German states start drive to ban far-right party

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Dec 3, 3:36 AM EST
German states start drive to ban far-right party

BERLIN (AP) -- German officials are launching a new drive to have the country's main far-right party banned, insisting that they've learned their lessons from the failure of a similar effort a decade ago.

Parliament's upper house, which represents Germany's 16 state governments, planned to submit its application to ban the National Democratic Party to the country's highest court Tuesday.

Germany's states allege that the party promotes a racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic agenda in violation of the country's constitution.

In 2003, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected an attempt to ban the party because paid government informants within the group were partially responsible for the evidence against it. The Lower Saxony state interior minister, Boris Pistorius, told ARD television officials are certifying that "none of the sources are contaminated by informants" this time.





Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_FAR_RIGHT?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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(Short article, no more at link.)

[joshdawg]

1. Wonder what would have happened

if this had taken place in the late 20's and early 30's in Germany? Banning a right-wing party.hmmmmm
Maybe WWII would not have taken place. Just curious.

[Berlin Expat]

6. The Nazi Party

- the NSDAP - was banned in the aftermath of the Beer Hall Putsch. They simply changed their name as a temporary measure and continued operating as the Deutsche Partei, the "German Party".

[SkatmanRoth]

2. Why can't the United States do this?

It would be of benefit to the whole country to ban a few obstructionists and disruptors.

[Laelth]

4. Our 1st Amendment prohibits censorship of political speech.

The German Constitution, by contrast, demands censorship of certain political speech--very different legal frameworks.

-Laelth

[pampango]

3. "Germany's states allege that the party promotes a racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic agenda in

violation of the country's constitution."

I'm sure that is true. Wouldn't be a far-right party without racism and xenophobia.

[Laelth]

5. I wish the sane Germans much success with this endeavor. n/t

-Laelth

[bossy22]

7. wow....so many on DU support political censorship

How disgusting

[Xithras]

8. I just can't support it either.

Though I can understand why Germany is so touchy about the subject, history has shown that the only way to prevent political opinions from being voiced through violence is to allow them to be voiced through the ballot box. A political party represents a set of beliefs, and while you can ban the party, you can't ban the beliefs. By banning the party, you simply reinforce their sense of "being oppressed" and substantiate their sense of victimization. This, in turn, simply increases their popularity and improves the odds that they will get violent (without any legal means to express their views, only the illegal options are left). Furthermore, you mask their real numbers (it's like the tea partiers a few years ago, who SWORE that their political view represented half of the country...until the ballot box proved them wrong).

I just looked up the electoral history of the German NDP, and they've never pulled more than 1.6% of the national vote. If they have no chance of winning control of anything, what is the point of banning them and polarizing their political viewpoints? It seems easier (and more liberal and democratic) to allow them to keep losing elections. Let THEM see that the German people don't support their views.

[ronnie624]

9. *

A firm believer in democracy, here.

[geek tragedy]

10. Germany is fully justified in doing this, given their history. Sorry you feel the need

to condemn everyone who learns from history.

[FiveGoodMen]

13. Some things SHOULD be out of bounds

Trying to institutionalize racism, etc, can't be accepted by calling it speech.

[a2liberal]

14. +1000000

frightening

[JoeyT]

11. Won't the people in the NDP just move to the next furthest-right party and take it over?

Or just start a new party entirely, for that matter. I get why they'd want to, given history and all, but I don't think it'll work. (Unless it's much harder to start a party or switch parties in Germany)

[Nye Bevan]

12. Well, there certainly is a precedent for Germany banning political parties.

I believe that they banned all but one party in the 1930s. What I find incredible are the posts by US DUers who are supportive of this kind of thing. Imagine what a George W Bush could have done with the right to ban political parties.