Democracy isn’t weakened by the AFD. It’s the conservative parties like the CDU/CSU and the FDP that have switched to populism and disinformation to stay somewhat relevant in the age of climate change. Both parties were scared of the popularity of the SPD and especially the Greens in the last election. In the end, they’re only helping to raise the popularity of the AFD, as they support more and more of their talking points. Without them, the AFD would have stayed on its downward trajectory into irrelevance.
PS: Many CDU/CSU politicians see the Greens as their number one political rival and source of all problems, not the AFD.
It’s the conservative parties like the CDU/CSU and the FDP that have switched to populism and disinformation to stay somewhat relevant in the age of climate change.
They haven’t “switched” they were always that way. When in the 90s “Die Republikaner” and the “DVU” came up (like AfD but not as successful), they were riding on a wave of racism and anti-immigration speak the CDU/CSU started. It was them who invented words like “Schein-Asylanten” (Sham Asylum Seekers), “Asyltourismus” (Asylum Tourists), they wanted to change the Grundgesetz to limit asylum. That was 33 years ago.
And for the Greens as their “enemy”, it was like that from the beginning in the 80s, I was there. They started laughing at the Greens and then went very fast on to attacking them furiously.
Already in 1986 Strauß told his voters red-green would take away their cars and their freedom. His speeches are everywhere on the internet, of course very famous with the far-right today.
I am 57 now and I feel so trapped in a circle where the conservative parties stop progress at every step, a progress that was already known as necessary in 1980. 40 years lost.
Sorry for me rambling, I needed to get that out of my soul today.
Democracy isn’t weakened by the AFD. It’s the conservative parties like the CDU/CSU and the FDP that have switched to populism and disinformation to stay somewhat relevant in the age of climate change. Both parties were scared of the popularity of the SPD and especially the Greens in the last election. In the end, they’re only helping to raise the popularity of the AFD, as they support more and more of their talking points. Without them, the AFD would have stayed on its downward trajectory into irrelevance.
PS: Many CDU/CSU politicians see the Greens as their number one political rival and source of all problems, not the AFD.
They haven’t “switched” they were always that way. When in the 90s “Die Republikaner” and the “DVU” came up (like AfD but not as successful), they were riding on a wave of racism and anti-immigration speak the CDU/CSU started. It was them who invented words like “Schein-Asylanten” (Sham Asylum Seekers), “Asyltourismus” (Asylum Tourists), they wanted to change the Grundgesetz to limit asylum. That was 33 years ago.
Proof: https://correctiv.org/checkjetzt/2019/05/19/ja-das-abgebildete-plakat-war-1991-ein-offizielles-cdu-wahlplakat/
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asyldebatte#Die_Asylkampagnen_der_Unionsparteien_ab_1986
And for the Greens as their “enemy”, it was like that from the beginning in the 80s, I was there. They started laughing at the Greens and then went very fast on to attacking them furiously.
Already in 1986 Strauß told his voters red-green would take away their cars and their freedom. His speeches are everywhere on the internet, of course very famous with the far-right today.
I am 57 now and I feel so trapped in a circle where the conservative parties stop progress at every step, a progress that was already known as necessary in 1980. 40 years lost.
Sorry for me rambling, I needed to get that out of my soul today.