this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2025
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[โ€“] RedPandaRaider@feddit.org 57 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (67 children)

And stil the state refuses to ban them, refuses to arrest and sentence their leaders.

It will be Weimar 2.0 with liberals being either too incompetent or too unwilling to stop fascism.

Fascism is not stopped at the podium or in parliament. It is stopped with bullets and bombs. The longer you wait the more bullets and bombs it will take and the more lives it will cost. We need a new, this time thorough, denazification.

[โ€“] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 12 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Liberal does not mean leftist outside of the USA. Liberal actually means what is called libertarian in the USA.

[โ€“] RedPandaRaider@feddit.org 7 points 4 days ago

I have not called liberals leftist and never would. I'm not on that American brainrot.

[โ€“] luce@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

in most contexts here ive heard "liberal" used to describe neoliberalism rather then leftism or libertarianism (though I know many conservatives in the US use it as a catch all for the left)

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[โ€“] gabbath@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

bullets and bombs

I think it's enough to just do: arrests of leaders (and banning them from public speaking but for life) + breaking up the party + outlawing the party + banning people who decide to take up the mantle of/act as a declared proxy for the party and attempt to visibly pick up where they left off.

That last one I learned from my own country''s current situation: in Romania, a crazy far right candidate came out of nowhere (on the wings of illegal undisclosed campaign donations) to win the first round, and as soon as that happened our mainstream far right party's candidate started supporting him. Then they canceled the election because of the undisclosed donations (he literally declared 0 campaign spending!) so now, in the redo of the election, this other guy is basically running as his proxy and will likely try to appoint him PM if he wins.

[โ€“] RedPandaRaider@feddit.org 6 points 4 days ago

Ideally arrests and executions will be enough. I think letting fascists live out their lives in prison is too dangerous. Too many political enemies have been released historically after government changes. Hitler himself didn't even have to serve for life and was released early.

[โ€“] seeigel@feddit.org 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Weimar was a small civil war between soldiers who returned from WW1. That's why both the left and the right had fighters. Where should the fighters who shoot the bullets come from now?

The fascists came to power because the elite feared that the communists could win. Otherwise, despite massive manipulation, the fascists never got an absolute majority.

There are many issues that other parties simply ignore. There would be far less voteres for the AfD if the other parties would listen. The AfD started with the demand that the rules about euro stability shouldn't be ignored. That's not a fascist position.

[โ€“] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (13 children)

The other parties are not taking up AfDs made up causes because they are made up.

For example:

A sack of potatoes falls.

AfD: Foreigners are causing the sacks to fall! We must gas them! And the jews!

Other parties: This is so stupid it doesn't even warrant a response.

General public: but the foreigners!!111!1!!!11 and the potatoes!!1! I am outraged!!!111!!!

[โ€“] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, the other parties are very well taking up the Nazis' lies. The Nazis are playing the political establishment like a fiddle.

To stick with your example of the potato sack, the established parties do just jump the Nazi bandwagon and parrot their narrative in a less extreme manner, like "Illegal immigrants kicking over potato sacks is a severe problem, we need to protect our potato sacks by border controls and increased deportations."

Just as one AfD politician remarked last year, (after the election in Thuringia, if I recall right) the AfD is ruling without actually being in the government.

[โ€“] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This reflects American politics as well.

[โ€“] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think the problem can be summed up as poll driven politics.

It's a feedback loop, they do focus on a topic some opinion poll has shown to be somewhat popular, the resulting exposure increases popularity, which reflects in the polls, which leads to increased political focus on the topic...

[โ€“] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In America at least, this is as a direct result of corporate media and money in politics both controlling the narrative. None of this was naturally occurring.

[โ€“] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Not that different in Germany. The biggest difference in the media landscape, the pretty large public broadcasters aren't really a difference, because their governing bodies and leadership positions are stuffed with (ex) politicians and their relatives.

[โ€“] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Same thing here, but with basically every industry and not just news media. We call it the "revolving door" effect.

[โ€“] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The revolving door effect is separate from large political parties' influence on public broadcasters, but it exists, too. It, and many other forms of legalised corruption, have led to an erosion of trust in politicians and political institutions in which the Nazis of the AfD thrieve.

[โ€“] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Over here, it's a bit of the opposite, but also the same in some ways, where the newsmedia controls our politicians and populous (especially Fox News with the Republicans). Behind the scenes, there are almost definitely dealings between Fox News and the Republicans that isn't public. Fox News spent a significant chunk of the past 4 years denying the outcome of the 2020 election for the benefit of Trump.

It's a half/half mix of our politicians being stupid/brainwashed by the newsmedia and also corrupt. I'm sure you've seen what some of our politicians have been spewing out of their mouths.

[โ€“] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago (4 children)

It's a bit more complex, but essentially the same. Corporate media control politicians who in turn control the public broadcasters.

The German rough equivalent of Fox news, the Axel Springer publishing corporation, which runs the infamous Bild tabloid and multiple other media outlets, has been continuously campaigning for a reactionary cause since its founding shortly after WW2. They do set a lot of the political agenda by pretty much dictating the public discourse.

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