In today’s newsletter: Alternative für Deutschland have deployed Nazi rhetoric throughout their rise – and they are pulling the mainstream further to the right
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Good morning. For the first time since the second world war, a far-right party has won a regional election in Germany. As well as finishing first in Thuringia, where it won nearly 33% of the vote, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) finished second in Saxony, with 31% – and it did so with none of the normalisation strategy that similar parties have deployed in France or Italy. Instead, the AfD uses Nazi slogans and calls the Berlin Holocaust memorial a “monument of shame”.
While the AfD demanded to be included in coalition negotiations in both states yesterday, a “firewall” designed to keep the party out of government is likely to hold for the foreseeable future. Even so, its success is undoubtedly a seismic moment in German politics. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent Deborah Cole about how the AFD did it, and whether this is a regional phenomenon or a signpost to something larger. Here are the headlines.
Israel-Gaza war | The UK has broken with the Biden administration by announcing it is suspending some arms export licences to Israel because of a “clear risk” the materiel may be used in violation of international humanitarian law. It came as Benjamin Netanyahu defied protests at home and criticism from Biden by vowing that Israel would not relinquish control over the strategic Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egyptian border.
Grenfell inquiry | Companies found at fault over the Grenfell tower fire are facing calls to be banned from public contracts. Ahead of the final public inquiry report’s publication tomorrow, it emerged that about £250m in deals have been made in the past five years with firms involved in the high-rise’s refurbishment.
Politics | Jeremy Corbyn is to form an official parliamentary alliance with four independent MPs who were elected on pro-Gaza platforms, and has issued a call for more MPs to join. The group will have the same number of MPs as Reform UK and the Democratic Unionist party, who each have five MPs, and more than the Green party and Plaid Cymru, who each have four.
France | A husband who allegedly drugged his wife and invited more than 80 strangers to rape her at their home for almost a decade will go on trial on Monday in a case that has shocked France. Fifty men accused of taking part in the abuse of the woman are also on trial at the court in Avignon.
Society | Pride in Britain’s history has fallen sharply over the past decade as the country has become more reflective about its place in the modern world, according to a leading barometer of the British public mood. The proportion of people saying they were proud of Britain’s history fell from 86% to 64%.
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Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/03/tuesday-briefing-why-the-far-rights-success-in-german-state-elections-cant-be-written-off-as-a-local-phenomenon-any-more
Author : Archie Bland
Publish date : 2024-09-03 05:51:00
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