible the party would surge past the Greens and FDP and become the third-largest party in the Bundestag. During the campaign, the party was subject to frequent criticism. At one event, Oskar Lafontaine described "Fremdarbeiter" ("foreign workers", a term associated with the Nazi regime) as a threat to German labour. He claimed to have misspoken, but in an article published in "Die Welt", a group of prominent German writers accused him of deliberately appealing to xenophobic and far-right voters.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: In the 2005 federal election, the Left.PDS easily passed the electoral threshold, winning 8.7% of the vote and 53 seats. It became the fourth largest party in the Bundestag. The result of the election was inconclusive; between the SPD, Greens, and Left.PDS, left-wing parties held a majority, but the SPD was unwilling to cooperate with the Left.PDS. The result was a grand coalition of the CDU and SPD.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: Negotiations for a formal merger of the PDS and WASG continued through the next year until a final agreement was reached on 27 March 2007. The new party, called The Left ("Die Linke"), held its founding congress in Berlin on 16 June 2007. Lothar Bisky and Oskar Lafontaine were elected as co-leaders, while Gregor Gysi became leader of the party's Bundestag group.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The unified party quickly became a serious force in western Germany for the first time. It comfortably surpassed the electoral threshold in Bremen in 2007, and throughout 2008 won seats in Lower Saxony, Hesse and Hamburg. The "five-party system" in Germany was now a reality in the west as well as the east.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: A string of electoral successes followed during the "super election year" of 2009. The Left achieved 7.5% in the European elections, confirming their enduring nationwide popularity. Six state elections were held throughout the year, and in each of them the party either surged ahead or consolidated earlier gains. They saw an upswing in Thuringia and Hesse and won seats for the first time in Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland. Oskar Lafontaine ran as the party's lead candidate in Saarland, leading the party to a massive success with 21.3% of the vote. In Saxony and Brandenburg, The Left's vote declined slightly, but it remained the second largest party in both states.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The electoral collapse of the Social Democratic Party in the federal election on 27 September 2009 saw The Left's vote surge to 11.9%, increasing its representation in the Bundestag from 54 to 76 seats, just under half as large as the SPD's parliamentary group. It became the second most popular party in the eastern states with 28.5%, while experiencing a breakthrough in the west with 8.3%. It was the most popular party in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, and won sixteen direct constituencies, the largest tally by a minor party in history. The Left nonetheless remained in opposition.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left won seats in the parliament of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in the May 2010 election. They now held seats in thirteen of Germany's sixteen states, only absent from three states in the traditionally conservative south.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: In January 2010, Oskar Lafontaine announced that, due to his ongoing cancer treatment, he would not seek re-election to the party leadership at the upcoming party congress. At the congress in May, Lothar Bisky also chose not to nominate for re-election; Klaus Ernst and Gesine Lötzsch were elected as the party's new leaders.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: Just a few weeks later, the SPD and Greens invited the Left to support their candidate for the 2010 presidential election, former Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records Joachim Gauck. They suggested that this was an opportunity for the Left to leave their communist past behind them and show unconditional support for democracy. However, the party refused to support him, highlighting his support of the War in Afghanistan and his attacks on their party. They also rejected the conservative Christian Wulff, favourite of Chancellor Angela Merkel, instead putting forward their own nominee, television journalist Luc Jochimsen. The red-green camp reacted with disappointment. SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel described The Left's position as "bizarre and embarrassing," stating that he was shocked that they would declare Joachim Gauck their enemy due to his investigation of GDR injustice. The SPD and Greens expected the Left to support Gauck in the decisive third round of the election; however, after Jochimsen withdrew, most of the Left's delegates abstained. Wulff was elected by an absolute majority.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The party was isolated ahead of the March 2012 presidential election. The federal CDU/CSU–FDP government invited the SPD and Greens to agree on an all-party consensus candidate; The Left was excluded. Those invited eventually agreed to support Joachim Gauck. The Left again refused to support him. SPD chair Sigmar Gabriel once again criticized the party, claiming they harboured "sympathy for the German Democratic Republic." The Left put forward Beate Klarsfeld, a journalist and outspoken anti-fascist who had investigated numerous Nazi war criminals. She received 10.2% of the delegate votes. Gauck was elected in the first round with 80.4% of votes.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left's fortunes began to turn in 2011, and they suffered a string of setbacks and defeats through 2013, particularly in the western states. They failed to win seats in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, and suffered losses in Bremen, Berlin, and Saarland. Crucially, the party lost its seats in the Landtags of Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Lower Saxony.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: On 11 April 2012, Gesine Lötzsch resigned as party co-leader, citing medical conditions her husband was suffering. Klaus Ernst subsequently announced he would not seek re-election as leader at the party congress in June. Katja Kipping, who had served as deputy leader since 2007, was elected as co-leader with 67.1% of votes. Bernd Riexinger was elected as the other co-leader with 53.5% of votes, winning a narrow contest against Dietmar Bartsch.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: In the 2013 federal election, The Left received 8.6% of the national vote and won 64 seats, a decline from 2009. However, due to the collapse of the FDP, they moved into third place. After the formation of a second grand coalition between the CDU and SPD, The Left became the leading party of the opposition.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The party narrowly retained its seats in the Hessian state election held on the same day as the federal election. The Left suffered a major loss in Brandenburg in 2014, losing a third of its voteshare and falling to third place. Nonetheless, it continued as a junior partner under the SPD.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The 2014 Thuringian state election was the party's biggest success to date, achieving not only its best state election result (28.2%) but also forming the first coalition with one of its own members at the head. The party was able to negotiate a red-red-green coalition with the SPD and Greens, and Bodo Ramelow was elected Minister-President by the Landtag of Thuringia, becoming the first member of the party to serve as head of government of any German state.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left achieved modest gains in the city-states of Hamburg and Bremen in 2015. They suffered a loss in Saxony-Anhalt reminiscent of that in Brandenburg 18 months earlier, falling to third place and losing a third of their voteshare. In September, the Left joined government in Berlin after the 2016 state election as the second-largest member of a coalition with the SPD and Greens.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: In the 2017 federal election, The Left fell to fifth place due to the re-entry of the FDP in fourth place and the ascension of AfD to third place. The party suffered substantial losses in its traditional eastern heartland, but made a net gain nationally thanks to an improvement in the western states, rising to 9.2% of votes (up 0.6 points).


