German elections

[Dill]

(09-26-2017, 10:32 AM)hollodero Wrote: A first counter-reaction was the founding of "Die Linke" (meaning "the left"), formed by a former SPD populist named Lafontaine and some PDS members (PDS started as the SED successor, SED was East Germany's governing party). Many voters were lost there for the SPD, true left leaning folk who couldn't go Grüne because, as mentioned, they are only left by cover, but really make policies for the wealthy. - AfD also feeds from disappointed socialist voters, like in many countries in Europe. The right-wing populists use those people who are in alliance with true nationalists. Now there's plenty to say about AfD, the German right-wing populism branch; they are, as everywhere, a force that doesn't go for the constructive vote, but for the angry, destructive, anti-elite, anti-establishment vote. Who votes for them are a) Nazis and sympathetic people and b) disappointed SPD voters who want to light a fuse. Because AfD have given them a scapegoat, a reason for the aölleged downward spiral, and it's refugees (and elites and media lies and so on, but mainly muslims).

Thanks for the run down. I was living in Germany when the wall fell and a couple years after, so I remember Gysi et al. Lafontaine's star was rising back then. But I've only followed German politics occasionally since. Haven't been there since 2011, before the big migrant problem.

The angry destructive fuse lighter vote describes the rank and file, and it makes sense that their support is strong in the former DDR, but I am puzzled so much of the leadership seem to be "Akademiker" and legal professionals in somewhat elevated and respected positions like state prosecutors. Those are usually the kind of people who plan things and take a longer view of actions and their consequences. They want to legitimize and normalize the extreme right. The angry destructive fuse lighter vote in the US and Britain generally rejects that kind of leadership.

I think one other difference might be that in Germany, for a long time, there have been small right wing parties(National party, Republikaner), different ones in different regions, but too incompatible to merge. The AfD may be collecting that vote too, bringing them together in an uneasy umbrella.

Der Spiegel had a report on a small community outside Dresden with just under 14,000 inhabitants and only TEN asylum seekers, but a third of that community voted AfD.  The claim is that, curiously, the AfD has done well in places with few migrants.  In the US, conversely, Trump seems to have done well in places where racial diversity is higher and politically troubling.