August 14, 2023 - 10:00am
Fürstenwalde
I was sitting in a beer garden in Fürstenwalde, southeast of Berlin, when the disturbing news alert about the deaths of six migrants in the Channel pinged up on my phone. I told my German friends about it and the small boats crisis in Britain, but didn’t get very far before one of them interrupted me: “You call that a crisis? It’s much worse here and our government doesn’t even pretend it cares!”
The town of Fürstenwalde was embroiled in a bitter battle to stop a school’s sports hall from being turned into accommodation for migrants — an issue that united supporters of almost all political parties. But it is the far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) that stands to gain from such social conflicts.
Following reports that Germany is now considering banning the AfD, the party continues to attract controversy. Last week, prominent AfD politician Maximilian Krah told the Times that Germany’s “immigration-drunk establishment politicians” had lost control over who enters the country to a point where a breakdown of law and order is to be expected. He claimed Rotherham-style child sex abuse scandals “will happen without the AfD”.
It’s tempting to write Krah off as a swivel-eyed extremist. He openly uses Nazi terms like Umvolkung, the policy of deliberately replacing one population with another, which he sees as the main motive of former chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy. Right now, not many Germans subscribe to Krah’s views but his vitriol about “knife attacks” and “rape” going unpunished is hitting a raw nerve.
Take Fürstenwalde, a commuter town by the River Spree with a handful of shops, cobbled streets and a small cathedral. One of the topics in the beer garden revolved around a brutal stabbing that had taken place in the town a few days earlier. A 26-year-old from Syria had stabbed another man several times before fleeing the scene. After hours of searching, police tactical units eventually apprehended him. The fact that he is currently detained in a psychiatric hospital rather than custody has led to further speculation as to whether the police are treating this case seriously enough.
The suspicion that the authorities show no interest in protecting the interests of local communities doesn’t need ideology or politics to grow. When Fürstenwalde’s district was told to find housing for 1660 refugees, roughly the same as the total number of migrants that lived there 10 years ago, it was a huge challenge, on which many felt they weren’t consulted.
The headmaster of the school whose sports hall was to be requisitioned said he found out about these plans in the media. His students took to the streets to voice their protest, but stressed that they “do not want this associated with any kind of politics”. Local government rowed back but is still looking for other solutions in the local area. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said when he visited the region that he does not foresee a change in the way Germany manages its refugees.
Many local communities feel helpless. For instance, the mediaeval village of Schönberg, north of Berlin, has 250 inhabitants and is supposed to find housing for 80 refugees. The local government is looking to lease a plot of land from the parish, right in the village centre, to build a container settlement. Residents told the local press that “it’s too much for the village. We don’t have anything here, no infrastructure, nothing…They didn’t even consult us.”
The feeling of being ignored is leaving a void for the AfD to step into. The party is now polling as the second strongest at federal level (in the state of Brandenburg containing both Fürstenwalde and Schönberg, it is the strongest with 28%, the highest it has ever polled there). Politicians can no longer rely on excluding the AfD from government as a solution to its rising support. Their voters’ concerns are real. If they won’t talk to them, the AfD will.
Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian and writer. She is the author, most recently, of Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990.
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SubscribeAlthough the author makes a few concessions to the concerns about immigration, it is accompanied by the tired old trick of throwing in some desperate Nazi associations to discredit the AFD.
But as with others who are finally admitting problems now that the facts are too obvious to hide, she can’t seem to see that the dangerous extremists leading Germany to ruin and conflict are the mainstream parties that she would probably describe as centrist.
If one wanted to destroy a country socially, and store up resentment and future conflict, the best method would be to import millions of people from the most violent, corrupt, religiously divided parts of the world, whose culture is wholly incompatible with modern Western values, and distribute them through Germany.
If one wanted to destroy the Germany’s economy, which is based heavily on industry and manufacturing, one would shut down all its perfectly safe nuclear reactors, close its fossil fuel power stations and sell it the lie that all its energy needs can be replaces with wind turbines, solar panels, and a yet non-existent form of energy storage for when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.
With a ruined economy and ever rising ethnic tensions, we will have the perfect conditions for a German civil war among ethnic groups.
Those whose folly will deliver this future now propose to ban a political party who opposes their catastrophic madness. They claim to be saving democracy by suspending democracy for the 21% of voters who support their opposition. The idea is utterly abhorrent and shameful.
Who the dangerous extremists are should be patently obvious to anyone with a brain, and it’s not the AFD.
