Posted on 09/14/2006 7:38:02 PM PDT by blam
Germany's far-Right set for poll gains
By Kate Connolly in Berlin
(Filed: 15/09/2006)
Germany's far-Right is set to increase its power base in state elections this weekend, securing a historic foothold in a regional parliament for the third time in two years.
The leading candidates for the National Democratic Party (NPD), Germany's oldest neo-Nazi party, have swapped their skinheads and combat boots for smart suits and gelled hair, in their attempt to attract a wider vote by shedding their thug-like image.
A supporter of Germany's far-Right NPD holds a flag in Berlin
Some of their campaign slogans, such as "working for the people" and "a future instead of the unemployment office", could belong to any mainstream party. But at their rallies, after condemning globalisation and Turkish accession to the European Union, they openly state their more extreme ideas: that the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, or that Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert should be tried for war crimes in The Hague.
In the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which votes along with Berlin on Sunday, the NPD is expected to gain between seven and 10 per cent of the vote, overcoming the necessary five per cent hurdle to enter local parliament for the first time. (The party is also represented in the eastern state of Saxony, while the far-Right DVU is represented in Brandenburg.)
Its standing has largely been boosted by voter apathy: less than 40 per cent are expected to vote. "We must do everything we can to prevent this," said Till Backhaus, the leader of the Social Democrats in Mecklenburg. "The damage would be enormous."
According to political analysts, the success of the NPD is in part due to its belief in the division of labour: behind the smart suits of the NPD are groups of lowlier neo-Nazi activists, the less socially-acceptable face of the far-Right.
According to widespread reports from the police and mainstream parties, they have attacked other activists putting up posters or trying to take down NPD posters, and stormed their political opponents' rallies, making verbal and physical threats.
Last week police were called to an election rally of young Social Democrats in Berlin, after a group of 30 black-clad NPD supporters burst into the room, yelling: "Israel is worse than the Third Reich," and "the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust."
Why the NPD has made such gains in Mecklenburg has much to do with the disgruntlement of its voters.
Unemployment in the former Communist East German state is high and the party has found it to be fertile ground, tuning into the discontentment by promising jobs and revival in a region whose residents largely see themselves as the losers of German reunification.
These far right people, sound a lot like the far left in the US.
The Left loves equating fascists with "the far right." They're not, of course -- they're authoritarians, just like their cousins the communists.
Yea, and those two incarnations of Fascism don't coexist very well. Actually the neo-Nazis don't even consider Islamists (Arabs) human. Dang that ought to make for great watching.
I just hate to see Europe go down the whole fascist thing again. But at least they're resisting the Islamic invasion.
Actually, the more concise example of political orientation is something called the 'political compass'. Google it up for reference - I found it a great descriptor of political values.
It basically states that there isn't a simple left/right spectrum, but a two dimensional 'chart', which, on the X axis, has 'Planned Economy' on the *left*, and 'Free Market' on the right. On the Y axis, it has 'liberalism' on the bottom, and 'authoritarianism' on the top. Fascism, as practiced under the German Nazi party, was off the chart on authoritarianism, but it was actually only slightly left of center on the economic front.
For example, Gandhi, was a raving socialist/communist on the economics, but without the authoritarianism, hence being very much unlike other communists during cold war.
Most western leaders are in the top right quadrant, mild authoritarians, with free market tendencies. Most of the differences on the whole left vs right are on the economic spectrum.
I'd dare say most of us on the free republic are in the bottom right quadrant - free markets, and slightly on the 'liberal' (like libertarian) side.
If Comparative Economic Systems was your best subject, I'm wondering what your worst one was. Fascism (and therefore Nazism) are far right. Fascism and communism have substantial diferences on the relationship between private property, capital and labor. They have substantial differences on human nature, and the view of human nature is the foundation of all ideology. Authoritarianism exists on the far left in the form of Soviet style communism and on the far right as fascism.
btt
Where did the term Nazi come from? It was a shortening of the first part of the Party's official name. And what that full name? The NSDAP or Nationale Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei (in English, the National Socialist German Workers Party).
The communists have done a wonderful propaganda job over the years to convince everyone that the Nazis were to the right of the capitalists and not their near neighbors on the political spectrum.
You are way off and arguing with every political scientist who has ever defined fascism. Fascism was anti communism and anti liberalism. It was and is right wing. It protects corporate power while suppressing labor. The Third Reich has bankrolled by German corporations, the wealthy, and American firms such as Ford. Hitler protected corporate power and wealth. In contrast, communism smashes corporate power. The Nazis used the term National Socialism to make fascism sell better to the masses, but there was nothing socialist about it.
Here are the main defining characteristics of fascism:
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
From Liberty Forum
Fascists do not have state control of business, unless they are at war. Franco's Spain (which existed for most of the postwar era) certainly did not exercise state control of business. The Third Reich before the beginning of World War II certainly did not exercise state control of business. What socialism (in the Soviet sense) and fascism share in common is authoritarianism; beyond that they are completely different - fascism lies at the far right of the political and ideological spectrum.
You have a very narrow economic view of fascism - a political ideology is more than beliefs about the relationship between the state and capital. Political ideology also has views of human nature, the state, the relationship of the individual to the state,society, history, religion, and culture. Fascism's view of these things is completely different from the left's.
Name one credible political scientist who has shown that fascism is left wing. You won't be able to find one.
Your last paragraph embraces a simplistic conspiracy theory which isn't worthy of response. The Western communists and socialist before World War II were the strongest opponents of fascism; you really don't know what you're talking about.
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