#Alternative für Deutschland

[vikisbraindump]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David Badash at NCRM:

Vice President-elect JD Vance, the Republican Senator from Ohio, is facing criticism both domestically and internationally for endorsing and seemingly defending an op-ed by Elon Musk that is supportive of a far-right German political party reportedly linked to neo-Nazis. The New York Times late last month described the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, as “a group with ties to neo-Nazis whose youth wing has been classified as ‘confirmed extremist’ by German domestic intelligence.” The paper of record also noted that AfD has been “called a threat to German democracy” by Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and others. [...] On Thursday, Vance reposted a thread containing what is allegedly Musk’s op-ed translated into English, titled, “Only the AfD Can Save Germany.”

The Vice President-elect then wrote: “I’m not endorsing a party in the German elections, as it’s not my country and we hope to have good relations with all Germans. But this is an interesting piece. Also interesting; American media slanders AfD as Nazi-lite, But AfD is most popular in the same areas of Germany that were most resistant to the Nazis.” Vance’s remarks were quickly criticized, with some discussing post-World War II German reunification in 1990, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, to explain how geography has little to do with opposing Nazism. Others suggested Vance’s geographic claim was actually wrong. And despite Vance’s claim, The Economist as some noted, in 2019 reported: “Post-war population transfers changed politics across Germany,” and added that “a new paper finds an uncomfortable overlap between the parts of Germany that support the afd and those that voted for the Nazis in 1933. At first glance, the link is invisible. The Nazis fared well in northern states like Schleswig-Holstein; the afd did best in the former East Germany.”

VP-elect JD Vance praised German Nazi-adjacent far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party, falsely claimed that AfD is most popular in the same areas of Germany that were most resistant to the Nazis.

WRONG, JD: The areas where the AfD were the strongest were generally the same areas the Nazis were strongest in.

[terrestrial-conspiracies]

ayyyy look what me and bestie did last night

[kjell-e]

Hey, international besties, once again the German fascists are talking about deportation of people they don’t see as part of the German society and I am not looking forward to the elections next year

[phlebasphoenician]

today a fascist won an election for the first time since 1933. here, in germany.

i don't care if it's just one (out of 16) states. björn höcke is a fascist. a court decided not long ago that it's allowed to call him a nazi. bc he is one. not "far right" or "conservative" - he is a nazi.

here. in germany. and he just won an election.

it hasn't even been 100 years.

i am scared.

[dawum-de]

[unita2org]

PER L'ULTRADESTRA AfD CON MUSK «HITLER ERA UN COMUNISTA»

Capitalismo selvaggio 10 Gennaio 2025 di Ennio Remondino L’intervista su X alla leader AfD Weidel a 45 giorni dalle elezioni tedesche. Il Bundestag si interroga sull’ingerenza del miliardario, che la dichiara «una donazione elettorale». La diretta fra Elon Musk e Alice Weidel trasmessa su X ufficializza l’intervento senza più confini fra il re dei social e i fascio-populisti del mondo.…

[atsvensson]

Extremhögerns framgångar i de tyska valen

För första gången sedan nazismens fall 1945 har ett högerextremt parti blivit det största i ett val i Tyskland. Med 32,8 procent av rösterna blev Alternative für Deutschland, AfD, största parti i delstatsvalet i Thüringen och med 30,6 procent hamnade partiet bara en procent efter högerpartiet CDU i Sachsen. Detta samtidigt som valdeltagandet ökade avsevärt från 2019 i båda delstaterna, från…

[suzimiya]

' #Stolzmonat ist nichts anderes als eine Aktion von Pädophilen, damit man sich gegenseitig bekannt machen kann. Die unterschiedlichen Rotfarben soll die Entjungferung von Jungen Mädchen symbolisieren. Der Übergang in das Gelbe zeigt, dass man auf Kinderurin steht. '

Q https://x.com/yumanodachi/status/1795188489543123290 via @yumanodachi

[lorenzlund]

Alles längst schon etablierte Part Eier selber auch!

(in Berlin wird derzeit neu gewählt!)

Selbst bei der AfD!

‘AfD tickt jetzt wieder mehr rechts! Bei ihr sind mehr extreme Rechte als zu Gründungszeiten noch auch dieser Part-ei!!’

“Ein Weißer, der immer wieder aufsteht!’ *orig.: ein Zombie

“Partei drohte mehrfach die Spaltung!”

“Alles Herren im gesetzten Alter ... und gegen alle Widerstände der (auch noch) anderen Part-eien!!”

“Nach den Grünen hatte sie die meisten Er-folge, und so ist es möglich, geht der Aufstieg weiter!!” (Trotz Widerständen!)

“Sie hatte auch schon ledigliche Zwischenhochs!!”

“Auch galt man schon als totgesagt!”

“Die Rechtspo-puhlisten sie sind gekommen um zu bleiben! Geht damit um!!!”

“Besonders stark ist sie im Osten, mit der meisten Kraft!”

“Nicht überall aber konnte sie zurückkommen! Es gab kein Comeback!!”

“Sie verfügt aber über sehr stabile Apparate, gilt für cleverer als frühere Rechts-part-eier!”

