German Politics (was Germany: Elections 2017)

Angie the Merks' administration of anaesthesia to an entire nation has been very successful, and that's not surprising if you think about what happened the last time Germans let a fun-loving extrovert run things.

But that said we're six weeks (or less) away from another election. The Merk is still the CDU's wunderwaffe and the SPD still struggle to compete. Nor does Die Linke's courting of the all-important FKK vote seem likely to give the Red-Red-Green option the surge it needs.

Deutsche Welle have some interesting stories here:

German election 2017 - All the news, data and facts you need | DW

 

?

 

Left politician Gregor Gysi (69) - »We need more nude beaches

 

That link was in German, so I still none the wiser. Who/What is FKK?

 

A group of German people who like to let it all hang out.

Link was in English for me, btw.

 

69 lol

 

I just got this big "Bild" logo and fuck-all else. Maybe you could provide us with a copy+paste?

 

Bild is really shit guys.

 

If you follow the link, it says "Change to mobile version?" Just click OK to get to the article. It's in English.

Copliker is right though - Bild is shit.

 

Well the website certainly is. Just a big logo for me, nothing else. Maybe the link you describe is further down the page, but I can't tell because scrolling is utterly broken.

 

That's what it looks like on my mobile phone. Just click OK to read the article.

It may be different on a laptop though. Can't check that now. I will try later.

 

OK, so I got past that bit. Except now it takes me to a page that, from what little German I understand, asks me to disable my adblocker before allowing me to view the content. Since I have a policy of fucking off websites that do that, I won't bother any more.

 

Bild is handy if you're learning German. Meanwhile here's a non-nudist related link about the election. Schulz reckons he still has a chance:

http://www.politico.eu/article/martin-schulz-german-election-race-isnt-over-yet/

 

I know no one wants a change from the usual old shite on this forum, but my local MP is going to sue fascist Facebook users for leaving racists remarks on his page:

Karamba Diaby sues Facebook users over racist comments

Diaby is the first black mp to reach the Bundestag. He came out here in the GDR times, and made his name after reunification when he was crucial to working class residents of one tower block holding on to their homes. They had been threatened with eviction on the grounds that the soil on which their building stood was chemically contaminated . . . but he had come here from Senegal to study chemistry, and so he took soil samples from the site which proved there was no problem of that sort.

 

Couple of things. Firstly, earlier this week we saw the 25th anniversary of the Rostock pogrom (that's what they call it in Germany):

25 years after Rostock-Lichtenhagen: 'Don't dwell on the past, learn from it' | News | DW | 22.08.2017

This morning it was announced that the left-wing website links-unten.indymedia has been banned and its premises raided by the authorities:

Interior Ministry shuts down, raids left-wing German Indymedia site | News | DW | 25.08.2017

Will the far-right get the same treatment?

 

Read and learn:

Freikörperkultur - Wikipedia

(das link ist probs NSFW, depending on where you work)

 

I think this goes to show just how pernicious the notion of "extremism" as something politically unacceptable really is. It's basically an excuse for the bourgeois state and media to try narrowing the public discourse down to what they want it to be. Effectively criminalising dissent.

 

That's fucked up a few of my links then. A story about the state having a bunch of Die Linke MPs under surveillance for an unspecifed length of time came out 5 or 6 years ago.

 

This is bad, you guys:

Alternative für Deutschland: fascists set for return to parliament in Germany


Looks like the AfD - German UKIP, only even worse (like coloured-shirt wearing worse) will likely enter parliament this time.

 

Any predictions? Exit poll out soon...

 

The neo-Nazis scored better than expected - 13.5%.

 

Turns out the Merk is only human:

 

Worse showing for Die Linke than expected too isn't it?

 

I think so, yes. They're still living off their inheritance of older voters from the GDR.

 

Didnt they leave for the AfD in the last election?

 

I hadn't heard that, pocketscience, but I wouldn't be at all surprised.

Anyway, Schultz has ruled out going back into coalition with the Merk (I just like saying "the Merk" a lot, in fact I say it whenever possible), so it looks like Jamaica is the next stop.

 

Seat projections:



Jamaica it is then.

 

88 seems sadly appropriate

 

I vaguely recall that was the reason touted in the 2013 election - the drop in die Linke vote in the east went to the AfD there, and in the west the AfD gained from the FDP drop.
All irrelevant now they've really established themselves with with big numbers of CDU rightwingers. Scary shit.

Can someone explain to me why there's no speculation of a Red, Red, Green coalition?

 

Because it wouldn't even come within hailing distance of the 316 seats needed for a majority.