Germany's long history of banning political opponents gets a new chapter.
Germany's ruling coalition government is moving to outlaw its political opponents as they fear losing to them at the next election. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party surged to 21 per cent in the polls, prompting the political elite to designate them a 'Far-Right' Party infiltrated my extremists spreading 'hate'.
German intelligence officials have reported that members of the political party were becoming "increasingly extreme" although they have not published any details of the claim according to sources. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president, suggested in a speech to the country’s domestic intelligence agencies that “we all have it in our hands to put those who despise our democracy in their place”.
His speech at the castle where the German post-war constitution was created has widely been seen as a declaration of intent to ban AfD completely. The fact that German intelligence officers have been monitoring political opponents sends shivers down the spines of some, but fails to have been mentioned by the mainstream media.
Banning political opponents is a technique increasingly used by Left-Wing governments across the world. Both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have banned political opponents. Zelenskyy not only banned his political opponents after a silent coup, but imprisoned them.
Both Trudeau and Zelenskyy vilified their opponents before having them outlawed, claiming they were 'terrorists' and 'far-right' when they were neither. In the case of Zelenskyy, they were the previous, democratically elected cabinet, whilst Trudeau claimed the Freedom Convoy protestors were, 'racist', 'homophobic', 'far-right terrorists'.
Thomas Haldenwang, the German domestic spy chief, has done exactly that; vilifying the populist party as having Right-wing extremist influence in the party. Straight out of the playbook it would appear. Haldenwang said: “We see a considerable number of protagonists in this party that spread hate against all types of minorities here in Germany.”
AfD have repeatedly questioned mass immigration and the devastating effect it has had on German society. They have also questioned the European Union and hinted that they would take Germany out of the EU altogether given the chance. Originally they were claimed to be a 'small fringe party' but a recent poll saw them surge forward, becoming a real threat to the government and said to be what prompted the action.
The German Institute for Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation, have been helping the state move against the left's political opponents, declaring last week that “the AfD have reached a degree of dangerousness that they can be banned according to the constitution”.
Again, there were no details, only hyperbole and propaganda. Passing-off this clear attack as 'analysis' they claimed that the party 'is actively and methodically trying “to implement its racist and Right-wing extremist goals” and “shifting the limits of what can be said so that people can get used to their ethno-nationalist positions”.
Germany has a troubled history of parties being banned, with Otto von Bismarck, the country’s first chancellor, banning the Social Democrats for disloyalty to the Kaiser.
When the Nazis came to power, they banned all other parties. The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) also banned other parties not affiliated with the ruling Socialist Unity Party.
The post-war German constitution, keen to avoid this authoritarian excess, made a party ban legally difficult. Yet in this new climate of globalist elites controlling nation states by proxy any challenge domestically is likely to crushed.
However, Volker Boehme-Nessler, a political scientist, said he does not believe the party meets the high legal hurdles for a ban. He warned that a failed attempt would only give the AfD an additional boost in the election campaign, he told eastern German broadcaster MDR.
“You can’t simply ban a party that gets 20-30 per cent approval” he added. But that appears to be exactly what they are doing.