“Mal gibt sie sich bürgerlich, mal offen rechtsextrem. Was wohl mit der Hetero-Vergangenheit zu tun hat ihrer Parlamentarier und gesammelter Erfahrung bzw. Erfahrungen!!” heterogen

“Mut zur Lucke!”

“Sie gehört als Partei aber nicht den organisierten Glatzen an!” *gemeint ist hier sehr wahrscheinlich: unter Männern!

“Eine ähnliche Strategie verfolgt Marie Le Pen mit auch ihrem Esemblement in Frankreich!!” Ass-emblement, die Ansammlung, Gruppenansammlung, Gruppe, Gruppierung gemeinsame

[beardedhandstoadshark]

Hey. Fun fact.

Germany is replaying the beginning of the Third Reich now.

The Too-German-Didn’t-Read is that main guys of the right-extremist party that is currently on a major rise, AfD, met with actual neo-nazis discussing plans to deport millions of people, those being anyone whose families came here after WW2 + anyone helping immigrants and refugees, to a fucking "Model State in North Africa“ specifically conscripted for the sole purpose of keeping them there.

And a good chunk of the other politicians plus the main law council itself that could do anything against it is saying it can’t ban them because the AfD isn’t proven to be acting in incitement enough.

Fun.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Tim Ganser at The UnPopulist:

Since the end of World War II, Germans had by and large steadfastly resisted voting for far-right populists. That norm was shattered in the last decade by the success of the political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which seemed to gain more traction as it radicalized into a full-blown, hard right populist party. A year into its existence, spurred by widespread discontent with German fiscal policy, the AfD won seven seats in European Parliament. In 2017, after undergoing a hard-right turn, it won 94 seats in the German federal elections, good for third place overall. For the past year, the AfD has consistently ranked second in Politico’s poll aggregator tracking the public’s voting intentions.

In this Sunday’s European Parliament elections, roughly 1 in 6 German voters is expected to cast a ballot for the AfD, whose members have trivialized the Holocaust, encouraged their followers to chant Nazi slogans, and participated in a secret conference where they fantasized about forced deportations of naturalized citizens they derisively call “Passport Germans.” Worse still, the AfD is predicted to be the strongest party, with up to a third of the vote share, in the three elections for state parliament in Saxony and Thuringia on Sept. 1 and in Brandenburg on Sept. 22. And in generic polls for a hypothetical federal election, the AfD fares even better than it did in any previous election. How did Germany get to this point?

The AfD’s Origin Story

The AfD was founded in early 2013 by a group of conservatives, led by the economics professor, Bernd Lucke, greatly disillusioned with then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fiscal policy. In their view, the European debt crisis had revealed deep instability within the eurozone project as smaller nations found themselves unable to cope with the economic demands of membership, and they believed Merkel’s focus on saving the euro was coming at the expense of German economic interests. This was, however, the opposite of a populist complaint—in fact, the AfD was initially referred to as a “Professorenpartei” (a professor’s party) because of the party’s early support from various economics professors who were more interested in fiscal policy than catering to popular will. In its earliest days, the AfD could best be characterized as a cranky but respectable party of fiscal hardliners. Its anti-establishment posture stemmed entirely from its belief in the necessity of austerity. Even its name could be construed less as nationalistic and more an answer to the dictum coined by Merkel—“alternativlose Politik” (policy for which there is no alternative)—to defend her bailouts during the eurozone crisis.

Although the AfD had launched an abstract economic critique of Merkel’s policies that could be hard to parse for non-experts, its contrarian stance resonated with a significant portion of Germans. Right out of the gate, the AfD obtained the highest vote share of any new party since 1953, nearly clearing the 5% threshold for inclusion in the Bundestag, Germany’s Parliament, in its first electoral go round. Its success was also measurable in terms of membership, passing the 10,000 mark almost immediately after its formation. The rapid increase in membership, however, helped lay the groundwork for its turn toward right-wing populism. Perhaps due to pure negligence—or a combination of calculation and ambition—the party’s founders did little to stop right-wing populists from swelling its rolls. And as the German economy emerged through the European debt crisis in good financial shape, fiscal conservatism naturally faded from the public’s consciousness. However, a new European crisis having to do with migrants came to dominate the popular imagination. The AfD hardliners seized on the growing anti-migrant opinion, positioning the AfD as its champion, thereby cementing the party’s turn towards culture war issues like immigration and national identity.

Starting in late 2014, organized right-wing protesters took to the streets to loudly rail against Germany’s decision to admit Muslim migrants, many fleeing the Syrian civil war. The AfD right wing’s desire to become the political home of nativism led to a rift within the party that culminated in founder Bernd Lucke’s being ousted as leader in 2015, and his replacement with hardliner Frauke Petry. Lucke left the party entirely, citing its right-wing shift, following in the footsteps of what other party leaders had already done and more would do in the coming year. Up until this point, the AfD unwittingly helped the cause of right-wing populism. If the reactionary far-right had tried to start a party from scratch, it would have likely failed. The AfD, after all, was created within a respectable mold, trading on the credentials of its earliest founders and leaders. But with saner voices now pushed out, right-wing populists had the party with public respectability and an established name all to themselves. And they deliberately turned it into a Trojan horse for reactionary leaders who wanted to “fight the system from within.

