German Election

[Morrigu]

I couldn't find a thread for this??

Election gives Germany's far right what it has sought: national legitimacy

Berlin: In a country that kept the far-right restricted to the political sidelines for more than half a century, the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) marked a watershed moment on Sunday, according to first projections which showed the party winning more than 13 per cent of the vote.

The AfD won't be in a position to drive a legislative agenda, but Sunday's vote will likely provide it with something the far-right had so far always been denied: parliamentary legitimacy on a national level.

With seats in the Bundestag, the AfD will now be eligible to receive more taxpayer funding. As the only anti-immigration party in a mostly consensus-based national parliament, the AfD can also hope to further sharpen its profile as an alternative to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/election-gives-germanys-far-right-what-it-has-sought-national-legitimacy-20170924-gynwrw.html

[stui magpie]

It's swings and roundabouts. When whoever in government, left or right, goes too far (as perceived by the electorate) there is a backlash.

A lot of Europe is drifting right at different speeds, or so it seems, with refugees being a key trigger.

[David]

Germany is an interesting contrast to Australia in terms of immigration policy � whereas our two major parties are nearly indistinguishable in their radical cruelty towards refugees, Germany's right-wing Christian Democrats, led by Angela Merkel, have all but outflanked their centre-left Social Democrats (who are themselves well to the left of our Labor Party) on the left on asylum policy (if that's where we put belief in global responsibility and concern for human rights nowadays). Of course such a convergence is going to result in an isolationist/anti-immigration backlash, particularly in the current global climate.

What's interesting is that the AfD are still only achieving a little more than peak One Nation-level voting numbers; far below the success of, say, the Front National in France last election, Donald Trump in the US or our own Liberals. And this in a country that the international far-right paints as ground zero of the Muslim/refugee/non-white 'invasion'. I guess success is relative.

[Morrigu]

Going well so far......... The German Clive Palmer Party or One Nation even

Frauke Petry became the center of the story just a matter of hours after the AfD's historic success in the German election. The party's co-chair had won her seat in her Saxony constituency as the party became the third-largest in the German parliament, the Bundestag.

At the party press conference the following morning in Berlin, Petry made a shock announcement and stormed out.

"After long consideration, I won't be joining the AfD's parliamentary party." Moments later, Frauke Petry left the AfD's post-election press conference.
Her colleagues were stunned.

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/germanys-far-right-party-leader-quits/8990742

[David]

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting. Really recommend people listen to the audio report in that link; it sheds a lot of light on what forces comprise the AfD and where their future lies.

[stui magpie]

[David]

It's a semantic argument, but I acknowledge that they are not radically cruel to all refugees (and it was not my intention to argue that this is so) � just some of them. The important point is that our less right-wing major party is far to the right of Germany's more right-wing major party on asylum policy.

[Mountains Magpie]

Well that didn't take long.

First time we hear Germany and Nationalism in the same sentence for 70 odd years and Europe starts to go into meltdown:

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-france-eu-macron/after-german-election-frances-macron-paints-sweeping-vision-for-europe-idUKKCN1C11I5

[Pies4shaw]

Well, Europe does have a few million reasons to be concerned.

[Wokko]

[Mugwump]

^ You're a bad man, Wokko. Good, but bad.

On topic, this is yet another essay on the theme that weak policies and misgovernment eventually give birth to dark forces. At the moment, Germany can contain these because it has an undervalued currency for its economy (immiserating its neighbours in the process), and inflation is being tamed by cheap labour abroad. So people feel richer year-on-year. Such mercantilism, however, will end in tears in the long run. If the Eurozone implodes under the weight of its contradictions, this could get very nasty indeed. I quite like Merkel, who has many qualities I admire even if I doubt her policy agenda - but her immigration gesture was a terrible folly.