this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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AfD leader ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’, says German Social Democrats head (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (3 children)

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.

  1. As seen with Aiwanger and Freie Wähler, such a move can backfire and actually increase the popularity of the AfD
  2. 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

  1. It might just buy time before the next right-wing party fills the gap. Maybe that alone is worth it though.
  2. 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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

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.