this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2025
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Summary

Thousands of Germans protested the CDU/CSU party for collaborating with the far-right AfD to pass anti-immigration legislation.

The move, seen as a breach of a post-war taboo against extremist parties, sparked outrage and accusations of making AfD extremism socially acceptable.

The CDU/CSU argues the legislation is necessary due to concerns about immigration and recent attacks by individuals who should have been deported.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 minutes ago* (last edited 1 minute ago)

I think that the reaction of most mainstream German politicians to the Israeli-Genocide has made it painfully obvious that they're deeply Racist, since they justified unwavering support for a regime commiting a Genocide along ethnic lines - were amongst, other things they murdered tens of thousands of children because of their ethnicity - by saying that they "unwaveringly" support the ethnicity that said genocidal regime claims to represent: it doesn't get much more Racist than justifying sending weapons to guys mass murdering children along ethnic lines because the ethnicity of the murderers is one specific ethnicity rather than a different ethnicity.

Not only is the moral distance from "We support Genocidal mass murderers because of their race" to supporting the quasi-Nazi AfD miniscule compared to what it would be if the starting point had instead been "No kind of oppression can be justified by the race of the oppressors", but even the AfD ideology itself of "The German people should be able to do whatever they want to other ethnicities and nationalities" is morally not that distant from the "This specific race should be able to do whatever they want to other ethnicities and nationalities".

In summary, the actions that the SPD and CDU/CSU (and even the Greens, for their eternal shame) have been unwaveringly supporting "for the Jewish People" are even more violent than those the AfD have been supporting "for the German people".

Clearly the German Political class never strayed far from the way of thinking that underpinned NAZISM (they mostly moved a specific ethnicity from the "untermenschen" to the "ubermenschen" column) and hence the distance to get back to the old "principles" was always much shorter than their performative anti-Nazism led most people to believe.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

A bit of additional context: The "legislation" passed on Wednesday was only a non-binding recommendation to the government. Basically a list of "the parliament would like you to do that". So Merz threw away his "Brandmauer" (wall of fire against the AfD) for something that doesn't even matter.

But, it gets better. It'll repeat today, but this time with actual legislation. The CDU/CSU is trying to blackmail the other democratic parties into voting for it, because else the AFD will get stronger again. But they aren't having it, so odds are high that we'll get a repeat today. Just even worse because this time the outcome actually means something besides symbolism.

Keep in mind - that guy is currently in Position number 1 to become the next Chancellor, he's always lying and backtracking on promises he made. Such as the promise that, after our government fell in November: "We'll only pass things that can find support with the democratic forces." Or a much earlier promise of:"Anyone who cooperates with the AfD will face a party-removal." Even Merkel cut him down to size a bit yesterday by saying that she thinks it's wrong - and Merkel basically never comes out of the woodwork to give her opinion on stuff in such a way.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

“Brandmauer” (wall of fire against the AfD)

Firewall. As in a wall designed to hold back fire so that it doesn't spread. Specifically a masonry wall, "Brandwand" is the more generic term.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 hours ago

True, thank you - I am at work and was typing that in a hurry before the next meeting, so that was indeed a bit off.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Are you paying attention, USA? TAKE NOTES.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

So, the problem, as I see it, is that we already did the protest thing under the first Trump administration. It didn't do much then and we're tired now. It's been about a decade of hearing about awful shit from Trump and realizing that our family members, coworkers and neighbors are actually awful people.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 minutes ago

Didn’t do much?. BLM freaked the fuck out of the conservative elite. They sent the fucking closest thing to the military to the protests and brutalised protesters.

People decided to back down at that point. But they didn’t have too.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Pay attention to how Europeans protest.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 57 minutes ago

What are you seeing in EU protests that BLM didn't have?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

He did. It's the same picture here. Even with all the protests we have people like Melloni and Schoof. AfD is polling at an all time high. I'm not saying stop protesting. But it's obviously not enough to keep fascim at bay. People have to get a lot more militant.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

Good thing Germany has actual proportional representation, and not gerrymandered districts under FPTP that causes voter apathy, as with some ahem other country... 👀

[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 hours ago

Still have voter apathy, rising fascism and a bunch of supposedly progressive parties that have moved strongly to the right, with truly left/progressive parties being almost irrelevant.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

We have both actually, that's why we get two votes. It's still fptp but with a hotfix for proportionality applied.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 hours ago

They had that during the Weimar republic too but err...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

Germany can lead the way. They can become the new leaders of the free world.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Germany is on the best way to repeat 1933, putting fascism into power with the help of the "conservatives" and a bystanding/complicit center

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

I wish I had that kind of faith in our society. A lot of people are still conservative. The majority lacks any kind of class consciousness, and would really prefer the global western hegemony to keep trucking on unchanged for a few more generations.

The progressive movement is real and has great people in it. I love the conversations I've been having with people for the past decade. But it's a bubble that includes maybe 5-8% of the population. Enough to build solidarity at least around population centers, not enough to sweep an election.

[–] Disgruntled 3 points 8 hours ago

Third time’s a charm.