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I posted this just to show the propaganda being pumped into the US about these elections.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has the party under observation for suspected right-wing extremism. The AfD’s branches in three eastern states are designated “proven right-wing extremist” groups. AfD strongly objects to those assessments and rejects any association with the Nazi past. Höcke has appealed two convictions for knowingly using a Nazi slogan at a political event.
My German friend voted today for the Green Party. But this is what she said about AfD
Well, I know what I believe. And I want nothing to do with them. They use Nazi rhetoric all the time, sometimes more subtle, sometimes flat out saying stuff like "we should form a new SA and clean up" or "at least now we have so many refugees that a holocaust would make sense" or "send the Antifa to Buchenwald (former concentration camp)". Not every member of the party, and definitely not all the people who vote for them, are Nazis. But the direction it's going is scary as fuck. Never again is now.
She is as liberal as they come but she can’t see how her country is being destroyed from the inside out and how it’s absolutely ridiculous that the American military has full operational bases within German borders.
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20 percent of Germany is foreign born, I think that’s higher than the foreign born population in USA. And most of the immigration in Germany has happened since 1999, accelerated since 2015
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131 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 6h
After watching 60 minutes last week I think there is plenty of authoritarianism to go around in Germany right now.
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56 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 6h
Curious what you mean by liberal. Liberal in what way?
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Left ideas mainly. Socialism and other left policies
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she can’t see how her country is being destroyed from the inside out
Where is this arrogance coming from?
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200 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB 4h
The data. Losing energy and manufacturing supremacy is how American society has decayed. When I say destroyed I mean from an economic standpoint.
In America we already seen this happen to the rust belt cities. They were once rich with energy and manufacturing jobs and then got wiped out economically thanks to globalization and change in overall energy strategy. Germany is currently doing this now trying to become green.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Lumor 4h
Where is this arrogance coming from?
Where is this arrogance coming from?
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Lumor 3h
Self-awareness, you arrogant lefty.
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Arrogant maybe, but I strongly object to you calling me a lefty. LOL
220 sats \ 8 replies \ @kepford 7h
I don't keep up with German politics but there's a massive irony with how their government is becoming more authoritarian to stop a so called authoritarian political party.
One could point to the US red scare and the persecution of suspected Communists. This approach will back fire on them I suspect. Either they are crying wolf and people will stop believing them or they are right and their persecution will build sympathy for the group they persecute.
Regardless, the classification of Nazis as right wing let alone far right is a psyop and and old one. Nazis were socialist but nationalist ones instead of international like the Marxists. Economic wise they were much closer to communists that what we would consider laissez-faire free market types. If Marxism is far left and I think there is little argument against that far right would be free market views or even anarchism.
The left right paradigm breaks down though. You need an X and Y axis. It's just to easy to use the label far right and Nazi to scare people instead of real intellectual arguments.
The obsession with Hitler is really not helpful. The Democratic systems of the world have been doing a great job creating authoritarian systems with smiling faces.
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Well said, as usual. In the US we know all about authoritarian systems with smiling faces. Things do seem to be getting really crazy in the UK and Europe lately, though.
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46 sats \ 6 replies \ @kepford 7h
I really think everyone needs to drop the Nazi label though. Pretty much any movement can be racist and authoritarian. Communism has that history and so does liberal democracy.
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You're probably right.
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36 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 6h
I never hear refutations of National Socialism beyond the racism part which is of course easy.
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For instance? Corporations padding the pockets of elected officials to influence policy? Revolving door private/public employment opportunities? I guess that's more fascism. Do you mean militarism and suppression of basic rights like speech?
I'd recommend checking out some long form source material where you hear the people being described (smeared or slandered maybe?) talk about their policy ideas and the viewpoints inspiring them in their own words.
Alice Weidel, the party leader, has been on many a podcast speaking English I believe. There's the conversation with Elon Musk but there's more interviews in english out there in teh podcast world. Also there's some speeches that she gave in the bundestag available on to view on X with subtitles. Perhaps other places as well.
Haven't spent a ton of time looking into it but I did listen to the Elon interview as well as one other appearance on a podcast IIRC. I also listened to one or two complete speechs of hers at the bundestag. I think one of them was about 20 minutes long.
Based on that it seems to me AFD is a center right common sense party. Stop illegal immigration, deal with crime problems, focus on reliable energy, roll back censorship laws, cut back on government spending, try diplomacy with Russia etc.
Really not that extreme at all.
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36 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 6h
Where does monarchy fall on the left right paradigm? Is nationalism and racism unique to the left or right? Did it preexist National Socialism?
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Sorry for my ignorance, but what exactly is the propaganda in your quote?
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The fact that a political party is defined as a proven right wing extremist group. The nazi convictions are cited, while ignoring the fact that the AfD is looking to deny german support for Ukrainian nazis.
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What Ukrainian nazis?
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??? I'm not calling all Ukrainians nazis. The Azov brigade seems particularly egregious. I'm just pointing out that the AfD is being painted unfairly in the German press as nazis.
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I'm not calling all Ukrainians nazis.
AfD is looking to deny german support for Ukrainian nazis.
I am confused. Because German support to Ukraine goes to the entire Ukrainian people, from heavy military equipment to the last humanitarian help.
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I was thinking of the Azov brigade. It was an overstatement on my part. My point was that I see hypocrisy. As @kepford pointed out, we probably shouldn't even use the word nazi. The hypocrisy isn't just AfD, Azov. It's listening to German prosecutors say people should be imprisoned for saying things on the internet. Call it nazi, fascist, communist, whatever. They use authoritianism to protect citizens against authoritarianism? The irony is ridiculous.
Unfairly? Really?
So the links you posted, I didn’t check them all, are about the Azov brigade then?
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Here's my point. The world recognized there is a Nazi element in Ukraine as recently as the early 2020s. That stopped after Putin's invasion(btw-I hate him). The western press denies this, despite obvious nazi symbols on uniforms, anti semitic acts, etc. The AfD, with far less evidence, are decreed nazis to help ensure the status quo remains in the EU.