title: The Left (Germany)

text: Throughout 2017, they failed to make a comeback to the Landtags of Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Lower Saxony, despite making gains in all three states. The party's slow decline in Saarland continued, winning 12.8% in March. In 2018, they defended their seats in Hesse. Kipping and Riexinger were re-elected for a third time at the party congress in 2018, winning 64.5% and 73.8% respectively.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left had mixed results in 2019. In the European election, they declined to 5.5%, the worst result in a national election since the party's formation. In the Bremen state election held on the same day, the party made small gains, and joined a western state government for the first time in a coalition under the SPD and Greens. The Left suffered major losses in the Brandenburg and Saxony state elections held on 1 September, losing almost half its voteshare in each, and left the Brandenburg government, in which they had participated since 2009.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: In the 2019 Thuringian state election, Ramelow led the party to its best ever result, winning 31.0% and becoming the largest party in a state legislature for the first time, though his red-red-green government lost its majority. In February 2020, the FDP's Thomas Kemmerich was elected Minister-President with the support of AfD and the CDU, but immediately resigned due to widespread outrage. After a protracted government crisis, Ramelow was re-elected for a second term to lead a minority government.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: In August 2020, Kipping and Riexinger announced they would step down as co-chairs in accordance with party regulations stating that no position should be held by the same person for more than eight years. A party congress was scheduled on 30 October to 1 November 2020, but was cancelled on 27 October due to the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany; the party instead held a fully digital congress on 26–27 February 2021. Hessian parliamentary leader Janine Wissler and Thuringia branch leader Susanne Hennig-Wellsow were elected co-chairs on 27 February, winning 84% and 71% of votes cast, respectively.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: During the 2021 German federal election, The Left was eager to become a partner in a coalition government with the SPD and Greens. As the CDU/CSU collapsed in the polls and the SPD surged, the last month of the campaign saw the conservative government engage in a Red Scare campaign against The Left and the prospect of a red–red–green coalition, utilising red-baiting and fearmongering about extremism; the party had elected a new moderate leadership and put forward an observably more moderate programme than previous elections. A capital flight to Switzerland ensued due to fear of increased taxes for the wealthy through higher inheritance tax and a wealth tax.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left won 4.9% of votes and 39 seats in the 26 September federal election, its worst showing since its official formation in 2007, narrowly failing to cross the 5% electoral threshold. The party was nonetheless entitled to full proportional representation as it won three direct constituencies; two in Berlin and one in Leipzig. This meant a net loss of 4.3 percentage points of vote share and 30 seats overall. Notably, Vice-President of the Bundestag Petra Pau was defeated in her direct constituency of Berlin-Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Due to The Left's poor performance, a left-wing coalition fell a few seats short of a majority in the Bundestag.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were held on the same day. The Left suffered minor losses in both, but nonetheless joined coalition governments in each state. In Berlin, they joined a renewed coalition with the SPD and Greens. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, they replaced the CDU as junior partner to the SPD.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: After the federal election, The Left suffered internal strife and its fortunes continued to decline. A major blow came in the March 2022 Saarland state election, with the party losing all their seats amid conflict between the state leadership and Oskar Lafontaine, who declined to run again and quit the party shortly before the election. Further, reports of sexism and abuse arose within the Hesse branch, including claims that implicated Janine Wissler. In April, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow resigned as co-leader, citing the party's recent troubles and desire to spend more time with family. Further losses came in the Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in May.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine highlighted fault lines within the party. The leadership and majority took a strongly anti-war and pro-Ukrainian stance, while the faction around Sahra Wagenknecht opposed sanctions against Russia. At the party congress in June, incumbent Janine Wissler was re-elected as leader, while co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) group Martin Schirdewan was elected as Hennig-Wellsow's successor. They both faced strong challenges from candidates aligned with Wagenknecht's faction, winning only slim majorities of 57% and 61% of votes respectively.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: During a Bundestag speech in September, Wagenknecht attacked the federal government for launching what she called "an unprecedented economic war against our most important energy supplier," and called for the end of sanctions against Russia. The speech was boycotted by half The Left's deputies, and prompted numerous calls for her resigation by colleagues. Hundreds of members were reported to have left the party over the dispute, including prominent former MdB Fabio De Masi. "Die Tageszeitung" reported that Wagenknecht's supporters had begun planning a breakaway party to compete in the 2024 European elections.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left advocates for democratic socialism as an alternative to capitalism. The Left is vocally anti-fascist and anti-militarist. As a platform for left-wing politics in the wake of globalization, The Left includes many different factions, ranging from communists to social democrats. During the joint party convention with the Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative in March 2007, a document outlining political principles was agreed on. The official program of the party was decided upon by an overwhelming majority at the party conference in October 2011 in Erfurt.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left aims at increasing government spending in the areas of public investments, education, research and development, culture, and infrastructure, as well as increasing taxes for large corporations. It calls for increases in inheritance tax rates and the reinstatement of the individual net worth tax. The party aims at a linear income tax progression, which would reduce the tax burden for lower incomes, while raising the middle- and top-income tax rates. The combating of tax loopholes is a perennial issue, as The Left believes that they primarily benefit people with high incomes. The party aims for the financial markets to be subject to heavier government regulation, with the goal, among others, to reduce the speculation of bonds and derivatives. The party wants to strengthen anti-trust laws and empower cooperatives to decentralise the economy. Further economic reforms supported by the party include solidarity and more self-determination for workers, a ban on hydraulic fracturing, the rejection of privatization, and the introduction of a federal minimum wage, and more generally the overthrow of property and power structures in which, citing Karl Marx's aphorism, "man is a debased, enslaved, abandoned, despicable essence."