My worry is that the AfD are just an opportunistic channel for popular anger and desperation. They see the growing anxiety of the German people and they ‘address it’ (that well-worn managerial tactic).
Do the AfD have any concrete plans to deal with the massive cultural change required if the West is to harden its collective heart against the migrant ‘invasion’? It would take great deal of courage and determination to stand up to the moral blackmail exploited by international bodies such as the UN and tell the third world ‘we don’t owe you a better life’.
As for NetZero, too many people have become convinced that it is a an unquestionable necessity. The only debate we have left is how best to achieve it. Until the political class open their minds and listen to serious dissenting voices we will remain slaves to the Green agenda.
I have always found it hysterically funny when those calling for controls over immigration are equated with the fascists, a group that didn’t seem to have a problem with large numbers of people trying to enter their country.
He lost me at “far-Right AfD”.
AfD is the number 2 party in Germany. RN is the number 2 (or #1) party in France. Both have parties and movements that are to the right of them (Reichsbürger in Germany for example.) Parties with 30% polling and more rigidly ideological challengers are not far-anything; they are mainstream.
RN and AfD are the conservative mainstream of their respective countries. Journalists who can not acknowledge this simple fact discredit only themselves.
The journalists of today are largely shameless so discrediting themselves is no big thing.
A society where the journalists are shameless, the politicians are conniving and the citizens are disbelieving is heading for the rocks.
A society where the journalists are shameless, the politicians are conniving and the citizens are disbelieving is heading for the rocks.
The journalists of today are largely shameless so discrediting themselves is no big thing.
My worry is that the AfD are just an opportunistic channel for popular anger and desperation. They see the growing anxiety of the German people and they ‘address it’ (that well-worn managerial tactic).
Do the AfD have any concrete plans to deal with the massive cultural change required if the West is to harden its collective heart against the migrant ‘invasion’? It would take great deal of courage and determination to stand up to the moral blackmail exploited by international bodies such as the UN and tell the third world ‘we don’t owe you a better life’.
As for NetZero, too many people have become convinced that it is a an unquestionable necessity. The only debate we have left is how best to achieve it. Until the political class open their minds and listen to serious dissenting voices we will remain slaves to the Green agenda.
I have always found it hysterically funny when those calling for controls over immigration are equated with the fascists, a group that didn’t seem to have a problem with large numbers of people trying to enter their country.
He lost me at “far-Right AfD”.
AfD is the number 2 party in Germany. RN is the number 2 (or #1) party in France. Both have parties and movements that are to the right of them (Reichsbürger in Germany for example.) Parties with 30% polling and more rigidly ideological challengers are not far-anything; they are mainstream.
RN and AfD are the conservative mainstream of their respective countries. Journalists who can not acknowledge this simple fact discredit only themselves.
Although the author makes a few concessions to the concerns about immigration, it is accompanied by the tired old trick of throwing in some desperate Nazi associations to discredit the AFD.
But as with others who are finally admitting problems now that the facts are too obvious to hide, she can’t seem to see that the dangerous extremists leading Germany to ruin and conflict are the mainstream parties that she would probably describe as centrist.
If one wanted to destroy a country socially, and store up resentment and future conflict, the best method would be to import millions of people from the most violent, corrupt, religiously divided parts of the world, whose culture is wholly incompatible with modern Western values, and distribute them through Germany.
If one wanted to destroy the Germany’s economy, which is based heavily on industry and manufacturing, one would shut down all its perfectly safe nuclear reactors, close its fossil fuel power stations and sell it the lie that all its energy needs can be replaces with wind turbines, solar panels, and a yet non-existent form of energy storage for when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.
With a ruined economy and ever rising ethnic tensions, we will have the perfect conditions for a German civil war among ethnic groups.
Those whose folly will deliver this future now propose to ban a political party who opposes their catastrophic madness. They claim to be saving democracy by suspending democracy for the 21% of voters who support their opposition. The idea is utterly abhorrent and shameful.
Who the dangerous extremists are should be patently obvious to anyone with a brain, and it’s not the AFD.
The theme of pieces such as this is always the same: a concerned member of the liberal intellectual classes warns us that failure to deal with the migrant crisis is fueling the rise of the dreaded Far Right – [cue shudder of moral panic at prospect of shameful fascist future].
As though that was the only real problem with mass migration.
Well, the common herd will just have to lump it because the political/intellectual/creative classes desperately need to keep themselves free of the taint of xenophobia. Their whole sense of moral self-worth depends on it.
