this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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Germany's spy agency BfV has labeled the entirety of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as an extremist entity.

The BfV domestic intelligence agency, which is in charge of safeguarding Germany's constitutional order, said the announcement comes after an "intense and comprehensive" examination.

"The ethnicity-and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order," the BfV said on Friday.

Hopefully this inspires the other parties to to start the process to see the AfD banned. I know the report might not look like much, because of how obvious the findings are. But previous attempts at banning them have failed because such an official report was missing. So maybe our political system starts getting its shit together.

As we say in Germany: Hope dies last

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[–] puddinghelmet@feddit.nl 33 points 1 day ago

AFD should be banned... Threat to democracy tf

[–] AntelopeRoom@lemm.ee 41 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Learn from history and America. No half measures. If you're going to label them extremists, you also have to break them.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Learn?

The Americans are doing the opposite - they're complaining that AFD has been labeled an extremist organization.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/marco-rubio-germany-afd-00324283

[–] ZombieMantis@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

America's mistake was not putting down the movement when we had the chance. Germany has the chance to quash the AFD, and work on the issues of the nation. That's the lesson to be learned.

[–] AntelopeRoom@lemm.ee 3 points 16 hours ago
[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 15 points 1 day ago

As in learn from America when they should have locked Trump up or prevent him running again, rather than declare him a threat but ultimately do nothing and then then fall to fascism.

[–] whereisk@lemmy.world 67 points 1 day ago (10 children)

Greece banned golden dawn as a criminal organisation and while a lot of members splintered into other parties it was overall a success in nearly removing all their influence as a political organisation from Greek politics - so, overall banning the fascist party, at least in one instance, worked.

[–] puddinghelmet@feddit.nl 21 points 1 day ago

Wow W Greece 💯🙌🏻

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[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 38 points 1 day ago (21 children)

"The ethnicity-and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order,"

Great news, but also ironic considering German uncritical support for Israel.

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[–] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 99 points 2 days ago (5 children)

AfD are Nazis in all but name. How is it they remain unprosecuted in a nation where swastikas and the Hitler salute are outlawed?

[–] InvertedParallax@lemm.ee 53 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

They're not just nazis, they're nazis sponsored and funded by putin.

This is documented, but racists would rather support their literal enemy than dare accept changing their worldview in any way.

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago

People get really jumpy about going against public political choice in a democracy, which is fair, but I think there's been error in the other direction.

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Plausible deniability but they do get in trouble pretty routinely. The last big one iirc was the poster with the two kids saluting each other to form a roofline with a kitchy caption about housing.

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/afd-accused-nazi-symbolism-election-germany-hm8dv7nql

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[–] puddinghelmet@feddit.nl 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Pray they find a valid legal reason to ban them soon now that they can mass spy on them :)

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[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 16 points 1 day ago

"But previous attempts at banning them have failed because such an official report was missing."

Man, this is peak modern society, and the absurdity makes me laugh. I don't mean that in a derisive way, more in a "wow, making democracy work is haaard ". Hopefully this will lead to something positive though, even if I'm anxious that banning a party like the AfD may lead to some things worsening.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 2 days ago

YOU DON'T SAY

[–] solrize@lemmy.world 55 points 2 days ago (31 children)

What does it mean if a democracy bans a party that the voters want to elect? Better to ask what failure of the system made that party popular in the first place. We have a similar situation in the US fwiw.

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

What does it mean if a democracy bans a party that the voters want to elect?

To be fair, 80% of voters did not vote for AfD - and if 80% of voters want to ban a party? Well, that is democracy. Although it's a dangerous tool to use.

The US is way more fucked, as more people actually voted for Trump than not.

[–] Redex68@lemmy.world 0 points 13 hours ago

Yeah but that's an example of tyranny by the majority. Just because a majority of people want something doesn't make it right. In theory I like the idea od banning the AFD, but I'm scared of the potential backlash it could cause and what the consequences could be. In the modern day when people are so segregated in their own bubbles, I feel like this could make them more extremist (“Look, I was right, they're just trying to silence the truth")

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 162 points 2 days ago (12 children)

True, but then again we have lived through that already and know that dangerous parties can be elected democratically. That is exactly the reason why we have this mechanism in place.

An anti democratic party has no right to be elected democratically.

[–] slevinkelevra@sh.itjust.works 91 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Exactly. Democracy is famously the only system which allows to be dismantled through its own tools. That is why the German system is called "Wehrhafte Demokratie" (defensive democracy) to not end up like the Weimar Republic.

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