Calls grow in Germany to ban far-right AfD – DW – 10/01/2024
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The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has gained ground in three recent state elections, caused an uproar in the Thuringian parliament and triggering another debate on whether to ban the party outright.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has gained ground in three recent state elections, caused an uproar in the Thuringian parliament and triggering another debate on whether to ban the party outright.

  • somenonewho@feddit.orgEnglish
    6·
    1 month ago

    Yes you can only ban them if they threaten the democratic order. Or to be more precise:

    Eine Partei kann nur dann verboten werden, wenn sie nicht nur eine verfassungsfeindliche Haltung vertritt, sondern diese Haltung auch in aktiv-kämpferischer, aggressiver Weise umsetzen will.

    Which (if you don’t know German) basically means

    A party can only be banned if it advocates an unconstitutional position and also plans to use militant and aggressive means to reach their goals

    • rough translation I might try to find a source for a better one later

    Now I believe that the AfD does fit those criteria (unconstitutional position for sure, but them working together with militant neo-nazis etc. should fill the second criterium as well). But that’s just my opinion and in this situation it does not count as much. The process here is that the court will decide wether or not the AfD fits these criteria and based on that they will be banned or not banned.
    This is the important distinction to what you’ve outlined. It’s not “banning political opponents” it’s banning opponents of the constitution. I’m also not saying everyone with opposing views should be jailed I’m saying a party that opposes the constitution should be banned according to the constitution.

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      14·
      1 month ago

      Yes, I’m familiar with that part of your legislation.

      Approximately everyone else here except for you sees AfD as a target for banning because “they’re radical far right”. No, sorry, bad idea.

      Even banning an anti-democracy party at first might be a bad idea. Better go figure out why is anyone voting for them.

      Banning an anti-democracy party is an absolute last-resort measure. It only exists in Germany because this is how Hitler came to power, so the idea is to prevent that scenario from repeating. I can see the point, however it is yet to be proven that such bans would actually help preserve the democratic order.