[...]

A New Normal in Germany

As right-wing populist positions have become part of the political discourse, Germany is now in the exact same position as some of its European neighbors with established hardline populist parties. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni ascended to the premiership in October 2022 as the head of her neo-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party, which is poised to perform well in the upcoming European Parliament elections. In France, the Marine Le Pen-led far-right Rassemblement National (RN) is set to bag a third of votes in those elections, roughly double what President Macron’s governing coalition is expected to obtain.

What makes the situation in Germany especially worrisome is that, unlike in France and Italy, far-right parties had failed to garner any meaningful vote share in nationwide elections until just seven years ago; indeed, until the 2017 federal election, there had never been a right-wing populist party that had received more than six percent of the national vote in Germany. The nation’s special vigilance toward far right ethnonationalism in light of its history of Nazi atrocities was expected to spare Germany the resurgence of far-right populism. But it actually led to complacency among mainstream parties. By 2017, the AfD—already in its right-wing populist phase—received nearly 13% of the vote in the federal election to become the third-strongest parliamentary entity. And by then it had also made inroads in all state parliaments as well as the European Parliament. The norm against it was officially gone.

To be sure, the AfD is not on track to take over German politics. It currently has the fifth most seats among all German parties in the Bundestag, fourth most seats among German parties in the European Parliament, and is a distant eighth in party membership. Nor is it currently a threat to dominate European politics—late last month, the AfD was ousted from the Marine Le Pen-led Identity and Democracy (ID) party coalition, the most right-wing group in the European Parliament. Le Pen, herself a far-right radical, explained the AfD’s expulsion by describing the party as “clearly controlled by radical groups.” But none of the above offer good grounds for thinking the AfD will be relegated to the fringes of German or European politics.

After the election, the AfD could rejoin ID, or it could form a new, even more radical right-wing presence within the European Parliament. Some fear that the AfD could potentially join forces with Bulgaria’s ultranationalist Vazrazhdane. Its leader, Kostadin Kostadinov, said that AfD’s expulsion from ID could create an opening to form “a real conservative and sovereigntist group in the European Parliament.” Also, ID’s removal of the AfD wasn’t due to its stated policy platform being out of step with Europe’s right-wing populist project. Rather, it was because the AfD’s leading candidate, Maximillian Krah, was implicated in a corruption and spying scandal involving China and Russia, and because he said he would not automatically construe a member of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) to be a criminal. Absent these entirely preventable missteps, the AfD would be in good standing with right-wing populist partners in Europe.

Seeing far-right Nazi-esque Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) rise in prominence in Germany is a sad sight.

[ireton]

Alice Weidel - AfD candidate to replace Scholz in the February 2025 federal election.

AfD - Alternative für Deutschland - Alternative for Germany

[justforbooks]

Elon Musk makes surprise appearance at AfD event in eastern Germany

Tycoon tells 4,500 people at campaign event in Halle to be proud of German culture in speech via video link

Elon Musk made a surprise appearance during Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) election campaign event in Halle in eastern Germany on Saturday, speaking publicly in support of the far-right party for the second time in as many weeks.

Addressing a hall of 4,500 people alongside the party’s co-leader, Alice Weidel, Musk spoke live via video link about preserving German culture and protecting the German people.

“It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything,” Musk said.

Last week, the US billionaire caused uproar after he made a gesture that drew online comparisons to a Nazi salute during President Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities.

On Saturday, he said “children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great grandparents”, apparently referring to Germany’s Nazi past.

“There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that,” he said.

Musk, who spoke of suppression of speech under Germany’s government, has previously attacked German chancellor Olaf Scholz on X.

For his part, Scholz on Tuesday said he does not support freedom of speech when it is used for extreme-right views.

Musk spoke in favour of voting for the far-right party. “I’m very excited for the AfD, I think you’re really the best hope for Germany’s fight for a great future for Germany,” he told onlookers.

Weidel thanked him, said the Republicans were making America great again, and called on her supporters to make Germany great again.

Earlier this month, Musk hosted Weidel in an interview on X, stirring concern about election meddling.

Despite winter weather, anti-far-right campaigners were out in force on Saturday, with about 100,000 gathering around Berlin’s Brandenburg gate and up to 20,000 in Cologne, including people of all ages carrying colourful umbrellas.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[harleydirkbieder]

"Werden die linkste Regierung aller Zeiten bekommen." Marc Friedrich & Peter Hahne - YouTube

Trump wird wieder Präsident und Elon Musk führt ein Gespräch mit der verhassten AFD (Alice Weidel). Zudem wird öffentlich von einer Wahlannullierung gesprochen, sollten die Wahlen nicht so ausfallen, wie gewünscht und als Kirsche auf der Sahnetorte platzt die Bombe rund um Social-Media-Zensur in der Coronazeit. Ein Grund, für mich niemand anderen als Peter Hahne (Fernsehmoderator und Autor)…