Germany sees new debate over possible ban of the AfD
Germany sees new debate over possible ban of the AfD
Germany's domestic intelligence agency last week classified the largest opposition party, the AfD, as "confirmed right-wing extremist." This has intensified debates over whether or not to ban the party.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency last week classified the largest opposition party, the AfD, as "confirmed right-wing extremist." This has intensified debates over whether or not to ban the party.
On Friday, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) was classified as "confirmed right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
Now, there has been a first fallout: two AfD politicians and parliamentarians are not allowed to accompany Hesse's Minister for European affairs, Manfred Pentz, on a trip to Serbia and Croatia. Pentz explained that he could not expect international partners "to sit down at the same table with representatives of a party that has been confirmed as right-wing extremist."
Further measures also threaten the radical right-wing party: several federal states want to examine whether being a civil servant, including judges, police officers, teachers, or soldiers, is still compatible with being a member of the AfD.
Blue is the new brown.
And the afd gaining power just a symptom of the younger generation getting targeted by the camouflaged propaganda media.
Yea, we all are from all sides always, though the younger gens are far more susceptible.
It’s not even the media. There are groups targeting kids in online games. There’s a cult called 754 I think that’s the correct number. And they’re radicalizing kids.
Good and all the AfD asswipes can join the Russian infantry. Take the Die Linke with you too.
Germanst will ban every group protesting against genocide before they ban the people doing a Nazi salute.
Maybe Germany should also focus more on creating a lot of good jobs too. There will be less people attracted to alternative parties peddling them crazy solutions to their problems
There's only one political party in German history who banned other political parties. Just because you call a different party a fascist, doesn't mean you get a pass to act like a fascist.
Being intolerant of fascists does not make one a fascist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
That only applies if you are the objective truth. If you are wrong, then it's just another tool for bigotry, an excuse to ignore other opinions.
Who gets to decide who is a fascist and therefore doesn't deserve to participate in democracy? What is the criteria for not deserving a voice? How do you define fascist? Maybe I'm cynical, but if you can eliminate popular political opposition by branding them as something, that's a lot of motivation to brand them.
He's MAGA
This wouldn't be a party banning another party, it would be the independent constitutional court
No the court labeled afd as "confirmed right wing extremist" and someone else decided that that meant they couldn't participate.
Not true, there have been multiple banned parties since WW2
Yeah you are right. There have been a couple others, but quite a few attempts to ban various parties. I don't quite understand the system and it's possible that banning a party there isn't near as big of a deal as it seems to me. If a party were banned in the united states, it would be very alarming. I think the only party ever banned was the communist party in 1950s, but even that is no longer really in effect.
ehhhhmmm.... how about no?
That's what we needed to do with MAGA.
Fuck no!
They're self-identifying.
We needed to execute Trump for treason, then everyone with a Maga had should have been tracked for life as potential security threats.
The US constitution kinda sucks and just trusts those in power to uphold democracy. Germany learned from Hitler that that isn't the case, so their constitution provides multiple defences against a dictator that US lacks
That’s what we needed to do with the Republican Party. They’re one and the same at this point.
It's likely to blow-back domestically. Like other countries around the world, Germany's far right nationalist party has strong domestic support right now. This may silence some politicians, bit t doesn't address the underlying issues, nor the reasons that ppl are wandering towards fascism.
My opinion is that general failures of liberal parties to actually make life better, and reduce corruption. People have lost faith.
Germany decommissioned their nuclear plants for being scary with wind apparently being the future despite not having 100% uptime, and then spent a half a trillion dollars trying to generate power when they got cut off from Russia.
While all this is happening they lower barriers to immigration to depress salaries to try to counteract the inflation they caused, then you wonder why people are turning to the right. If I lived there I'd be miserable as well, these people running the country are incompetent. Trying to ban political the party for anti-immigration and trying to link them to the nazi party and is further idiocy, the party was created when Germany brought in a million poor refugees. If Germany managed integration better it would not even exist, there should just be a cap on country of origin like the US has, Germany does have a culture that is worth attempting to maintain.
Never in my life hage I known people (in Germany, but probably everywhere) to he happy with politics. I would also argue that for the vast majority (again, here in Germany) life has improved over the past decades.
IMO the reason for right wing surges aren't actual real-world problems or failings of ruling parties (though flawed they are), but the new forms of propaganda and outreach that right wing parties have mastered, and left wing parties have failed at.
They have strong domestic support because they have been poisoning the public debate with always jumping on migration and inventing stories as well as blowing things out of proportion and the media and other parties playing along. The more politics shifted to the right because of the AfD, the stronger the AfD became.
Their ideas and the way they conduct themselves was normalized, so people approve of it, because they think it is normal and legitimate. If you make it clear that it is neither, it will defuse the far right. Also by banning them, their organizations are dismantled, their politicians thrown out of power and their assets seized.
If you want to stop a fire you need to stop fueling it with self-igniting fuel. Only then can you extinguish the fire.
The Germans have gone through their MAGA phase already though, so the hope has always been they'd have their shit sorted if it happened again. Here's hoping that proves to be true.
Ban the shit out of these fascists mfers.
2025: AfD is banned
2026: New party is forned, Germans for an Alternative, or Deutsch für eine Alternative (DfA)
🙃
(You know what this means: The only good nazi is a dead one)
It still sucks up a lot of their money and disables funding through taxes for a time
That's what fascism is about. Do not tolerate them, do not reason with them. Ban them and (if necessary) kill them.
It will only serve to make AfD supporters even more convinced they are right. The leaders of the party might stay quiet but they are not that important, nobody on the top really believes their own ideology.
But the perception of being silenced by the government is a great motivator for those who feel emotionally connected to those ideas which seems to be about 20% of the German voters.
Do you reason with pedophiles, trying to convince them of why what they do is wrong?
Or do you at least stop them from getting material and close to kids first?
It will only serve to make AfD supporters even more convinced they are right.
Caring what the fascists think is a recipe for failure. All they respect is power. You don't persuade them, the best you can do is behavior modification.
This only works if fascists are not the majority. But they are.
The often mentioned "silent majority" are actually latent fascists who were previously apathetic. They are awake now and have the momentum, the cultural power, and the dominant position in public discourse. Any move that validates them is dangerous.
They're convinced they're right regardless of what we do. You can't reason with people like that.
Precisely. They're going to be claiming to be victims regardless. You don't reason with that.
nobody on the top really believes their own ideology
Source?
But the perception of being silenced
They are constantly invited to talk shows, news interviews, get frontpages of national magazines etc. and they are still convinced they are silenced.
It will only serve to make AfD supporters even more convinced they are right.
So let them.
At the very least it will buy us a few years before the next far-right party establishes itself. Don't see the downside.
Please germany, please be based 🥺❤️ (and bad the asdf)