2mo ago

Germany sees new debate over possible ban of the AfD

www.dw.com

Germany sees new debate over possible ban of the AfD – DW – 05/06/2025

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.

85 comments

That's what we needed to do with MAGA.
- Trump should serve as a warning. Get the fascists before they get you. These far-right parties will all be looking to emulate Trump's actions if they get a sniff of power.
  
  I hate to be the one to break this to you, but they already got us
- That’s what we needed to do with the Republican Party. They’re one and the same at this point.
  
  While I don't disagree with you in principle, the reality of having only 1 political party after this also doesn't look particularly good.
- 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.
  
  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.
  
  "My opinion is that general failures of liberal parties to actually make life better, and reduce corruption. People have lost faith."
  They absolutely have lost both faith and hope. Our institutions lack integrity.
  
  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.
- 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 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.
- 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
Ban the shit out of these fascists mfers.
Banning the AfD is just not enough - right-wing extremism doesn't disappear if you ban the party. We need policies that improve the populations state of living to avoid them falling for another populist party.
- It's a start though. As long as they can't legally get elected, they can't change the system from the inside. The NSDAP was a legally elected party.
  
  Sure, but it's a bandaid, not a long-term solution.
- We need policies that improve the populations state of living to avoid them falling for another populist party.
  👏
- The other way around, banning AfD is a very harmful thing to do.
  The good thing to do would be to put its important figures in jail for mafia activity, which would also lead to many people outside of AfD, be a non-conditional improvement for the society and kill that party very quickly.
  There is that mafia activity and it will be found if it's looked for.
- Any follow up organization is also banned. So if a new organization forms it will be much easier to see if they are a follow up organization and dissolve it right away.
  
  You can't just "dissolve" fascism though. Until the underlying problem is fixed it'll keep resurfacing.
- That's what fascism is about. Do not tolerate them, do not reason with them. Ban them and (if necessary) kill them.
- It still sucks up a lot of their money and disables funding through taxes for a time
- Exactly this happened with the extreme right in Flanders (Belgium). They were convicted for racism and promptly refounded themselves under a new name.
  
  And where are they now?
- If they are banned they cant form a party or join another party again, this is by law
  
  Does Germany allow write in candidates?
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.
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
Germanst will ban every group protesting against genocide before they ban the people doing a Nazi salute.
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.
- 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.
- 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?
  
  Are the Afd voters pedophiles?
  If you have large part to f the population moving to support fascism, them they need to be addressed. Their real issues need to be addressed. It doesn't just go away.
- 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.
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
  
  He's MAGA
  
  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.
- 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?

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