this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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Germany’s centre-Right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD), which are holding coalition talks, have proposed a law that will block people with multiple extremism convictions from standing in elections.

https://archive.ph/yNQwE

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[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Less inequality and better education are really the only solution.

People reach for extremism when they feel let down by the existing system.

[–] splendoruranium@infosec.pub 4 points 2 days ago

Less inequality and better education are really the only solution.

People reach for extremism when they feel let down by the existing system.

Whatever actual or perceived grievances a person may have (even though merely being born in Germany already constitutes winning the global class lottery) - that only ever causes vulnurability.
That person then turning to actively undermining democratic systems and the international community is something that only happens if some con artist used that vulnurability to convince the person that it constitutes a solution to their problems.

Equality and education are great. Letting con artists run around freely is a completely separate issue. Letting folk get scammed out of their life savings is just as detrimental to a healthy society as letting folk get scammed out of their vote.

[–] Pippipartner@discuss.tchncs.de 27 points 3 days ago (3 children)

That's astonishing bullshit. There is already a process for ban political parties with political alignments incompatible with the constitution, which has to be initialized by o e of the two chambers of parliament and decided by the constitutional court. Having a political instrument in addition to that will automatically reduce the hurdle of dismantling political movements, for blurry definitions of "sufficient amount of extremists in a party".

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[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

On the topic of cordon sanitaire (the practice of never forming a coalition with far-right parties, no matter how well they perform in elections):

Me pre-2016: "Isn't that kinda counter to democracy?"

Me in 2025: "Outlaw and deport the fuckers, please!"

[–] Rawdogg@lemm.ee 0 points 1 day ago

genocide supporting germanys already facist enough, I wouldnt trust them bringing laws of supression.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

As much as I'm a fan of keeping Nazis out of government, holy fuck is this a bad idea!
A judge shouldn't be able to ban anyone from running for office.
This is what Russia does. Ban you from running if you're convicted of "extremism", then define that to include opposing the government.

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[–] Luffy879@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Calling the SPD anything but a luke warm pudding is a lie.

They are literally neither right noir left. They just bend to whatever coqlition they get into.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 10 points 3 days ago

They are staunch defenders of rightwing policy when they are in coalitions with parties that are more leftwing than they are. See: Gerhard Schröder's Agenda 2010.

[–] Melchior@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago

Nope. The SPD defending the AFD. Faeser stops the publication of a report, which would label the whole AFD as a party fighting the constitution. They actively work sending refugees to countries like Afghanistan, help to criminalize climate and Palestine activists and so forth.

The only left leaning thing they actively fought for in the last term in government was raising the minimum wage a bit. Everything else which was decent left leaning policy was brought through mainly by the Greens. Sometimes even the FDP had to rightly fight the insane policies of the SPD.

[–] benjhm@sopuli.xyz 7 points 3 days ago

Diverse views here, even within our lemmy 'bubble', suggest it's not obvious what to do about this (and similar situation in France and other european countries). Banning either individuals or parties can set a risky precedent and does not necessarily diminish a movement. I'd rather go for gradually (but rapidly) changing norms about acceptable campaigning, propaganda, use of social media, 'fake' news (lies). That includes faster-acting legal restrictions on funding, ownership, facts/fakes, algorithms, etc.. , as well as positively strengthening alternatives like our fediverse.

[–] 30p87@feddit.org 6 points 3 days ago

Would basically get rid of 50-60% of voted parties. At least 25%.

[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Darkmoon_UK@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's a really bad idea - forcing your own political opinions is a key characteristic of the 'fascism' you claim to want to ban.

[–] twinnie@feddit.uk 4 points 3 days ago (6 children)

While the idea sounds good I don’t think anyone should be setting a precedent to say it’s okay for elected governments to ban opposition parties from running based on their political views. Ultimately the people should hold the power.

[–] LuckingFurker@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 3 days ago

Because that hasn't caused us any problems up to now has it? Maybe we should be setting a minimum standard for a political office, and maybe that minimum standard should include not being committed of certain crimes as is being proposed here 🤷‍♀️

[–] Pippipartner@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 3 days ago (6 children)

Nah, that's the paradox of tolerance. A democracy cannot allow fascists to run without dismantling itself. Also fascism and other "political views" that dehumanize are not a political view, they are chargeable criminal offenses in many countries.

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[–] FourGreenFields@feddit.org 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wehrhafte Demokratie macht BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

There allready is precedent for banning parties. History and current events both show that people are fully ready to vote fascists into power. And also, you know what's one of the big reasons so many people vote for fascists? Fascist propaganda. Banning fascist parties will help have fewer fascist citizens around (at least after a while).

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People are easily manipulated. There needs to be some guardrails.

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