Confronting Germany's New Fascists in Berlin

http://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/30/confronting-germanys-new-fascists-in-berlin/
Date Written:  2018-05-30
Publisher:  CounterPunch
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX22614

A look at the rise of facism in Germany with the recent winning of seats, now with 92 representatives in the national Bundestag, by the five-year-old Alternative for Germany (AfD). This new found platform provides the party with a voice in every debate and the first speakers after those of the government.

Abstract: 
--

Excerpt:

Much of the media, even government-run TV channels, has been overfriendly in giving them air-time. Their positions fluctuate; they may oppose sanctions on Russia but then demand a bigger, aggressive army, once again with a draft. They express deep sympathy for the millions hit by rising rent costs, but are against all cuts in the take-home millions of the super-wealthy. Some leaders praise the brave soldiers in Hitler's Wehrmacht and denounce the Holocaust Memorial as a shameful blot on Germany's fine reputation, but then loudly oppose anti-Semitism while praising Netanyahu's leadership for making Israel "a model in dealing with illegal Muslim migration." Aside from anti-feminism their one consistent appeal, aimed at worried and disturbed German voters, is pure, unadulterated hatred of "non-Germans", especially refugees from war-torn regions in the Near East. "We are the many who love Germany. The rule of Islam in Germany is nothing but the rule of evil!"