Germany’s Social Democratic Party says first legal steps should be taken to ban the far-right AfD party as unconstitutional. Conservative lawmakers are less keen on the idea.
A number of Germany’s conservative lawmakers have called for a cautious approach after the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior coalition partner, on Sunday passed a motion calling for preparations to ban the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The debate on whether to ban the AfD, which forms the strongest opposition force in parliament, has gained momentum after it was reclassified by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency in May as a “confirmed right-wing extremist” group — an assessment that is now under court review after a legal challenge by the party.
While I agree with the goal, this doesn’t make the underlying voter sentiment go away. What is the German government doing to address the underlying reasons for AFD’s rise? Regardless of their veracity, those thoughts are prevalent enough to cause this problem. While they might lessen, they won’t simply go away with the party if it’s banned. They have to be addressed, one way or another. I’m in the US, and I would argue that, out side of his base, most Trump voters don’t like the guy at all. Yet the Democrats’ “We’re not them” message has so far not been an consistent winner!
This completely ignores the fact that the AfD is a key part of encouraging that sentiment. They get paid tax money to promote hate and undermine democracy. Millionaires get tax credit by funding them. Media is forced to give them space. All this ends when they’re banned. Will the same people try again and again? Yes, but democracy is about fighting again and again for your rights.
Outlaw tax credit to political parties. Outlaw hatespeech and enforce it. Outlaw media monopolies and promote healthy journalists that will challenge the ideas expressed on their station.
Exactly. This is a bandaid / plaster.
Deal with the real problem. Be honest about why people are upset. Let them actually speak their minds without judgement. Then, analyse it. Find solutions.
Banning a social movement of this scale is madness.
Peoples opinions are very much shaped by social pressure.
Can take people out of the soviet, but can’t take soviet out of the people (1).
Sadly it’s a system of thought that isn’t concerned with observable reality. It’s a sentiment I recognise in most (political) extremists: the idea that your problems must be someone else’s fault (the brown, women, billionairs, … pick your poison).
And, as you noticed, banning it will indeed only validate that sentiment.
(I grew up in DDR, luckily left in early 90s. A solution is therapy, as those people are stuck in generational trauma, which is known to lessen or completely void you of empathy. But that doesn’t scale to halve a country).
The capitalist class can’t make the machine run without unnecessary suffering and death. They used to be able to keep it out of sight in the global South and Asia. Through greed, they kept bringing more and more to the global West. Too many westerners still handwave it away and bury their heads, but as population, and thus unnecessary suffering and death increases, so too the population that doesn’t look away and entertain themselves to stop thinking and talking about it. We are a threat, so expect worsening conditions to be rapidly escalated. That said, hold hope and keep working for a more equitable day.