Berlin Tunnel Vision

Germany tries the Weimer Republic The supposedly independent Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) — which reports directly to the Interior Ministry of the elected civilian government — ruled on Friday that the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is a “right-wing extremist” organisation. The classification will allow for increased state surveillance of the anti-mass migration party, including observing its meetings with informants and wiretapping of party communications. In a statement justifying the move, the BfV specifically cited the AfD’s stance towards immigration, specifically from Muslim countries, as being “not compatible with the free democratic basic order” of Germany. “This can be seen in the large number of statements made on an ongoing basis by leading officials of the party that are hostile to foreigners, minorities, Islam and Muslims. In particular, the ongoing agitation against refugees and migrants promotes the spread and deepening of prejudices, resentments and fears towards this group of people. “The devaluation of the aforementioned groups of people is also reflected in the generalised use of terms such as ‘knife migrants’ or in the general attribution of an ethnoculturally determined tendency to violence by leading members of the AfD.”The establishment is scared, ja?