Posted on 08/27/2009 6:23:47 PM PDT by Fred Nerks
With the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party hoping to make inroads in three state elections this Sunday, a former member of Germany's far-right scene suggests how mainstream political parties should be confronting the extremists.
The final stages of the campaigns in Saxony, Thuringia and Saarland have exposed the NPD's unvarnished xenophobia in recent weeks. The neo-Nazi party hopes to gain seats in all three state legislatures after winning an unprecedented 10 percent of the vote in the last Saxon poll four years ago. Emboldened by that success, the NPD has pulled few punches this time around, including mounting a racist campaign against a black member of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) in Thuringia and hanging anti-Polish posters in Saxon border town of Görlitz.
Peter Leveringhaus from the DDP news agency spoke to Christian G., a former German neo-Nazi, to discuss what mainstream political parties can do to contain the spectre of an ascendant far-right. The 30-year old man left the scene behind with the help of the organisation "Exit Deutschland" after several years of involvement with extremism.
Leveringhaus: Are the attacks against the Angolan-born CDU politician Zeca Schall in Thuringia, calling him an “Token Nigger” and telling him to “go home,” really exceptional, or do these fit the pattern of right-wing extremism during election time?
Christian G.: This is exactly the kind of brutal jargon that the NPD often uses these days, especially after the break up its "Germany Pact" with the slightly more moderate German People’s Union (DVU). Radicalising is calculated to lure frustrated, politically irritated and lowbrow voters.
After this particular incident, there was an NPD election tour of parts of Thuringia in which an NPD activist was coloured with blackface makeup, wore a curly-haired wig, carried a banana plant while wearing a slogan around his neck reading “emigrate, don’t immigrate” (Heimreise statt Einreise”). This is a coldly calculated escalation.
Leveringhaus: What should the mainstream parties do to tackle right-wing extremism?
Christian G.: It isn’t about what they should do, but rather that they should do something!
Leveringhaus: Are they not doing anything at the moment?
Christian G.: The mainstream parties have no presence in eastern German states outside of election time. It has been this way since the reunification of the country. When there is an incident involving right-wing extremists, there is great public outcry for two weeks across the country – the same old politicians pipe up about it. But then everything is quickly forgotten.
Leveringhaus: Unfortunately, this is a well-known ritual...
Christian G.: But the main parties don’t seem to understand that the NPD is always present in the east, including once the public outrage in such cases has calmed down. The far-right bases everything around idealism, sacrificing their time and money for the party: they organise holiday activities, football tournaments, stuff radical right-wing newspapers in people’s letter boxes, especially in areas where people can’t, or don’t want to, afford a normal daily newspaper.
In Anklam for example, a stronghold for the far-right (in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), only around 20 percent of the population subscribe to newspapers. The far-right distributes CDs, they carry heavy bags for old people – and all of this for free. And we still wonder how the NPD gains support in these areas...It makes an impression on people. If the other parties, the democratic parties, really feel that they cannot play to this idealism, and if they can’t afford the grass-roots activity of the NPD, then they might as well forget democracy altogether.
Leveringhaus: But people do realise, for example, what is really being said in free neo-Nazi newspapers.
Christian G.: No. There in the east the NPD cadre, most of whom come from the west, make sure that the language in such brochures sounds very different from what we might expect.
Leveringhaus: How so?
Christian G.: Ideas like “socialism,” “social,” “collective,” or “community” are always popping up in these publications. These are all words which the older generation recognise from the time of communist East Germany. It suggests familiarity in the language – especially for those who dismiss or criticise the reunified Federal Republic of Germany today.
Leveringhaus: How does the NPD influence younger people outside of election time?
Christian G.: They act in ways which make them unrecognisable as neo-Nazis, neither in appearance, nor in language. They are inconspicuously clothed, don’t have the typical hair cut, and want to come across as nice and kind. They talk about globalisation, social injustice, protecting the environment . There were even right-wing extremists at the demonstrations held during the G8-summit in Heiligendamm.
Leveringhaus: And when they keep digging and ask about the Nazi era?
Christian G.: Then they go quiet, and refuse to comment. But there is no agitation. Their contact with the public is protected by that. None of them can get angry. They want to be in the middle of society.
Leveringhaus: A study by the website jugendschutz.net recently revealed the great importance of the internet as a propaganda platform for the far-right. Is the use of the internet, in your opinion, a problem?
Christian G.: It is the most important, and biggest mouthpiece, for the far-right. On social websites like StudiVZ and MySpace they are active in a lowkey fashion, luring the clueless. Moreover, the internet is the perfect arena for contact between right-wing extremists. Here important arrangements can be made, and actions coordinated – all under the protection of anonymity.
DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
...a former member of Germany's far-right scene suggests...
When I read that I thought, "New England states are holding elections this Sunday?"
No, I think they are middle class germans, like your ‘bitter clingers’.
scary....my tinfoil is getting tighter by the minute
Me Too.
That's a pretty accurate description of the original Nazi's. What you probably mean is they don't come across a skinheads - which is only to be expected, I don't think skinheads are in general the type of people with the organizational skills capable of running even a small third party.
So you don’t believe there’s room for any kind of conservatism in Germany?
Is that your position?
The original nazis certainly didn’t goose step their way to power. They came with ads showing smiling perfect children planting trees and excelling academically and physically. Hitler spoke of the great social changes he would bring and how all Germans would be cared for.
from the article:
A study by the website jugendschutz.net recently revealed the great importance of the internet as a propaganda platform for the far-right. Is the use of the internet, in your opinion, a problem?
Now replace jugendschutz.net with Freerepublic and see what it’s all about!
I don’t think we disagree. You’re just pointing to a portrayal of the right in german newspapers aren’t you?
Correct.
I’m surprised everyone didn’t see it right away. This is exactly what the left is doing to YOU in the US.
The dude was born in INdonesia. This paper says so. I am shocked that it took so long for someone to find it. Can’t remember the posters name..the thread was pulled that had this
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jan/08/ln/FP601080334.html
I only have a tiny fraction of German in my ancestry, thank you very much.
sure you got the right thread?
Aye, that's typical for all collectivists. They never come along promising to abridge your individuality and squash your freedoms - no matter how accurate such promises would be - instead they promise to deliver a wonderful utopia, provided you first place all power in their benevolent hands.
Propaganda is a leftist tool, always has been. I'd also like to point out that NAZI, or National Socialist Party is Leftist, not Right Wing Conservative by any definition.
Painting conservatives as extremists and Nazi's is Alinsky’s playbook.
And that's exactly what this article is attempting. I'm surprised it wasn't immediately evident...thought Freepers were quicker on the uptake...
I’m confused. While this article keeps mentioning the “far right,” it keeps talking about radical leftists. Where it mentioned specific core beliefs, they were all socialist beliefs.
Where in the article did it actually talk about anyone on the far right?
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