I am always in favor of solving a problem by dumping it on someone else.
I am always in favor of solving a problem by dumping it on someone else.
The theme of pieces such as this is always the same: a concerned member of the liberal intellectual classes warns us that failure to deal with the migrant crisis is fueling the rise of the dreaded Far Right – [cue shudder of moral panic at prospect of shameful fascist future].
As though that was the only real problem with mass migration.
Well, the common herd will just have to lump it because the political/intellectual/creative classes desperately need to keep themselves free of the taint of xenophobia. Their whole sense of moral self-worth depends on it.
The policy of housing inordinate numbers of immigrants in tiny German villages has been going on for a while. I remember reading about it in Murray’s book The Strange Death of Europe. Seriously myopic stuff.
Absolutely. Whoever thought a village of 250 could suddenly accommodate 80 refugees should be committed.
Absolutely. Whoever thought a village of 250 could suddenly accommodate 80 refugees should be committed.
The policy of housing inordinate numbers of immigrants in tiny German villages has been going on for a while. I remember reading about it in Murray’s book The Strange Death of Europe. Seriously myopic stuff.
“Following reports that Germany is now considering banning the AfD”
That will bring everyone to their senses, won’t it. Looking at the world through the wrong end of the telescope, I fear.
“Following reports that Germany is now considering banning the AfD”
That will bring everyone to their senses, won’t it. Looking at the world through the wrong end of the telescope, I fear.
If you won’t listen to the voters, somebody else will.
Yes. This.
Yes. This.
If you won’t listen to the voters, somebody else will.
1.Stop all European spending on Green/Net Zero initiatives (the illegal immigration crisis is far more pressing and serious).
2.Spend all the consequent savings on huge bribes for the leaders of African countries to prevent their own citizens from sailing illegally to Europe and for them to accept returns of all illegal immigrants discovered in Europe regardless of nationality.
3.Make it clear that if this fails, we will remove those leaders from power and replace them with people that can get the job done.
It would be cheaper to sink the boats.
Otherwise your plan has merit.
I think half of the navies in the EU would struggle to sink the boats. The German navy would be reduced to throwing broomsticks at them.
The Americans could do it.
The Americans could do it.
The idea of sinking the boats (after disembarking the migrants of course) was going around several years ago. However it was quickly pointed out that this was contrary to international law for environmental reasons. The boats could be impounded, but the most that the Italian authorities do is to seize the boats for a few weeks or months, levy heavy fines, and then let them go again. I don’t know what happens elsewhere, e.g. in Greece and Britain.
I think half of the navies in the EU would struggle to sink the boats. The German navy would be reduced to throwing broomsticks at them.
The idea of sinking the boats (after disembarking the migrants of course) was going around several years ago. However it was quickly pointed out that this was contrary to international law for environmental reasons. The boats could be impounded, but the most that the Italian authorities do is to seize the boats for a few weeks or months, levy heavy fines, and then let them go again. I don’t know what happens elsewhere, e.g. in Greece and Britain.
Your point 3 seems to be a 21st-century variant of the good old gunboat diplomacy of the previous two centuries. It wasn’t very democratic but was usually very effective. It’s a pity that we are back to these old remedies, but we are fast running out of options. Giorgia Meloni, before being elected, promised that she would drastically reduce the arrival of the boats on Italian shores, but they keep on arriving in even greater numbers than before. Similarly Britain, which is an island situated in a sea far rougher and colder that the Mediterranean, is incapable of preventing the constant arrival of the boats, albeit smaller and less numerous that the ones arriving in Italy. So you may well be right.
I’m afraid democracy starts at home. The British and Italian people have repeatedly told their leaders to lower immigration numbers and stamp out illegal immigration. That demand needs to be satisfied for democracy to be shown to be effective.
I’m afraid democracy starts at home. The British and Italian people have repeatedly told their leaders to lower immigration numbers and stamp out illegal immigration. That demand needs to be satisfied for democracy to be shown to be effective.
It would be cheaper to sink the boats.
Otherwise your plan has merit.
Your point 3 seems to be a 21st-century variant of the good old gunboat diplomacy of the previous two centuries. It wasn’t very democratic but was usually very effective. It’s a pity that we are back to these old remedies, but we are fast running out of options. Giorgia Meloni, before being elected, promised that she would drastically reduce the arrival of the boats on Italian shores, but they keep on arriving in even greater numbers than before. Similarly Britain, which is an island situated in a sea far rougher and colder that the Mediterranean, is incapable of preventing the constant arrival of the boats, albeit smaller and less numerous that the ones arriving in Italy. So you may well be right.
