National nightmare time, German edition

[selenak]

You may or may not be aware we had elections in Germany yesterday. The results weren't very surprising (if you've been following news and polls), but nonetheless shocking, because Nazis in German parliament for the first time in over 70 years should be. (Let me qualify the technicalities: of course we had original flavour Nazis in the very first post war parliament, it being 1949. We even had a rather prominent one, the original commentator of the Nuremberg "race laws", in Adenauer's cabinet. And there were right wing extremist parties since then who didn't pretend very hard to be anything else. But none of them reached 13%, which the right wing extremists du jour, the AFD, just did.) In practical terms: this means 80-something MPs drilled in verbal abuse and little else entering parliament as of next year. At least they won't be the official opposition, since the SPD, which had its historic worst result in the entire post war history with 20 something %, ended the governing Big Coalition last night. (This is actually a good thing and was direly necessary to save the party, imo. It governed in coalition with Merkel's conservatives for two out of three terms Angela Merkel has been chancellor, and while this wasn't the only reason for its steady loss of votes, it was a big one.) How the "Jamaica" coalition (so called because of the colors associated with the parties in question - black for the CDU/CSU, the conversative union, yellow for the FDP, the business-oriented liberal party, which will return to parliament after having been voted out four years ago, and green for the Greens, obviously) will work out is anyone's guess, but it's the best of currently available alternatives. And since the AFD does have a lot of inner fighting between its heads going on and hasn't yet managed to actually do something constructive in any of the provincial parliaments they were already in, they might destroy themselves over the next four years, as the 80s flavor of right wing extremists did (they were called Republicans, I kid you not). None of that changes me feeling thoroughly disgusted this morning at 13% of our electorate, and angry with a lot of other people as well.

Here are two articles from two of our leading papers translated into English which analyze the election and its results:

Tears won't change a thing (from the Süddeutsche, in which Heribert Prantl says that we're the recovering alcoholic of nations, which is why it's differently serious when part of our electorate falls off the wagon to get drunk on demagogery, racism and authoritarianism again)

The Panic Orchestra, which also analyses the role the media played (because just as with Trump, the bloody AFD seemed to be on tv all the time)

On the bright(er) side of things, there were spontanous anti AFD marches on the street in Berlin and Cologne last night, and they were soundly defeated as also rans in Munich. (Which is a relief on a personal level, since I live there, and also because of history.)

Speaking of Munich, to conclude on a distracting and cheerier note, the Süddeutsche also hosts an US journalist who last week penned this column:

11 things Americans get wrong about the Oktoberfest

Comments

[falena]

Thank you so much for your commentary and the links to those articles.

I haven't been paying enough attention to German politics but as a European I should have.

As an Italian I can only sympathise with your disgust at your fellow citizens for their vote. God knows I've been feeling that way for most of my life as a voter. *hugs*

[selenak]

*hugs back* It's a rotten feeling. But makes it all the more important not to give in to lethargy.

[ex_peasant441]

It is interesting how quickly the AFD seems to have transformed into a fairly standard anti-immigrant fascist party. When I first heard of them a few years ago - I can't remember exactly when but it was around when the Greek crisis was at its height, maybe 2010, 2011 - they were being described by our UK Eurosceptic right as being just a very mild Eurosceptic party made up of a few German intellectuals who were starting to question the wisdom of the Euro. At that time our own Eurosceptics considered them a promising sign compared to the more fully fledged Euroscepticism in other countries, but not really the full thing.

If they have now gone as fascist as all that, it seems unlikely they will retain the support of mainstream and intellectual Eurosceptics.

[selenak]

Oh, they started out as anti-Euro before hitting on immigration and refugees as a subject, but intellectuals, they never were. (To be fair: the original founder of the party has since left/been expelled.) And not only have they fully embraced the right wing fundamentalism a la UKIP, Front National etc, but they really use taboo (because those terms were explicitly created and used by the Nazis) vocabulary like "völkisch", "Umvolkung", and do the Trump thing of outrageous statement, news cycle, denial by other members of party that It Wasn't Meant Like That, and the liberal media is demonizing them, etc. Oh, and one of their new MPs now entering the national Parliament has already been sued because of Holocaust denial.

[ex_peasant441]

All parties are vulnerable to being taken over by extremists if they aren't careful. Sadly few of them do seem to be careful these days.

