Germany and monitoring the AfD: Democrats and intel threaten democracy
Kanako Mita and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The intelligence community in Germany and the ruling political apparatus are seeking to monitor the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party. Yet, this important opposition party is speaking up for many individuals who feel betrayed by the ongoing erosion of German culture and identity that binds their supporters. For others, the AfD is despised for being right-wing and pro-German from a nationalist point of view.
It matters not if people are left-wing, right-wing, centrist, Green, or whatever; for once the establishment and intelligence agencies interfere like this, then next it might be your opinion that is crushed and rebuked outside traditional democracy. Alarmingly, with national elections not so far away, the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) wants complete surveillance of the AfD. Therefore, the electorate is already being told by the state apparatus that one-party is deemed unfit to govern; in other words, directly interfering with the freedom of the electorate by siding with other political parties by stealth.
Voice of America reports, “If the BfV manages to secure court approval, it would amount to a historic move. The AfD wouldn’t be the first German political party to come under a formal surveillance regime — that distinction goes to the left-wing party Die Linke, which was monitored from 2007 to 2014 over suspicions of extremism — but it would be the first time since the Second World War that Germany’s main parliamentary opposition was officially deemed extreme.”
In the Manifesto for Germany, the AfD declared, “As free citizens we believe in direct democracy, the separation of powers, the rule of law, social market economics, subsidiarity, federalism, family values, and German cultural heritage, as democracy and freedom are vested in our 5 Preamblecommon cultural values and historical tradition. The recollection of the two revolutions of 1848 and 1989 drive our civil protest and the determination to complete our national unity in freedom, and create a Europe of sovereign and democratic nation-states, united in peace, self-determination and good-neighborliness.”
The AfD continued, “We commit ourselves with all our energy to restoring these principles, and fundamentally reform our country in the spirit of freedom and democracy. We maintain an open mind towards other nations and cultures, but wish to be and remain German at heart. Therefore, we shall continuously strive to uphold human dignity, support families with children, retain our western Christian culture, and maintain our language and traditions in a peaceful, democratic, and sovereign nation-state for the German people.”
Democratic politicians who support the BfV move to monitor all AfD party officials – and to hinder recruitment by the fear of being deemed “a threat to the state” – are actually being anti-democratic to the core. However, in the new politically correct world it appears that the mass media, the manipulation of language, one-sided propaganda, and so forth are being tolerated to the extreme in order to crush alternative voices.
Political parties should defeat the AfD based on democracy. Hence it is anti-democratic for the intelligence community to undermine democracy by claiming that the AfD is too anti-immigrant and Euro-skeptic. After all, this is why individuals vote freely in elections. Therefore, people vote for the party that is deemed appropriate be it the ruling party, far-left, far-right, centrist, Green Party, or whatever – this is called democracy.
Thus defeating the AfD based on democracy should suffice without the mass media, state apparatus, and politicians from other parties seeking to crush an important opposition party – irrespective if people or politicians deem the AfD to be too far-right. Indeed, if the AfD is so beyond the pale then the electorate will naturally turn against them on the whole.
https://www.voanews.com/europe/germanys-spy-chiefs-urge-court-agree-monitoring-far-right-afd
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