1.Stop all European spending on Green/Net Zero initiatives (the illegal immigration crisis is far more pressing and serious).
2.Spend all the consequent savings on huge bribes for the leaders of African countries to prevent their own citizens from sailing illegally to Europe and for them to accept returns of all illegal immigrants discovered in Europe regardless of nationality.
3.Make it clear that if this fails, we will remove those leaders from power and replace them with people that can get the job done.
You know the political class is morally and intellectually bankrupt when it calls for banning political parties, rather than co-opting them by adopting policies to peal away their supporters. Germany isn’t a cesspool of racists. Voters are simply fed up with garbage coming from the current crop of incompetent politicians.
You know the political class is morally and intellectually bankrupt when it calls for banning political parties, rather than co-opting them by adopting policies to peal away their supporters. Germany isn’t a cesspool of racists. Voters are simply fed up with garbage coming from the current crop of incompetent politicians.
The EUcracy simply cannot see anything from any point of view but its own narrow interest. All problems must be addressed by further ‘progressive’ EUcracy and any resistance to this is simply a far-right/Putinistic/racist/variophobic reaction which must be demonised and suppressed. It’s hopeless. The ‘liberals’ are the new totalitarians.
The EUcracy simply cannot see anything from any point of view but its own narrow interest. All problems must be addressed by further ‘progressive’ EUcracy and any resistance to this is simply a far-right/Putinistic/racist/variophobic reaction which must be demonised and suppressed. It’s hopeless. The ‘liberals’ are the new totalitarians.
You can’t ban 20%+ of the electorate without some very bad consequences. Unless you are channeling Brecht of course.
“After the uprising of the 17th of June, the Secretary of the Writers Union had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee stating that the people had forfeited the confidence of the government and could win it back only by redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier In that case for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?”
You can’t ban 20%+ of the electorate without some very bad consequences. Unless you are channeling Brecht of course.
“After the uprising of the 17th of June, the Secretary of the Writers Union had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee stating that the people had forfeited the confidence of the government and could win it back only by redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier In that case for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?”
If the government doesn’t like the politics of a party, it can simply ban it? This sounds like the Germany of another time.
If the government doesn’t like the politics of a party, it can simply ban it? This sounds like the Germany of another time.
“the mediaeval village of Schönberg, north of Berlin, has 250 inhabitants and is supposed to find housing for 80 refugees….They didn’t even consult us.”
Arrogant politicians who act that way can have no complaint with the likely outcome.
“the mediaeval village of Schönberg, north of Berlin, has 250 inhabitants and is supposed to find housing for 80 refugees….They didn’t even consult us.”
Arrogant politicians who act that way can have no complaint with the likely outcome.
I studied the German settlement question in an Oxford D Phil thesis and did not come across this expression.It sounds a bit D Mail to me, but I am open to evidence, eg from Goebbels or Himmlers speeches. Apparently making a circle with thumb and forefinger, as to mean all is ok, is a Nazi sign, as is the sun emblazoned on a large banner. Neither of those assertions are true. However, when the Azov batfalion was wsaring real, actual Nazi symbols ( SS runes), jt seems they were just charming menentoes of small German villages. .
I studied the German settlement question in an Oxford D Phil thesis and did not come across this expression.It sounds a bit D Mail to me, but I am open to evidence, eg from Goebbels or Himmlers speeches. Apparently making a circle with thumb and forefinger, as to mean all is ok, is a Nazi sign, as is the sun emblazoned on a large banner. Neither of those assertions are true. However, when the Azov batfalion was wsaring real, actual Nazi symbols ( SS runes), jt seems they were just charming menentoes of small German villages. .
You know, for all that the German establishment likes to compare AfD to the Nazi Party, they haven’t actually learned anything from the rise of the Nazi Party, have they?
You know, for all that the German establishment likes to compare AfD to the Nazi Party, they haven’t actually learned anything from the rise of the Nazi Party, have they?
In 10 years, Germany will be de facto governed by Middle Eastern clans on the one hand and nativist groups on the other – they’ll duke it out in a hyper-violent territorial war while the population and the remnants of what once was the governing class stand by helplessly, just trying to avoid involvement and damage to themselves. This return to primitive gang warfare will be the multi-culti diverse society of boundless humanity that the “progressives” always envisioned.