[lilacsigil]

Revolting news. "The recovering alcoholic of nations" is a great metaphor - we all expect Germany to be mature and thoughtful these days but then there Germany is, drinking from the racist trough like the rest of us. Much sympathy to you and the 87% of Germany who didn't vote for them.

[selenak]

Thank you. It's up to us now to ensure they sink back into obscurity - and above all, that they don't get to use their bully tactics (threatening people, both immigrants and those who disagree with them, harrass and abuse etc.) on a national level.

[ratcreature]

I haven't been surprised by the average national results, or even that the AfD got more in the East, but that they were in first place in Sachsen, and even won three direct seats did kind of shock me.

[selenak]

Speaking of Sachsen, no sooner had I posted this than I saw Petry has declared she won't be a Fraktionsmember (she's got one of the three Direktmandate) because of Gauland. That's... may the infighting continue? Doesn't change Saxony being AFD country, of course.

[yvi]

She sounded almost embarrassed in the interview I watched yesterday. I don't like her at all, but almost felt sorry for her. I'm guessing she might join the CDU in the future, or just leave the party completely.

[selenak]

I know a former teacher of hers, a writer, who, two years go, said in an interview that he's ashamed of her and consequently was harrassed by her supporters online in a vicious way, without her doing a thing about it, so my sympathy is limited. Though I expect you're right re: her future.

[ratcreature]

I expect their infighting to get worse on all levels not even ideologically but because the sudden influx of spoils to be had from being successful on the national level (money, jobs, staff, perks etc.), that new parties don't have the established structures to distribute. Unfortunately IMO the infighting won't hurt them much because they don't even want to govern, and even their supporters don't expect them to govern or to offer solutions. They just need to deliver some sort of performance that puts pressure on "the establishment".

[selenak]

Alas, I suspect you're right. It's all about the rage performance for their supporters, and that feeds on itself.

[chelseagirl]

The world is a scary place right now.

I once went to Bear Mountain while the Oktoberfest there was happening -- we were there for a different function in a different part of the park. But . . . wow. So many people with very big mugs.

[anotherslashfan]

We're in the process of moving to Sachsen and I'm not sure whether to be scared or whether to see this as a chance to uphold different values in this traditionally "brown" part of Germany. It's just a weird thing to move to a place and wonder - did the person across you vote AfD? Just by chance, I found out that my dentist ran for the AfD and I feel sick to my stomach that I contributed to this man's livelihood when two of my great-grandparents were acknowledged victims of National Socialism.

[selenak]

We can't give up on entire regions. Two years go, in 2015, there was this story making the rounds of a couple who organized a music festival to help the refugees, and they were terrorized in their village, yet they persisted. To be honest, I wouldn't have the courage, but I admire people who do.

[oracne]

Urgh, I am so sorry. (American here.)

[selenak]

Everyone's toxic nightmares entering the institutions of government, ugh. It's our job now to get them out of there again, of course, and at least they don't run the government over here, but still, the thought of Nazis in the Bundestag makes me sick.

[labingi]

Thank you for sharing this! I agree it's our job to get/keep these people out of office, but I am trying to remind myself that they are symptoms of a disease, and it's the disease that we need to address. Fundamentally, this disease seems to me to be extractivist global capitalism and its connected issues of lingering/neo-colonialism and environmental degradation/climate change, resulting in war, poverty, displacement of peoples, etc. Globally, we need to get much smarter much faster in both envisioning alternatives to this system, marketing them in ways that will capture the masses, and simply making them happen on a local level with or without government support.

[havocthecat]

I am very interested in the reality of Oktoberfest instead of the Americanization. Thank you!

[selenak]

There's a longer version of her article here. I myself am not a Oktoberfest visitor, but my cousin met his wife there and many of my friends go each year. I do have two dirndls, though. ;)

[monanotlisa]

Thanks for this sober, smart commentary. I was just too depressed last night.

[selenak]

I feel you, as they constantly say on The Wire.

[kore]

Timid centrist politicians allowed right-wing doomsayers to hijack this election campaign. No one spoke for cosmopolitan Germans

Wow, that sounds depressingly familiar.

[selenak]

I know, and it's maddening - our politicians and media had a model of what not to do within recent years, and they still made the same mistakes!