The rise of the far right in Germany

[Keith_M]

Today is the 'Landtagswahlen', or State Elections, in two of the former East German states, Thüringen and Sachsen*.

Sadly the voting so far has the far right 'Alternative für Deutschland' (AFD) on 30%+ of the vote, and most likely to win in Thüringen.


As someone who loves Germany and has links with the former east, this is a very sad day for me. I've been watching TV interviews with voters in both states and the common theme is immigrants/foreigners (sound familiar?)

The AFD purposely appeals to anti-immigrant views, much like the Fidesz party in Hungary, 'Reform' here in the UK and Donald Trump's Republicans. It's sad that politics of this kind are now drawing in disaffected voters in so many countries... willing to believe that immigration is the cause of so many of their problems.

I don't know what the solution is to this but we need to start looking to find one, or things will keep turning for the worse.



* Or Thuringia and Saxony, as we call them over here.