Germany megathread

[Yeahsayyeah]

Without being able to use proper English terminology German courts in the last years have expanded on murder verdicts on grounds of "conditional intent" (see: killing people during illegal car races on streets). This seems broadly applicable here.

[Yeahsayyeah]

There is also the "particular severity of guilt" clause, which would prevent early discharge. It could be applicable here.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Very much looks like the entire antisemitism accusation against a hotel in Berlin that caused international outrage was made up by Gil Ofarim. Investigators found his claims not believeable after several interviews and even replaying the scene. The guy is now charged for the false claim.

https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1509580784155385862

Small correction, it was a hotel in Leipzig, which fed the "Saxony is the worst state in Germany and is comprised entirely of Nazis" narrative we all love so much.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Well, for me - and also in the usual framework abortion is debated in Germany - it is neither and most Germans seem to agree to the general framework while at least parts of the left and liberals defend and want to expand the access to abortions, the CDU/CSU is generally ok with the status quo, but clearly doesn't mind making access to abortion as hard as possible in practice, too, the mainline churches are gruntling around and Christian right vocal activist "Lebensschützer" exist and are nuisance, but are marginalized as a political group.

It's improtant to know that "Werbung" in terms of German jurisprudence language means much more than "advertisement" and can basically include any form of information. And I don't think, anybody shouldn't be allowed to give out information about a medical procedure, they are allowed to do completely legally when and if certain circumstances are met.

If it wasn't for those types of suing the hell out of doctors who are open about doing abortions § 219a would probably still stand.

[Yeahsayyeah]

On a side-note, the legal framework around abortions is an instance of the German constitutional court legislating from the bench in 1994 or so against an abortion law that would have been quite similar to what the USA had until yesterday.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Schirdewan senior was obviously one of the better ones of the bunch.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Some seem to believe, that Wagenknecht and her allies are planning to split the party, anyway, and are only waiting for the right moment, but who knows, at this point.

For, what it's worth the Linke direct-district-winner in Leipzig II, Sören Pellmann, seems to be quite sympathetic to Wagenknecht and used her on campaign posters in 2021. He is one of the main inititators of the "energy price protests" in Leipzig, that made some headlines, especially for the fear of far-right-infiltration and the use of the "Monday demonstration" symbolism.

[Yeahsayyeah]

https://twitter.com/TheresaAFallon/status/1630129964388343808?s=20

That can be mostly blamed on the Bush and Trump administrations that have eroded much trust into the concept that was held dear at least in the center-right and center in West Germany, that the goals of US and German foreign policy mostly align.

[Yeahsayyeah]

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The numbers you posted are from 2019 aka Trump and the 40 per cent given for Germany don't seem that much of an outlier, if you consider, that UK was also at 40 per cent.

The 46 per cent poll seem like an outlier, as the numbers have been usually better than that under Biden. On the other hand, I don't consider the US as a reliable ally, too, as all the crazies are not very far away from power and even when the Democrats are in charge, that doesn't mean, that they don't pursue, what they think is in the interest of the US, at first and out of a position of strength, although they are surely more willing to work in a framework of multilateralism.

[Yeahsayyeah]

The numbers you posted are from 2019 aka Trump and the 40 per cent given for Germany don't seem that much of an outlier, if you consider, that UK was also at 40 per cent.

Think you have misread the poll there.....

I really did. My bad.

[Yeahsayyeah]

How is lowering the voting age "anti-democratic"? (And I don't get the reasoning for "gender parity in parliament is anti-democratic", too...)

[Yeahsayyeah]

Whose bread I eat whose song I sing

[Yeahsayyeah]

Of course, if there was really a political desire for a "state of Bonn", there would probably be a new article in the constitution defining special rules (as was done with the planned Berlin/Brandenburg fusion).

I don't know if it was addressed in the video (it wasn't mentioned in the poll), but fake news and bribery played a part in making Bonn seat of government instead of Frankfurt.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Groß-Berlin was carved out of the province of Brandenburg in 1920. So it makes sense, that a dissolution of Prussia and an earlier reunification would have led to a Land or Free City of Berlin, too, as it would almost always have been more populous than the rest of Brandenburg.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Of, course there was no need for a "State of Bonn" as Europeans don't have this weird "The capital must not be in a state or at least in its own state" fixation of colonial settler nations.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Well, CDU/CSU moved considerably to the right since the Grand Coalition is over and look who has benefited the most from that...

