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Thread ID: 18283 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2005-05-18
2005-05-18 01:04 | User Profile
National Socialism Growing Rapidly In Germany German Intelligence Identifies 1100 New NS Activists
5/17/2005 4:08:07 PM Discuss this story in the forum LSN Staff
Berlin, Germany -- More than 1100 new people became active in National Socialist causes in Germany in 2004, increasing the number of active National Socialist organizers from 8,000 to 9,100, according to a report released to the public by German intelligence officials.
National Socialists currently hold seats in two regional parliaments -- Saxony and Brandenburg -- and have won as much as 9.6% of the vote in regional elections.
Intelligence also said "crime motivated by right-wing extremism", almost all of which were the crime of advocating political views prohibited by the state, increased 11 percent last year. In Germany, it is illegal to criticize Jews or advocate those "right-wing" political views that the current left-wing Jewish government considers "subversive". Such "crimes" are felonies that carry several years in prison.
Government officials in opposition left-wing parties condemned their National Socialist opponents and told voters not to advocate an "anti- constitutional, racist and partly neo-Nazi body of thought."
[url]http://www.overthrow.com/lsn/news.asp?articleID=8084[/url]
2005-05-18 01:49 | User Profile
I have a good deal of respect for Bill White, even though we have some differences on political and social issues. He is a creative and friendly fellow. We sat down for dinner once together in DC a few years back and had a delightful discussion. I must respectfully disagree with his claim, however, that the party that holds "seats in two regional parliaments" is a National Socialist group per se. The NPD does indeed have an NS component, but it is a broadly diverse Nationalist party in that it contains people of various strains of Nationalist thought. In addition to National Socialists, it has quite a few Catholic Third-Positionists and more moderate nationalists of the type found in LePen's party in France. I even know a National Bolshevik (a dear friend) that is an NPD member. There is nothing really sinister in White's claim, he is just a little off the mark on this.
2005-05-18 01:57 | User Profile
I would have thought a NS party would be illegal in Germany.
2005-05-18 03:31 | User Profile
[QUOTE]More than 1100 new people became active in National Socialist causes in Germany in 2004, increasing the number of active National Socialist organizers from 8,000 to 9,100, according to a report released to the public by German intelligence officials.[/QUOTE] The BND should know. Half of these new members are probably BND agents.
2005-05-18 04:31 | User Profile
Most people want to regress to the old because they can see that the new dosen't work, at least from the old they can try once again to make a better world.
Where there was predictability now there is chaos for we are like leaves being blown by the wind without knowing where we will land next.
2005-05-18 09:43 | User Profile
[QUOTE=CornCod]The NPD does indeed have an NS component, but it is a broadly diverse Nationalist party in that it contains people of various strains of Nationalist thought. In addition to National Socialists, it has quite a few Catholic Third-Positionists and more moderate nationalists of the type found in LePen's party in France.[/QUOTE]
Largely agreed (although I think national socialists generally are the driving force in the NPD), but in my opinion, Third Positionists constitute a variation within the national socialist spectrum, rather than a separate ideology.
2005-05-19 17:21 | User Profile
The NPD and DVU? made a great decision when they decided not to run in the same elections last time around other countries with multiple Nationalist parties should do the same. I noticed in a few areas both the National Front and BNP in England ran candidates in last week's election often with the BNP candidate getting something like 4 percent and the NF candidate getting 2 percent which doesn't help either party splitting the vote.
2005-05-20 13:48 | User Profile
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4556233.stm]Link to original BBC article[/url]
**German far right unites for polls
Germany is gearing up for a key election on Sunday in the mainly industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia. But the BBC's Tristana Moore in Berlin reports that far-right parties have their sights on a bigger goal - they are joining forces for next year's federal elections.**
The activities of neo-Nazis were very much in the spotlight on 8 May as Europe marked the 60th anniversary of the Allies' victory in World War II.
Supporters of the far right had threatened to march through Berlin towards the Brandenburg Gate and the new Holocaust Memorial nearby. But in the end hundreds of neo-Nazis dressed in black and many wearing balaclavas, were blocked on a square in the east of the city - Alexanderplatz.
They were surrounded and outmanoeuvred by riot police and thousands of protesters - members of anarchist groups, trade unionists and ordinary citizens.
Since their electoral successes in the east German state of Saxony, the far-right parties have gained momentum, but they have also come under intense public scrutiny.
War controversy
Last September, members of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) won more than 9% of the vote in Saxony. Two of their MPs in the state parliament, Holger Apfel and Uwe Leichsenring, have made controversial statements in parliament about the Allied bombing of Dresden during the war.
According to Mr Apfel, it was a "Holocaust of Germans".
Far-right parties must work together now and act
Mr Leichsenring, a former taxi driver, now turns up for work in parliament dressed in a smart suit and tie - the traditional image of neo-Nazis as skinheads has disappeared, at least in public.
Other MPs try to ignore the NPD, some turn their backs in the parliament chamber, or the NPD members are shouted down.
The far-right parties have mobilised many supporters in the former communist East Germany, where unemployment is high - often one in five is without a job.
Saxony - famous for its mountains and the river Elbe - is now known for neo-Nazi activities in towns such as Heidenau and Koenigstein.
"People are fed up with the government's broken promises on the economy," said Mr Leichsenring, an NPD deputy in Saxony. "The government reforms have created poverty."
Election alliance
The NPD and another far-right party, the German People's Union (DVU), have now decided to forge an alliance in time for next year's federal elections.
The NPD chairman, Udo Voigt, has a fortified office in Berlin - graffiti has been sprayed on the walls outside, the windows are barred and closed-circuit cameras monitor the entrance.
Mr Voigt was quick to distance himself from any suggestions that his party was linked to violence - and he denied any links with the so-called "Brotherhoods," or Kameradschaften, which are small, far-right groups.
He is proud of the NPD's new electoral tactics - but his words barely conceal the hardline anti-foreigner sentiments which most people associate with his party.
"We've noticed that so many foreigners are pouring into Germany, so we sat down with the leaders of the DVU," he said.
"We decided that both parties can't keep on fighting against each other, taking votes away, as one day all these foreigners will have power here in Germany. So far-right parties must work together now and act."
The prospect of any far-right party winning a seat in the federal parliament, or Bundestag, fills most Germans - including politicians - with horror.
Two years ago, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government tried to ban the NPD, but this attempt failed after the constitutional court rejected its case.
However, many politicians would still like to see the NPD banned.
"The far-right parties have managed to get into the state assemblies of Saxony and Brandenburg," notes Sebastian Edathy, a Social Democrat MP.
"We can't rule out the possibility that these parties will manage one day to enter the national parliament. These far-right parties are the enemies of democracy, they are orientated towards the time of Hitler in Germany, and they pose a threat to democracy itself."