August 30, 2007...2:16 pm
Fighting Right Wing Extremism in Germany
The issue of the far-right, attacks on foreigners, and a potential ban on the NPD have been all over the German media in the last few weeks. The latest round of debate over the issue came with the story from a Saxon town called Mügeln, where a group of eight Indian men were chased and attacked by a group of people allegedly shouting “Foreigners Out” before setting upon them in a pizzeria with fists, bottles and broken glasses. On the same night, in the village of Guntersblum in the west of the country, a Sudanese and an Egyptian were assaulted following a wine festival - two “right-wing extremists” confessed to local police that they carried out the attack.
According to an interview in the Spiegel with Nicole Bosch from the European Forum for Migration Studies, the number of politically motivated right-wing crimes in 2006 was at its highest level since 2001 (although appears to be falling again in 2007). The far-right nationalist party, the NPD is the focus of the political response to these events, as the SPD (member of the governing coalition) have called once more for a ban on the party. This will be difficult, as a constitutional ban can only be approved if there is proof that the NPD is actively attempting to overthrow the German constitution. Most commentators seem to believe that any attempt to ban the party will fail on these grounds, and not only that, will undermine the efforts of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC) whose agents have infiltrated the the party.
It was the presence of agents and informers working for the OPC in the higher reaches of the NPD that caused the last attempt to ban the party in 2003 to fail, as “the court decided that it couldn’t ban a party whose policies may have been shaped in part by government agents.” (Source). In order for any attempt to ban the party to succeed, the OPC would have to remove their agents and informers beforehand so that the same thing does not happen again, and thus the state would lose a valuable intelligence source as to the activites of the extremist movement.
But it is questionable whether or not a ban on the NPD is the most effective means of fighting the far-right. Yes it may send a message that German society does not tolerate xenophobia and racism, but the people involved are not going to go away just because the courts declare their party unconstitutional. Both the CDU (the other member of the governing coalition) and the Greens are sceptical, with the parliamentary spokesman of the latter arguing: “their members would still be there and would look for new organizational structures. Much more important are initiatives in civil society against the dissemination of rightwing ideology.” (Volker Beck on DW).
Banning things and hoping they go away is rarely a successful strategy, and even in Germany - which is understandably sensitive to this issue because of history - it seems extremely doubtful whether such a ban would be a sensible measure to reduce racism and violence in the troubled margins of society.
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3 Comments
September 11, 2007 at 5:04 pm
My experience has been that xenophobia and racism are insidious here, that the most dangerous forms aren’t in black leather and wouldn’t ever partake in a brawl - they’re wearing Barbours or Burberrys and voting for mainstream parties.
January 19, 2008 at 11:09 pm
People should not have to change their lives drastically to accomodate immigrants it should be the other way round, immigrants should be made aware of the character and uniqueness of the cities they wish to visit or live in and act accordingly. Do we want to live in a society that is pre-packaged, socially engineered and only viable for a few ethnic races. Look at Sport and Media, many other races are simply not represented at all in the so called multicutural societies. Berlin is open to all to visit, to think, to write for all ages. I like the fact that the young are out on the street together with the old and Goths are seen aswell as Gays, Skinheads and Punks. Berliners in many areas are now snubbing and turning their backs on mainly Blacks and Sino chinese people because they and the mostly American backed organisations that help and finance them are less tolerant of other cultures which in turn marginalises and excludes them. This is what Berliners are really against, they are a sophisticated people and can see through the motives of the others that brand them xenophobic and racists.
February 17, 2008 at 7:07 pm
That last comment was full of crap……hehehe
I remember when berlin was chic and a place to be seen .. It seems that racist and eastern european immigrants are trying to destroy this city with their hate.
Why can’t people celebrate their differences… and be friendly towards each other… these neo nazi’s are worse than animals… and the nazi supporters are like sheep.. They blame all the problems in eastern germany on the foreigners… problems with unemployment in eastern germany have been there before any foreigners arrived in germany.
The german goverment will not see any reduction of racist attacks until they grow some balls and punish the skinheads with long jail time or capital crime murder sentences….
This will be the next holocaust in germany… I hope the goverment realizes this before it is too late……
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