Far-right party likened to Nazis to shake up German parliament - Polidicks

[QUOTE]FRANKFURT AN DER ODER, Germany (Reuters) - The first far-right party set to enter Germany’s parliament for more than a half a century says it will press for Chancellor Angela Merkel to be “severely punished” for opening the door to refugees and migrants. The Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has also called for Germany’s immigration minister to be “disposed of” in Turkey where her parents come from, could become the third largest party with up to 12 percent of the vote on Sept. 24, polls show. That is far less than similar movements in other European countries - in France far-right leader Marine Le Pen won 34 percent of the vote in May and in the Netherlands far-rightist Geert Wilders scored 13 percent in a March election. But the prospect of a party that the foreign minister has compared with the Nazis entering the heart of German democracy is unnerving the other parties. They all refuse to work with the AfD and no one wants to sit next to them in parliament. [/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-election-afd/far-right-party-likened-to-nazis-to-shake-up-german-parliament-idUSKCN1BS0H0?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=59be811304d30142ce563a70&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook"]Reuters.[/URL]

Why wasn't this party banned while other far right ones were?

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;52690053]Why wasn't this party banned while other far right ones were?[/QUOTE] My understanding is that AfD is very, very slightly less extreme than the others, and it's also much bigger.

[quote]Leading AfD candidate Alexander Gauland denies they are Nazis, saying others only use the term because of the party’s popularity. It has won support with calls for Germany to shut its borders immediately, introduce a minimum quota for deportations and stop refugees bringing their families here. “We’re gradually becoming foreigners in our own country,” Gauland told an election rally in the Polish border city of Frankfurt an der Oder.[/quote] Fucking hell, it's always the exact same rhetoric. "We're not racist but fuck those dirty foreigners, we need Germany to be about Germans!"

The AfD is basically the german equivalent of UKIP or front national, though they're not as extreme as the front national. I personally disagree with the AfD on many issues and don't vote for them either, but straight up banning them is not democratic at all and will likely make matters just worse. If you want to ban the AfD, you'd have to ban Die Linke too etc.

[QUOTE=Gorgus;52690094]The AfD is basically the german equivalent of UKIP or front national, though they're not as extreme as the front national. I personally disagree with the AfD on many issues and don't vote for them either, but straight up banning them is not democratic at all and will likely make matters just worse. If you want to ban the AfD, you'd have to ban Die Linke too etc.[/QUOTE] People just need to make sure to take part in democracy and vote for things that aren't AfD. You're right, you can't ban em - though they're walking a very fine line.

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;52690092]Fucking hell, it's always the exact same rhetoric. "We're not racist but fuck those dirty foreigners, we need Germany to be about Germans!"[/QUOTE] People think the only way to be racist is to actually dislike people of a certain skin colour.

I wouldn't even go as far as calling them far right to be honest. right wing=/=far right I'm not saying this party doesn't have a problem with extremism, especially in the east german regions, but if you call the AfD Nazis you might as well call the greens bolsheviks. It's just a stupid hyperbole imo, because if you keep calling everyone a nazi, the defintion kind of loses its meaning.

[QUOTE=Trebgarta;52690178]They are a bit further than right. Germany doesn't have a proper right-wing party with Merkel in charge of CDU/CSU, and I guess that is what makes AfD seem like Germany's current right, but they are too delusional and radical for me to call them simply right-wing. Id rather have right wing not be a slur and reserved only for sane political circles. Wikipedia calls it "right wing to far right" and I guess that is fitting if you absolutely have to call it a direction.[/QUOTE] Yeah that's what I ment. It's just that Germany currently doesn't have a proper right wing conservative party, since Merkel's CDU currently is only a centrist party. In the early days, the AfD tried to fill that political gap as a proper conservative party but the other party condemned them as extremists right from the beginning, thus driving out the moderate politicians since they don't want to be associated with extremism. That led to the party now being "right to far right" instead of just right wing as you described. In my eyes it was a strategy right from the beginning from the CDU to drive out the moderates through public pressure and thus making the party too extreme for the average conservative to vote for.

[QUOTE=Trebgarta;52690212]Does the egg come first or the chicken? Did the extremists fill up AfD's ranks before or after the condemnation and the moderates leaving? No way of knowing for sure.[/QUOTE] It could very well be that both happened, kind of like a vicious circle, with one being the cause for the other.

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;52690092]Fucking hell, it's always the exact same rhetoric. "We're not racist but fuck those dirty foreigners, we need Germany to be about Germans!"[/QUOTE] I like Stewart Lee's interpretation of it. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cgeXd5kRDg[/media]

Calling AfD themselves nazis is dumb. Although they, like UKIP and National Front, do have a problem with nazis trying to join their ranks. They are still otherwise p. bog standard right populists. Nonetheless they aren't really going to shake their parliament up that much since they A. Won't get many seats and B. Every single other party has said they won't form a government with them.

They are more radical than UKIP since they are explicitly opposed to the entire religion of Islam and open about wanting to crack down on it - though UKIP's current leadership election will determine whether it follows in that direction

[QUOTE=thelurker1234;52690505]Calling AfD themselves nazis is dumb. Although they, like UKIP and National Front, do have a problem with nazis trying to join their ranks. They are still otherwise p. bog standard right populists. Nonetheless they aren't really going to shake their parliament up that much since they A. Won't get many seats and B. Every single other party has said they won't form a government with them.[/QUOTE] Why is it dumb? They have legitimate Neo-Nazis in very very high ranking positions and parts of their pamphlets are written by Neo-Nazis. They get funding from people known to have funded Nazis before, several AfD members have been convicted for crimes against minorities. It looks like Nazis, it smells like Nazis, it uses the same language as the Nazis(Volkskörper, Volkshygiene, Lügenpresse) so just because it doesn't call itself a Nazi it isn't?

Nazi or not, AfD's ideology is dangerous because it will empower the actual neo-nazis. Germans, if you know what's good for you, please don't vote for these guys.

AfD's ideology is dangerous enough on its own