this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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Europe

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cross-posted from: https://mlem.a-smol-cat.fr/post/77878

The far-right Alternative for Germany party has become increasingly influenced by extremist conspiracy theorists, according to the head of German domestic intelligence.

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In other news, water is wet.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They're extremists now. They used to be extremists too, and they still are.

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

My understanding is that they used to be driven by people with primarily economic issues with the euro, some economists. I don't think that that's really what I'd call extremism.

googles

Here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_for_Germany?wprov=sfla1

AfD was founded by Gauland, Bernd Lucke, and former members of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) to oppose the policies of the Eurozone as a right-wing and moderately Eurosceptic alternative to the centre-right but pro-European CDU. The party presented itself as an economic liberal, soft Eurosceptic, and conservative movement in its early years. AfD has subsequently moved further to the right, and expanded its policies under successive leaderships to include opposition to immigration, Islam, and the European Union. Since 2015, AfD's ideology has been characterised by Islamophobia, anti-immigration, German nationalism, national-conservative, and Euroscepticism.

Yeah, WP doesn't describe the euro issue, but does talk about the shift.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernd_Lucke

Bernd Lucke (born 19 August 1962) is a German economist and politician. Lucke was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Alternative fΓΌr Deutschland (AfD) in 2014.

Lucke lost the leadership of the AfD to Frauke Petry in July 2015. Petry's election was considered a shift of the party to extremist positions; Lucke subsequently left the party. In July 2015 he and other former AfD members founded the political party Liberal-Konservative Reformer (formerly Allianz fΓΌr Fortschritt und Aufbruch, "Alliance for progress and renewal", abbreviated ALFA).

Also, that shot of Lucke reminds me of the MAD kid, Alfred E. Newman:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernd_Lucke#/media/File%3ABernd_Lucke_(2014).jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Neuman

[–] [email protected] 68 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The headline reminds me of this:

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

got the image wrong...too early...will strike through thenteyt as soon as I'm at my laptop!

~~Germany is not runned by Nazis nor are we supporting this change in our country! We are and we will actively fight this change, I can you promise that...~~

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Du hast meinen Kommentar vΓΆllig falsch verstanden. Das Bild karikiert wie offensichtlich der Zusammenhang ist.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

ah mein fehler dann, tschuldigung!

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Funny thing is that the AFD has been labeled as a "suspected" extremist group by our intelligence service and are still allowed to be active... Sometimes I don't understand how my own country works...

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not as an extremist group, but as a suspected extremist group, that's a difference. Therefore they also can't use surveillance measures against them yet.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We even allow the NPD (or β€œHeimatβ€œ now).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Tbf they only avoided banning due to them being irrelevant and the judged agreed that banning them would likely give them more popularity.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago

"Wait, it's all nazis?" πŸ‘¨β€πŸš€ πŸ”« πŸ‘¨β€πŸš€ "Always has been..."

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Taken over? They ARE and always have been a far right extremist organization.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

True. When Bernd Lucke left the party in 2015 the reasons he stated for doing so were the islamophobic and racist ideology..

That was only two years after the party was founded. I believe him having different intentions for the party, but their members must've always been full of far-right extremists.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

And Luckes new found irrelevant party is also not exactly hesitant on these issues. Their are also fiercly against abortion, LGBT rights, islamophobic and against migration, all with strong neoliberalism.

So it is like a red-pill incel telling someone he is going too far with sexism.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Yeah really. I hate this wording. As if the afd is an innocent victim that had honourable goals, but got taken over by fascists from outside.

Radical nationalist ideology has always been embedded deeply in its core.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@BlackRose I am wondering whether the increase of the AfD together with the actual momentum of extreme right wing parties in other countries can jeopardize the estability of European institutions after the next European elections.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

That's honestly one of my biggest fears right now...