[Yeahsayyeah]

There seem to be two different BSW lines of communication that aren't fully compatible. The Wagenknecht statement and website line of alleged "common sense" economic moderatism. And another line via back-channels, allies and the declaration of the 9 Bundestag members that left the party into the rest of the Left Party, that is emphasizing some kind of "going back to the roots of the Left Party" as the party of "social justice" (in the German sense of the word which means economical equality, helping the poor and stuff) and "peace" (we know what that means in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war) "without the woke stuff of the activist urban mileu" the Left Party leaders have allegedly been chasing after in the last decade.

This whole party split is more about the personal disputes inside the Left Party and vibes that came with that. Accordingly the known members of BSW are all close allies of Wagenkecht, but there are clearly differences in their political views and I don't see all of them really agreeing with line 1, but we won't know for some time. On the other hand one could describe the political outlook of many WASG figures as some kind of "left-wing conservatism" as their common goal was to restore the welfare state as it was before the labour market (Hartz) and pension reforms. And PDS clearly had elements of conservatism, too, especially in their electorate. I think, that is, what Wagenknecht and her allies are betting on.

Additionally, we won't know, how much influence on the Left Party membership this will have, until the party will be formed in reality. "Normal members" probably don't have any incentive to switch as of now as it seems, the association isn't admitting members (at least, they stated, it is not their goal as of know) and is mostly asking for money. It's even not clear, BSW will be included much into the polls until then. I think, they are wasting momentum by waiting, but they have reasons (campaign and party finance laws, preparation to get the organization started to avoid the fate of "Aufstehen", maybe vetting candidates and members).

[Yeahsayyeah]

This would include people that are persecuted for being "not islamic enough". People are either dumb or vile. News at eleven.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Well, resuming or substituting a banned Party ist a felony, so in theory that should be hard.

[Yeahsayyeah]

Well, resuming or substituting a banned Party ist a felony, so in theory that should bei hard.

did you use German words on purpose?

It's a typo. Being a German whose mother tongue is German German words do usually make sense if I use them. ;-)

[Yeahsayyeah]

Seriously shouldn't the real aim be "the AfD can continue, but get rid of your actual Nazis"?

The allegation that there are "moderates" in the AfD has been shaky for a long time. It's a bit like "moderate" US Republicans where the right wing of yesterday are the "moderates" of today (see, for instance, the career of Frauke Petry).

Even the so called "moderates" are die-hard reactionaries that want to severely alter the fabric of our society to be much more discriminating and exclusive, authoritarian and so on in a way that does clash with the values of our constitution. In my opinion AfD is in essence a fascist party without the aesthetics.

Also, there is clearly a continuum from mainstream conservatism to the völkisch right. So, where to draw the line?

It's probably to late to ban the AfD, actually, as it is too entrenched as of today, but the main goal would be to destroy far-right networks that are undermining democracy in this state, to drain them of their financial means and to delegitimize the right wing talking points that get normalized and amplified by them.

[Yeahsayyeah]

In a strange story arc the initiator of the far right "secret meeting" and neo nazi activist since the late seventies, Gernot Mörig, has had contact to Sahra Wagenknecht for years that was initiated by Max Otte, former chair of the far right CDU splinter group Werteunion (Values Union).

She denies having noticed anything right wing about him. Wouldn't you probably want to check contacts initiated by someone the moment he falls rightward out of the overton window?

[Yeahsayyeah]

AfD is fuming, lamenting a "left-green media campaign" against their party.

As always, when people are protesting against them it's illegitimate protest, and when people are rallying for their policies it's a legitimate protest.

Today, I heard some people mock this with the chant "Ich hab' einen Antifa-Tarifvertrag!" - I have a wage agreement with the Antifa. ;-)

[Yeahsayyeah]

A recording from December has Björn Höcke (AfD) saying that he wants to deport 20%-30% of the German population, arguing the country could easily handle it provided that ethnic German women would increase their birthrates in the aftermath.

So he has basically outed himself as an actual Nazi. Good.

Has this ever been in doubt?

[Yeahsayyeah]

In other Fascism news:

* The German domestic intelligence service aka Verfassungsschutz - which would translate to something like Federal Agency for defense of the constitution - is observing its former president, Hans Georg Maaßen, for right-wing extremism.

* The vice chair of the AfD's Arbitration Tribunal, Roland Ulbrich, known as someone for whom Björn Höcke is too left wing, has left the Tribunal and the AfD caucus in the state parliament of Saxony and is probably on his way out of the party. It seems that using the Nuremberg race laws as a basis for arguments in an intraparty judicial dispute goes one step too far even for them, at least officially - at least at the moment, as they are under greater scrutiny for their mass deportation plans.