Lost in the discussion of the European election results from last Sunday were the alarming results of many of the local elections in Saxony and Thuringia. Whereas several years ago voters may have cast votes for the NPD as a symbolic protest, the party is now firmly entrenched in many of the city councils. The neonazis have become an establishment party:
In the east German cities of Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar, Schwerin,
Rostock and Erfurt the main neo-Nazi party the National Democratic
Party of Germany (NPD) won seats in all councils. In Parthenstein in
Saxony the NPD candidate tied with his centre-left social democratic
opponent – but then won the vacant seat by drawing straws with his
rival.In the state of Thuringia the NPD seized 21 seats, in
Saxony 73, trebling their numbers from the last elections in 2004. In
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania it now has representatives in most local
councils.
'The local elections of 2009 are a signal that the NPD, at least in
most of eastern Germany, is now a fixture on the landscape,' said the
Der Spiegel news magazine.
More on the NPD's success at the NPD-Blog.
This report was especially disturbing, as it shows that in the village of Bargischow the neo-Nazis openly agitate against democratic candidates.
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Thanks for reporting on this. It’s very distressing. What are the counterweights to this “Rutsch nach rechts?” Germans had better get busy and work with all their might to turn the situation around.
It was through perveting democratic institutions that the Nazis took power, and this seems to be what the Neo-Nazis are doing as well. We came so close to fascism ourselves with Nixon and Bush II.
In the second clip I saw how uncomfortable these people seemed to be with talking things out, with compromise, and so on, and how they were just arguing and shouting. Not a good sign.
Hattie – isn’t that also the current state of political “discourse” in the US today?
My current plan is to go to Mecklenburg in the fall for a week or so and take a look around. Then maybe I can make some comparisons. The raw manners of Prussians must be noted, I think, as I experienced in Berlin as a person mistaken for a Turk. But I’m not really trying to say America good, German bad. I’m just going to get a good tan before I leave and see how I get treated in Deutschland!
This:
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub5BA28D4F1C7243D59A8449E4F96B5E4D/Doc~EB453A6F693794B0C9322126F50DDDFB5~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
Sorry for the long url.
According to Rush, these NPD fellows are all “leftists.”
dont people ever learn from history that happened not too long ago.