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submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Germany's spy agency BfV has labeled the entirety of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as an extremist entity.

The BfV domestic intelligence agency, which is in charge of safeguarding Germany's constitutional order, said the announcement comes after an "intense and comprehensive" examination.

"The ethnicity-and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order," the BfV said on Friday.

Hopefully this inspires the other parties to to start the process to see the AfD banned. I know the report might not look like much, because of how obvious the findings are. But previous attempts at banning them have failed because such an official report was missing. So maybe our political system starts getting its shit together.

As we say in Germany: Hope dies last

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[-] [email protected] 101 points 4 weeks ago

AfD are Nazis in all but name. How is it they remain unprosecuted in a nation where swastikas and the Hitler salute are outlawed?

[-] [email protected] 54 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

They're not just nazis, they're nazis sponsored and funded by putin.

This is documented, but racists would rather support their literal enemy than dare accept changing their worldview in any way.

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[-] [email protected] 23 points 4 weeks ago

Plausible deniability but they do get in trouble pretty routinely. The last big one iirc was the poster with the two kids saluting each other to form a roofline with a kitchy caption about housing.

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/afd-accused-nazi-symbolism-election-germany-hm8dv7nql

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[-] [email protected] 21 points 4 weeks ago

One of the main contributors is probably that the last time they tried banned an extremist party on the right (the NPD) it didn't work because they didn't present enough evidence according to the courts, that made everyone involved hesitant this time (or at least that is the excuse they used). Or rather, it failed twice, once because they had agents within the party and the other time for lack of evidence. Obviously obtaining that evidence without running into the first problem again is tricky.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 4 weeks ago

Small correction: the NPD was not banned because they were largely irrelevant. They had little to no influence on politics, which is why the court argued that a ban would be inappropriate.

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[-] [email protected] 70 points 4 weeks ago

Greece banned golden dawn as a criminal organisation and while a lot of members splintered into other parties it was overall a success in nearly removing all their influence as a political organisation from Greek politics - so, overall banning the fascist party, at least in one instance, worked.

[-] [email protected] 21 points 4 weeks ago

Wow W Greece 💯🙌🏻

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[-] [email protected] 55 points 4 weeks ago

What does it mean if a democracy bans a party that the voters want to elect? Better to ask what failure of the system made that party popular in the first place. We have a similar situation in the US fwiw.

[-] [email protected] 165 points 4 weeks ago

True, but then again we have lived through that already and know that dangerous parties can be elected democratically. That is exactly the reason why we have this mechanism in place.

An anti democratic party has no right to be elected democratically.

[-] [email protected] 92 points 4 weeks ago

Exactly. Democracy is famously the only system which allows to be dismantled through its own tools. That is why the German system is called "Wehrhafte Demokratie" (defensive democracy) to not end up like the Weimar Republic.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 4 weeks ago

The biggest criticism of democracy is that it might become something else.

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[-] [email protected] 35 points 4 weeks ago

I fear, that many if not most people do not understand why AFD is an undemocratic party or why this would even matter for them.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 4 weeks ago

I think that problem is closely related to the issue that people think it can not get much worse for them when in reality there is a long, long way down from even the poorest and least represented people in our German society to the poorest people in the worst societies that actually existed in history or even the worst society imaginable with modern technology combined with the rulers from those worst socities in history.

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[-] [email protected] 29 points 4 weeks ago

We had that situation in 1930s Germany and it was decided to address issues instead of banning Hitler’s Party even when they could.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 4 weeks ago

The paradox of tolerance. Parties that violate the social contract of mutual tolerance deserve to be banned.

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[-] [email protected] 17 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

There are other banned parties as well (such as the SRP, which was the new NSDAP basically), having large overlap with the AfD. It's not bad for democracy, if the requirements for banning are clear and enforced equally.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago

No need to play one off against the other. Yes, there are many things that need to change systemically. Yes, the AfD is a real danger and needs to be banned. Simple as that.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 4 weeks ago

Better to ask what failure of the system made that party popular in the first place.

In the case of the US, it was propaganda by a hostile country, and by malefactors of great wealth whose interests aligned with that hostile country. In the former case, an act of war; in the latter, treason.

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[-] [email protected] 41 points 4 weeks ago

Learn from history and America. No half measures. If you're going to label them extremists, you also have to break them.

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[-] [email protected] 39 points 4 weeks ago

"The ethnicity-and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order,"

Great news, but also ironic considering German uncritical support for Israel.

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[-] [email protected] 33 points 4 weeks ago

AFD should be banned... Threat to democracy tf

[-] [email protected] 23 points 4 weeks ago

entire AfD 'extremist'

No shit, sherlock, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 4 weeks ago

But having it said in an official capacity is still important.

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Have you even seen some of the mindblowing excuses people have for why MAGA people in USA are not necessarily extreme?
That it's for job security, or because of drug trade or all sorts of weird reasons that would absolutely be valid if they weren't based on falsehoods wrapped in fascism.

I'm actually quite surprised that the conclusion is that ALL of AfD are extremists. Maybe if USA had done the same with Trump, and he and his followers were concluded to be extremists, more would have been done to stop him?

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[-] [email protected] 21 points 4 weeks ago

YOU DON'T SAY

[-] [email protected] 16 points 4 weeks ago

"But previous attempts at banning them have failed because such an official report was missing."

Man, this is peak modern society, and the absurdity makes me laugh. I don't mean that in a derisive way, more in a "wow, making democracy work is haaard ". Hopefully this will lead to something positive though, even if I'm anxious that banning a party like the AfD may lead to some things worsening.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 4 weeks ago

Pray they find a valid legal reason to ban them soon now that they can mass spy on them :)

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago

And what will Germany do about it? NOTHING!

[-] [email protected] 11 points 4 weeks ago

Punch left as hard as possible.

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this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
969 points (99.3% liked)

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