title: The Left (Germany)

text: Concerning foreign policy, The Left calls for international disarmament, while ruling out any form of involvement of the Bundeswehr outside of Germany. The party calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany, as well as the replacement of NATO with a collective security system including Russia as a member country. They believe that German foreign policy should be strictly confined to the goals of civil diplomacy and cooperation, instead of confrontation, though they also believe that such demands are more of a vision, are not to be implemented as soon as possible, and should not be seen as inflexible preconditions for a federal, left-wing red–red–green coalition.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: In their manifesto, the party says: "All support for NATO states which, like Erdoğan's Turkey, disregard international law, must be stopped immediately." The Left criticised Germany's defense plan with Saudi Arabia, which has been waging war in Yemen and has been accused of massive human rights violations. The Left supports further debt cancellations for developing countries and increases in development aid, in collaboration with the United Nations, World Trade Organization, World Bank, and diverse bilateral treaties among countries. The party supports reform of the United Nations as long as it is aimed at a fair balance between developed and developing countries. The Left would have all American military bases within Germany, and if possible in the European Union, enacted within a binding treaty, dissolved. The Left welcomes European integration, while opposing what it believes to be neoliberal policies in the European Union. The party strives for the democratisation of the EU institutions and a stronger role of the United Nations in international politics. The Left opposed both the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, as well as the Lisbon Treaty.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The party has a mixed stance towards the Russo-Ukrainian War. Gregor Gysi has described Russia as state capitalist, and the party has called the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the Russian military intervention in Ukraine to be illegal; however, Gysi commented that older elements of the party have a strong penchant for Russia and the Soviet Union. The party declared in May 2014 that Ukraine should not receive any kind of support from Germany as long as there are fascists inside its government. Some members of the party (like MP Andrej Hunko) are strong supporters of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Left is generally considered a left-wing, big tent party. This party is sometimes considered part of the German "centre-left" camp. It has been described as "far-left" by some news outlets including the BBC, Euronews, "The Guardian", and "Der Spiegel", and is considered to be left-wing populist by some researchers.


title: The Left (Germany)

text: The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution () does not regard the party as extremist or a threat to democracy; it monitors some of its more radical internal factions, such as the Communist Platform and the Socialist Left, on account of extremist tendencies, as do some states' constitutional authorities.