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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   28960 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 2, 2024

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New week, so new cultural war post- this time for Germany. As you may have seen in your morning news feeds, the German far right wins first major election since WW2 on last Sunday.

Or rather, the German AfD won a plurality of votes in the German state of Thuringia, came very close to doing so in Saxony, and did very well in the formerly communist East Germany. While they did not win a majority in any state, this wouldn't be expected in a more parliamentary-style system either, and by coming up to nearly 1/3rd of the votes it represents the further normalization of the German- and by extension European- far right. While I'll be the first to say I find the labeling of the European right as 'far right' more indicative of European peculiarities and attempts to stigmatize political opponents than objective, it certainly is an increase in anti-Establishment sentiment expressed by parties with views counter to the European political elite consensus. Notably, and in a change from 2019 elections, the 2024 election also saw the rise of the far(ther)-left BSW party, whose rise took votes from established-left parties. While BSW is of the 'refuse to cooperate with AfD' direction, they are also notable for stated opposition to supporting Ukraine with more military aid, though how hard they hold that view / what they might trade it away for in coalition-negotiation remains to be seen.

Politically, this complicates the coalition-formation capacity of the remaining German parties, which have seen efforts at maintaining a non-cooperation cordon of 'any coalition but one with AfD' crack over time. It also raises the typical post-election question of 'what topic of discontent matters most'- as there are your typical breadbasket issues of economics and cost of living, and especially immigration. AfD/BSW appear to be where the anti-Ukraine support politics go as well, though how central that is to the party voters will be subject to the normal democratic post-election shift analysis, which everyone will try to boost their favored topic and diminish others. These are all the more relevant as this leads to the German federal elections next year, which matters due to the fragility of the current government coalition, whose coalition has kept the AfD out of what would be a normal government involvement for cycles now.

Culture implications here are many, from the continued normalization of the European right, to the rise of East Germany as a political spoiler in politics that have been dominated by the western-German political center since unification, to the role of immigration as a 'we're willing to ignore the party stigma for the sake of this issue' issue.

There are also the geopolitical implications, such as how the German election results may shape the Ukraine War. The early take might be that the election foreshadows the decreased chance of future German military aid to Ukraine, but that in turn could drive the current government to 'lock in' support mechanisms in a way a government with less flexibility couldn't pass/reverse, as well as the incentives this public potential struggle could have on actors in peace negotiations to consider whether they are more likely to get a better position after the next Federal election (and thus less reason to make/signal concessions before then).

Overall, interesting if not surprising times.

As an exercise, let’s taboo the term “far-right”. What exactly is “far-right” about AfD’s platform? Do they propose:

  1. More strictly vetting all new asylum claims
  2. Reviewing successful asylum claims from 2015 to the present day, and deporting those found to have made false statements
  3. Kicking down doors and summarily executing men, women, and children who are not of 100% Aryan stock

… or something else entirely?

One that really cracked me up that I saw in a few articles today was how they reminded everyone that the this is the first time a "far-right" party has won an election since ww2 and also it's on the 85th anniversary of Nazi Germany invading Poland.

They then go on to inform us of the unspeakable far right policies of this party which warrant being compared to a group that waged war across Europe.

brace yourselves, might want to sit down for how evil this one is.

They're anti-war!

We really don't hate journalists near as much as we should, we need to invent people that don't spend 8 hours sleeping so they can hate journalists 24 hours a day or something.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-skeptic-parties-win-big-162619480.html?guccounter=1

The continued rise of Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered a new chapter on Sept. 1, when the controversial far-right party came first in Thuringia's state election.

AfD won around 33% of the vote in Thuringia, a state of 2 million people in Germany's east. The results mark the first time a far-right party won a state election in Germany since the Second World War - 85 years to the day that Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

and their policy

"Anti-war, anti-Ukraine"

"In line with the rest of the AfD, Hocke has repeatedly urged for dialogue with Moscow and is against sending military aid to Ukraine"

"In May 2023, Chrupalla and party founder Alexander Gauland attended a reception at the Russian embassy, celebrating Russia's 'Victory Day.' Chrupalla claimed he attended the event because 'dialogue should not be allowed to break down in times of crisis.'"

"AfD's campaign in Thuringia included the slogan 'diplomacy instead of weapons,' referring to Germany's position as the world's second-largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the U.S."

"'Friends, we as Germans, we as Thuringians, we as voters say – no more war,' he said."

To me, this AP article takes the cake.

Headline: A far-right German party’s win has some fearing for the future. Others worry of a return to the past.

Synopsis: A lesbian couple in Berlin is worried about the rise of the AfD.

They’re concerned that a gay couple and their child might not be safe in the future if parties like Alternative for Germany, or AfD, gain more power in the formerly communist and less prosperous eastern states.

Germany’s domestic intelligence has deemed both the Saxon and Thuringian branches of the AfD to be “proven right-wing extremist” groups. The leader in Thuringia has even been convicted of using Nazi slogans. Even more ominous, this election was held on the 85th anniversary of the invasion of Poland, which makes the AfD’s win somehow even more damning. One young father is trying to figure out how to explain it to his three- and six-year-old kids:

“We don’t talk much about politics so far. He’s more into ‘Paw Patrol,’” Meister said. “It’s hard to explain. How is it that people are so proud to vote for a party that is so bad for everyone?”

Now we get to the good stuff:

Older Germans who lived through the Nazi reign of terror are frightened. Many believed their country had developed an immunity to nationalism and assertions of racial superiority after confronting the horrors of its past through education and laws to outlaw persecution.

But Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, cautioned against labeling AfD’s successes as an aberration.

“Nobody should now speak of ‘protest’ or look for other excuses,” Knobloch said in a statement. “The numerous voters made their decision consciously, many wanted to make the extremists on the fringes responsible.”

Knobloch was 6 years old when she saw the synagogues of Munich burning and watched helplessly as two Nazi officers marched away a beloved friend of her father on Nov. 9, 1938, or Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass” — when Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria.

Gudrun Pfeifer and Ursula Klute, two retirees from the northwestern city of Osnabrueck who are visiting Berlin this week, said Sunday’s vote also brought back grim memories from their early childhood days during and after World War II.

“I know what this can all lead to,” Pfeifer, 83, said Monday as her voice broke, recalling how her family was separated during the last months of the war and beyond. She was stranded in Berlin for more than a year.

“The city was in ruins, we were all starving. I was very ill — my sister thought I was going to die,” Pfeifer added.

Unfortunately, young people are ever so slightly more likely to vote for the AfD than the population overall, which obviously spells disaster for the future. The article closes with this ominous warning:

Klute, 78, also said she was distressed by AfD’s successes among the younger population.

“People always forget the lessons from history,” she said.

The only thing this article is missing (other than, you know, any discussion of the AfD’s actual policy proposals) is a paragraph noting that Saxony and Thuringia were among the earliest states to support the Nazi party electorally back in 1928. Perhaps the authors were simply unaware, or perhaps they ran out of room with their other guilt-by-association quotations.

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