Watching Germany self-destruct is terrifying. It has been a remarkably quick process.
When Germans feel sense of injustice they start marching…
Hopefully this time they will stop after removing invaders.
“The return to primitive gang warfare…” You mean the return to primitive tribal warfare. This is what we are heading down the tubes to.
When Germans feel sense of injustice they start marching…
Hopefully this time they will stop after removing invaders.
“The return to primitive gang warfare…” You mean the return to primitive tribal warfare. This is what we are heading down the tubes to.
In 10 years, Germany will be de facto governed by Middle Eastern clans on the one hand and nativist groups on the other – they’ll duke it out in a hyper-violent territorial war while the population and the remnants of what once was the governing class stand by helplessly, just trying to avoid involvement and damage to themselves. This return to primitive gang warfare will be the multi-culti diverse society of boundless humanity that the “progressives” always envisioned.
Watching Germany self-destruct is terrifying. It has been a remarkably quick process.
Mass immigration is certainly disruptive to any society, and if it continues at the high and unassimilable levels we are seeing it will certainly result in increasing levels of distrust between identity groups (whether ethnic or religious) and eventually to civil unrest and maybe even insurrection and/or civil war. But given the combination of Germans’ desire for a well-funded welfare state and their refusal to reproduce themselves at levels sufficient to sustain it, mass immigration is inevitable and unstoppable. I suppose the AfD thinks that if it ever achieved power it could encourage more Germans to have children by a set of tax incentives, but I suspect the problem is a more deep-seated cultural one. German civilisation seems to have developed (as emergent phenomenon, for it need not be consciously desired by anyone) a death wish. In this it is by no means alone in Europe of course. It appears that the administrative and governing elites see their role as simply to manage the terminal stages of their country’s history with as little unpleasantness as possible, but even that ambition will probably prove to be beyond them.
There’s a difference between immigration and illegal immigration. The Germans clearly don’t have a plan to deal with the influx of refugees or they wouldn’t be sending 80 people on mass to a community of 240. I fully support immigration, but controlling your border, and who enters it, is a fundamental role of govt. It shouldn’t be a free for all.
Problem with your argument is that mass immigration from low IQ, violent countries with cultures incompatible with European one is not going to solve the problem caused by low birth rate of native population.
You are adding people who are incapable of working in modern economy (apart from being Uber drivers etc) and most of them are just benefit claimants.
There’s a difference between immigration and illegal immigration. The Germans clearly don’t have a plan to deal with the influx of refugees or they wouldn’t be sending 80 people on mass to a community of 240. I fully support immigration, but controlling your border, and who enters it, is a fundamental role of govt. It shouldn’t be a free for all.
Problem with your argument is that mass immigration from low IQ, violent countries with cultures incompatible with European one is not going to solve the problem caused by low birth rate of native population.
You are adding people who are incapable of working in modern economy (apart from being Uber drivers etc) and most of them are just benefit claimants.
Mass immigration is certainly disruptive to any society, and if it continues at the high and unassimilable levels we are seeing it will certainly result in increasing levels of distrust between identity groups (whether ethnic or religious) and eventually to civil unrest and maybe even insurrection and/or civil war. But given the combination of Germans’ desire for a well-funded welfare state and their refusal to reproduce themselves at levels sufficient to sustain it, mass immigration is inevitable and unstoppable. I suppose the AfD thinks that if it ever achieved power it could encourage more Germans to have children by a set of tax incentives, but I suspect the problem is a more deep-seated cultural one. German civilisation seems to have developed (as emergent phenomenon, for it need not be consciously desired by anyone) a death wish. In this it is by no means alone in Europe of course. It appears that the administrative and governing elites see their role as simply to manage the terminal stages of their country’s history with as little unpleasantness as possible, but even that ambition will probably prove to be beyond them.
Actually, Germany can do EXACTLY that. In democracy, the majority is king, not the citizen. Democracy does not good people make. Democracy cannot bring light to a dark heart.
Which is why the US of A was constituted as a republic not a democracy.
Which is why the US of A was constituted as a republic not a democracy.
Actually, Germany can do EXACTLY that. In democracy, the majority is king, not the citizen. Democracy does not good people make. Democracy cannot bring light to a dark heart.
…
Europe is headed for a massive backlash. The governments will not be allowed forever to do things like mandating the settlement of “refugees” (actually economic migrants) on local communities.