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a berlin blog |
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Sunday, September 26, 2004 The Rise of the Meatheads
Most of you know by now that neo-Nazis won enough votes last weekend in two German states to take seats in their state assemblies. Pictured here is the absurdly-named Holger Apfel ("Holger Apple," in the middle), head of the far-right NPD in Saxony -- dressed, not by accident, in brown. Every couple of decades a far-right party wins more than 5% of the vote in some part of Germany and sends a short-careered meathead to some state-level legislature. (The last NPD member held office in 1968.) It may be just a blip. Both Saxony and Brandenburg are eastern states where people are sick of the weak economy and outraged at Gerhard Schroeder for rolling back (large, economy-sapping) welfare benefits. They voted, not just for fascists, but for old-fashioned Communists, too. But it's still an outrage. The Jewish writer Ralph Giordano points out that after Auschwitz Germans young and old have no excuse for voting in far-right candidates. (Interview's in German, sorry.) There's enough nonsense all along the political spectrum for disgruntled voters to choose from if they want to mount a protest vote. Giving anti-immigrant, "Deutschland für Deutsche" revisionists the time of day is frivolous and revolting. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 10:55 PM
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