I would have said something like that about five years ago.
Since then, the AFD and its leaders have shown us their true colours, and especially with the recent fantasizing over mass deportations and other stuff, it's crystal clear what they are: fascists. No sheep's clothing involved here any more.
for a wolf in sheep's clothing, they are doing a very bad job of trying to hide they are a wolf. It's more like an obvious wolf only trying to fake sheep's noises, and even that they do badly.
"Der Grund, warum wir von kulturfremden Völkern wie Arabern, Sinti und Roma etc. überschwemmt werden, ist die systematische Zerstörung der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft als mögliches Gegengewicht von Verfassungsfeinden, von denen wir regiert werden. Diese Schweine sind nichts anderes als Marionetten der Siegermächte des 2. Weltkrieges und haben die Aufgabe, das deutsche Volk klein zu halten indem molekulare Bürgerkriege in den Ballungszentren durch Überfremdung induziert werden sollen."
"The reason we are flooded with people of different cultures like Arabs, Romani People etc. is the systematic destruction of the civil society as a possible counterweight to the enemies of our consitution that govern us. Those pigs are nothing but puppets for the victors of World War 2 and their job is to keep the german people down by inducing civil wars through foreign domination in areas of high population density"
It's worse than that, most of their voters know well what they are voting for. The Nazi scum has been emboldened by the established parties and the media parroting the AfD's rhetoric, thanks to that, there is less stigma associated with being a Nazi and voting for a Nazi party.
Overpopulation is an incorrect translation for "Überfremdung". It hurts to improve the translation of a German alt-right buzzword, but I'd rather translate it with "over-foreignization" (kudos to Chat GPT with helping).
And yet they don't want to initiate the procedure to ban the fascist party.
Most of the supposedely democratic parties in Germany currently work either as "Steigbügelhalter" the guy who holds the horse saddle stirrup, for the lord to get on. Or they work as "Totengräber" the grave diggers of democracy, by standing by idly and accepting the loss of democratic principle and creating social and economic situations that fuel the fascists propaganda.
And yet they don't want to initiate the procedure to ban the fascist part
I'm for doing that in general, but I think doing that now would be pretty dumb. If you want to initiate the procedure you better make sure your case is air tight, everything else would be a desaster. Only some regional organizations have been designated extremist so far and some only recently. So a lot of the gathering of evidence has started and surely there will be more to come.
@Localhorst86@feddit.de commented a part of aspeak of the high ranking party member Alice Weidel here.
It is classic Nazi rhetoric and uses the same scapegoat that Anders Breivik used to justify the mass murder of more than 70 teenagers in Norway.
Also if it would be ruled that the party in its entirety does not justify a ban yet, but its local branches that do, would get banned, that would effectively destroy them too. Also other measures that could be deemed appropriate, like blocking their funds, banning various associated organizations etc. would all help.
Meanwhile i dont think there is anyone, who likes their fascist ideology, but doesnt vote for them on the basis of uncertainty, about their democratic legitimation. Nobody that follows fascist ideology cares about democratic values or the constitution.
To be fair that whole office seems to produce and attract people who are anti basic human rights and authoritarian in general, regardless of party or even country.
The problem is not really the AfD. Germany always had extrem right parties that never made it past 5%. It's the people (want to) vote for them.
And this is what bothers me about the discussion about the ban. It means that our political system failed. None of the other parties could offer enough for the potential AfD voters. No discussion worked. Banning a political party should be a rare and "last resort" kind of measure.
And the major reason why they are voted for, our broken asylum system, remains unfixed.
People also act like this is a no-brainer no-risk move.
As seen with Aiwanger and Freie Wähler, such a move can backfire and actually increase the popularity of the AfD
I'm not a law expert but from what I've read, the chances are no way certain:
Um verboten werden zu können, müsste sich die AfD "von ihrem Programm und Inhalt her gegen die freiheitlich-demokratische Grundordnung wenden", erklärt Parteienrechtlerin Sophie Schönberger im Gespräch mit ZDFheute - ihr Ziel müsse sein, diese aktiv zu beseitigen oder zu beeinträchtigen. Schönberger sieht die Erfolgsaussichten für ein solches Verfahren skeptisch, es seien "sehr, sehr hohe Hürden", die Karlsruhe da aufstelle.
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/deutschland/afd-verbot-analyse-politix-partei-100.html
It might just buy time before the next right-wing party fills the gap. Maybe that alone is worth it though.
How will a region respond where the AfD is at 35%? I don't know but banning #1 political party in a region might have unexpected negative results
Maybe you still have to ban them. But for me it's at least not as clear.
And the major reason why they are voted for, our broken asylum system, remains unfixed.
I'm not sure that's really the main reason. We also have an energy crisis and a recession and a lot of people simply don't have the money to pay for their basic needs. In 2022, 5.5 million people weren't able to heat their homes properly due to monetary reasons. Our current political party leaves these people alone, energy prices are rising again this year and the FDP clings to their debt brake ("Schuldenbremse") which makes the situation even worse.
The AfD promises simple solutions for the current problems and a lot of people want to believe them. I'm sure a lot of voters flock to them because of immigration politics, but I believe it's not the only reason.
I don’t know but banning #1 political party in a region might have unexpected negative results
The biggest problem is: If an attempted ban fails, it will further legitimize a fascist party, which will probably bring them even more votes. It's a really hard and dangerous step to take.
Every far right party ever, in any given country, has claimed and still claims that the asylum system of the respective country is 'broken'. That doesn't make it actually true. But in the history of right wing parties, the foreigner, the immigrant, the 'other' has always been the prime scapegoat, for any problem they could possibly conjure up.
Just after the German reunification, neonazis started violent attacks that targeted immigrants and asylum seekers. This violence has not stopped. Neonazis are responsible for a major part of politically motivated violence too.
But political parties like the AfD know the score. They formulate their programs in a way that makes it hard to find grounds for outright bans. To say that their program has to give grounds for a ban is short-sighted - that will never happen. They need to be judged by the things they say outside of their programs, and by the actions they commit and inspire.
The co-leader of the German Social Democrats (SPD), the largest party in the Bundestag, has accused the leader of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) of being a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” as he warned that plans for mass deportation discussed at a secret meeting attended by its members had sparked fears for millions across the country.
In an extraordinary parliamentary debate on “fortifying democracy” in reaction to the far-right gathering that took place in November in Potsdam, Lars Klingbeil described the AfD as “rightwing extremist”.
As thousands of protesters around the country were expected to demonstrate against the AfD for the sixth evening in a row, Klingbeil, who has since 2021 been co-leader of the party of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said revelations about the meeting on “remigration” had struck fear into the hearts of many.
The reports of the meeting by the investigative journalism bureau Correctiv probably offered “only a small insight into things that they are discussing and planning”, he said, focusing his gaze on the AfD’s members, some of whom sat shaking their heads.
Scholz has said the meeting should be examined by the constitutional court while the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, called on the conservative Christian Democratic Union to distance itself from the far right.
“The wind is turning,” he said, pointing to poll ratings for all three government parties in particular in the state of Saxony that are, he said, in danger of failing to reach the 5% hurdle needed to enter parliament.
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