Germany: Government Continues Organizing Protests Against the Opposition

Germany is the only country that I’m aware of where the ruling government organizes protests against the opposition party.

It’s difficult to even think about the implications of this, because it is so far outside of what we consider to be the norm in society.

The Guardian:

About 200,000 people have taken to the streets of Germany in further protests against the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Protests on Saturday also took place in Dresden, Mainz and Hanover in a sign of growing alarm at strong public support for AfD.

Roughly 150,000 people flocked to the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, where protesters gathered under the slogan “We are the Firewall” to protest against right-wing extremism and to show support for democracy.

The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wrote on X: “Whether in Eisenach, Homburg or Berlin: in small and large cities across the country, many citizens are coming together to demonstrate against forgetting, against hatred and hate speech.”

“Forgetting” is a reference to the Holocaust.

These people, the white Germans who go to these protests (it’s mostly women, along with some chubby, soft-looking middle-aged men), might as well be chanting “we are guilty.”

It’s pathological on the level of the individual, in the same way it is inconceivable on the level of the state.

He said the protests were “a strong sign in favour of democracy and our constitution”.

AfD’s success has stoked concern among Germany’s mainstream parties, who fear it could win three state elections in eastern Germany in September, even though recent polls have shown a slight decline in AfD support.

…

Earlier this week, a Forsa poll showed that backing for AfD had dropped below 20% for the first time since July, with voters citing countrywide demonstrations against the far right as the most important issue.

According to the poll, AfD remained in second place behind the main opposition party, the conservative Christian Democratic Union, on 32%, while Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats polled third at 15%.

That has to be fake.

No one who is against the ruling government is going to change their mind because the ruling government organized protests against the opposition.

What the government seems to be doing is justifying a manufactured change in the polls through these protests.