The Far-Right Threat to Germany's Democracy

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,815242,00.html

Holger Apfel meets with SPIEGEL in his office in the eastern German city of Dresden, with a view of the Semper Opera House. For this meeting, where he will discuss his right-wing extremist views, he is wearing a gray, midrange suit by Mishumo and socks by Tommy Hilfiger. He appears to have a comfortable body mass index in the region of 30, and his stomach is pressing against the buttons of his blue business shirt. He is soft-spoken and has a slight lisp.

Apfel, who has been the new chairman of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) since November, says that his party finally wants to appeal to ordinary citizens, and to address their concerns, fears and hardships. The NPD, he says, is a party that comes from the center of the population and is for the center of the population.

But in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a very different face of the party is on display -- one that reveals Apfel's rhetoric for the charade it is.

The NPD's office there is on an arterial road in the town of Grevesmühlen. The local branch of the party has its headquarters on a commercial strip occupied by the likes of the local construction yard, a carpet store and a Mercedes dealership. The black, white and red flag of the German Reich flying above the property identifies the NPD office, which is surrounded by a 2-meter (6.5 feet) fence topped with barbed wire. Behind the fence is a watchtower, complete with floodlights, next to a building with bars on the windows.

[DetlefK]

1. They will never attract enough mainstream-voters to become relevant, because

they simply can't cut off the Neo-Nazi thugs. They are part of their base, part of their political grassroots.

The NPD would have to tone down their anti-democratic and racist talking-points to attract new voters, but they can't because they would loose their old voters in the process.

I once read a story about Neo-Nazis beating up one of their own.
Why?
They were bored.
This is the kind of grassroots I'm talking about.

[mgc1961]

2. Recommend.

[3waygeek]

3. The sad part is that the German far right...

is, in some ways, to the left of the Rethugs.

[xchrom]

4. That's common w/ all euro nationalism.

But there are are also disturbing parallels.

[Redstate Bluegirl]

5. Banning=Victimhood

Let them talk their way to the ash heap of history.