Mainstream politicians express alarm while lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt welcomes congratulations from Elon Musk

Mainstream politicians around Europe have expressed alarm after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) swept to a historic state election victory in Germany, while nationalist figures cheered the result as a mandate for change.

While falling just short of an absolute majority, the AfD surged into first place in the Saxony-Anhalt state election on Sunday, exit polls ⁠showed, putting the far right within reach ​of power at ‌the state level for ‌the first time since the second world war.

  • jobbies@lemmy.zip
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    11 days ago

    Have you ever been around just a single AfD voter?

    Well, no, I’m not German. But they sound an awful lot like Brexiteers and Reform/Restore UK voters.

    That’s what we are up against. Not in any way rational actors.

    That’s exactly my point.

    This is false.

    Fine, but what’s your solution?

    • 🇨🇦GreenBeard🇨🇦@lemmy.ca
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      11 days ago

      A parallel state. You can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into. They’re a lost cause. The solution is to create a parallel state within the state that can support a coalition of the willing while the far right suffers the consequences of their own failed policies. The most viable path to this is to hide such a parallel state under the protections of religious freedom, forming a “church” that can mirror the effective role of the state, and form a legally protected logistical and administrative backbone for resistance.

      • jobbies@lemmy.zip
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        11 days ago

        That’s actually a pretty clever idea. But its not something an individual can do alone.

        • 🇨🇦GreenBeard🇨🇦@lemmy.ca
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          11 days ago

          Oh if you try to fight this on an individual level, you’re just going to fail. Full stop, cannot make a difference. You can nibble at the edges by developing relationships with those only weakly attached to such movements. Don’t try to change their minds make them reliant on you and when you matter more to them than groups like MAGA and AfD then you can start getting them to question their prior assumptions, but that’s going to be slow and ultimately futile in the grand scheme. Solidarity and organization is the only possible way forward. Start at the community level and work outward, gradually connecting different local groups.