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Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

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31–40 of 226 posts

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#31
post #10

Meanwhile the AfD is looking to at least double their share of the votes perhaps to almost 25% of the electorate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_G...

Yes and they likely will win in some eastern states.

"The party leads in several states in eastern Germany, the region where its support is strongest — including three, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, that are slated to hold elections this fall."

Which sucks, because I happen to live there. And my partner with latin american origins often experience racism here. So we are thinking of going away, but the mass rallies are giving me some hope.

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#32
post #15

That's not a lot, in a country of millions. We do much more in France, every year. And it's been showing diminishing returns, as the government realized it could just not listen, and nothing bad would happen. In fact, it's a drop in the sea, compared to the rising casual xenophobia I can notice with my German acquaintances, friends, and even family. Medias, general discussions, and overall atmosphere is not going in…

Nothing is a lot compared to France. It's a lot for Germany, especially without a huge catalysing event.

There was one, which you could call snarky the reincarnation of the Wannsee conference: https://correctiv.org/aktuelles/neue-rechte/2024/01/10/gehei...

But I am not sure why grand poster is downvoted so much. This is a significant and important sign of the liberal and democratic side.. still the frustration is huge and fear and anger is constantly rising.. humans are bad and egoist. Extremism as everywhere is not avoided with good people showing their good faith, unfortunately, the only thing that keeps it low is happy people without economic stress.. in that sense the world is bound for trouble in many places, as we already see it. Democratic protests are good, but in the end it is democracy and current politics that fail here, not the misguided humans, and the other side which shows up won't improve it much..

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#34
post #12

Speaking only for myself with no sense of authority: there's something in the air that I'm not the only one feeling. Something very subtle seems off. The water is a little hotter, but subtly enough to say "nah it's not like that". The way I see it, tens of thousands took to the streets to make damn sure it won't be like that on their watch. The AfD has gotten louder and stronger last year, and it's reaching further a…

This is known in some circles as the fourth turning; in others, it's just common sense: failed policies lead to demoralising the center electorate and activating the extreme, both left and right.

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#35
post #20

How about the politicians listen to the voters and take steps to fix their concerns? Maybe then people wouldn't need to swing to extremes to get the solutions they require.

The thing that triggered the protests was a meeting of the far right including AFD people where they discussed a plan to deport all migrants including those that have a German passport. There is no listening to that kind of blatantly unconstitutional nonsense.

I do think the communication from the left on migration is often problematic, at least for the center-left parties in Germany there isn't a huge difference to what the center-right parties want. The main difference is the rethoric and how they talk about it.

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#36

Do the reverse of these protests ever happen? Are there some days where right wing people protest with similar numbers?

Oh yes. I live in Berlin. Usually far right demonstrations are countered by left wing ones. Often at the same time. And then there's a lot of police to keep the groups separated. During covid, there were a lot of right wing protests in Berlin.

In general, people demonstrate a lot in Berlin. Mostly, that's just business as usual for the police. Tens of thousands is not that many people for a demonstration. If people feel strongly about things, they get bigger crowds together.

Anyone that feels strongly about something can organize a demonstration. The only requirement is that you have to register these. The local police has a helpful overview of upcoming demonstrations: https://www.berlin.de/polizei/service/versammlungsbehoerde/v...

Most of these are just a handful of people protesting whatever. But some of these can draw quite a crowd and they routinely block streets to allow protesters to do their thing.

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't there farmer protests in Germany right now?

These were ridiculously small in actual numbers, they were just effective at creating traffic chaos since they used tractors.

Ah ok. Hard to tell from abroad.

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#39

That's not a lot, in a country of millions. We do much more in France, every year. And it's been showing diminishing returns, as the government realized it could just not listen, and nothing bad would happen. In fact, it's a drop in the sea, compared to the rising casual xenophobia I can notice with my German acquaintances, friends, and even family. Medias, general discussions, and overall atmosphere is not going in…

In a democracy, the people have a right to control immigration. Uncontrolled immigration has been very anti democratic and has angered people literally all over the world (you can find many examples). I’m tired of people thinking that just because they have some reflective empathy doesn’t make their policy choices better or morally superior. There are real negatives when it comes to it that many in the left pretend d…

You dont know what they are demonstrating against.

Re: Tens of thousands protest in Germany against the rise of the far right

#40

That's not a lot, in a country of millions. We do much more in France, every year. And it's been showing diminishing returns, as the government realized it could just not listen, and nothing bad would happen. In fact, it's a drop in the sea, compared to the rising casual xenophobia I can notice with my German acquaintances, friends, and even family. Medias, general discussions, and overall atmosphere is not going in…

These have been large protests for Germany. No need to talk it down.

Over the weekend about one million people demonstrated.

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