Germany - back to banning political parties?

[klondike]

Hitler banned all the parties he couldn't beat and now it looks like they are at it again

Should Germany ban AfD? What impact could this have?

Last year a German court ruled the far-right party was a threat to democracy, allowing it to be monitored by the country's security services.

A recent study by Germany's Institute for Human Rights exploring the possibility of banning the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has put the far-right political party under the spotlight.

Published on 7 June, the study says the AfD now poses such a danger to the country's democratic order "it could be banned by the Federal Constitutional Court."

AfD can be legally banned because its explicit goals are "to eliminate the free democratic basic order" and "abolish the guarantee of human dignity" enshrined in Germany's constitution, claims the institute.

Set up in 2013, the AfD has been accused of harbouring anti-democratic tendencies, though it officially supports democracy in Germany.

Euronews has approached the party for comment.


Banning the AfD has been floated in Germany before. A court last year ruled the party should be considered a potential threat to democracy, paving the way for it to be put under surveillance by national security services.

Earlier this year, Germany decided to label AfD's youth wing, the Young Alternative for Germany, as an extremist group. The formal accusation of extremism is as far as the country can go without issuing an outright ban.

Full story : https://www.euronews.com/2023/06/14/should-germany-ban-afd-what-impact-could-this-have

So that's the US and Germany using the courts to kill off those they fear at the polls. Of course the two party system and de-banking here makes this unnecessary for parties but the establishment did swing into action to try to block Brexit and have succeeded in making it a lot less effective than it could have been.

[Diasi]

Indeed, it seems that it's being tried, but I can't see Germany banning a very popular political party.

[klondike]

The US is putting a very popular ex-President through the courts in an attempt to prevent him getting a re-run. These people have no shame.

[Diasi]

The US is putting a very popular ex-President through the courts in an attempt to prevent him getting a re-run. These people have no shame.

And his accusers are too stupid to see that every time they go on air & say that they want to try & get a legal process that normally can take at least a couple of years, over in six months, that it reeks of sheer desperation & shows their true motive.

But on a positive note, every indictment increases Trump's election poll lead by percentage points.

[klondike]

Only with Trump supporters though against other nominees. It's the non committed that win elections and there will be some thinking no smoke without fire.

The Bidens will be shitting themselves if Trump does get elected. Far more evidence against them. Sleepy Joe may be getting his beauty sleep disturbed by his cell mate in a few years time.

[Alex]

The AfD is too strong in the east for any attempt to ban them.  For the average German the AfD is seen as a radical party, not an extremist party but like here, the establishment isn't listening to the people -  the AfD is.    Pub meetings (a la Farage) are popular,  the ordinary working man can get things off his chest here, perhaps Reform should try it ?

[Diasi]

Only with Trump supporters though against other nominees. It's the non committed that win elections and there will be some thinking no smoke without fire.

The Bidens will be shitting themselves if Trump does get elected. Far more evidence against them. Sleepy Joe may be getting his beauty sleep disturbed by his cell mate in a few years time.

But probably not as many as who have seen Trump's border wall scrapped & the huge influx of illegals from Mexico.

August 17, 2023, 01:53:20 PM

The AfD is too strong in the east for any attempt to ban them.  For the average German the AfD is seen as a radical party, not an extremist party but like here, the establishment isn't listening to the people -  the AfD is.    Pub meetings (a la Farage) are popular,  the ordinary working man can get things off his chest here, perhaps Reform should try it ?

The AfD was set up by a group of academic professors so it'll be hard to portray them in the same light as the UK's Tommy Robinson founding of the EDL, despite the fact that both parties were founded for very similar underlying reasons.

[Alex]

But probably not as many as who have seen Trump's border wall scrapped & the huge influx of illegals from Mexico.

August 17, 2023, 01:53:20 PMThe AfD was set up by a group of academic professors so it'll be hard to portray them in the same light as the UK's Tommy Robinson founding of the EDL, despite the fact that both parties were founded for very similar underlying reasons.

I didn't know it was set up by academics, but I think that's changed now, as I'm sure I read the lefties love to quote their leader as being a ' house painter '   

[Diasi]

I didn't know it was set up by academics, but I think that's changed now, as I'm sure I read the lefties love to quote their leader as being a ' house painter ' 

It started out as the Election Alternative 2013 & was turned into the AfD by economics professor Bernd Lucke, journalist Konrad Adam and former CDU member Alexander Gauland so it was a middle class party at that time.

The AfD has never been a far right party, it's Germany's UKIP, but of course, the far right slur is always thrown at any patriotic party.

Reform is classed as far right by the UK media & establishment.