German Election Campaign Takes a Racist Turn

The election campaign in Germany took an ugly turn last week when the country's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) threatened a black member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. Angolan-born Zeca Schall, who has German citizenship, was featured on CDU campaign posters in the eastern state of Thuringia, which is holding a regional election on Aug. 30. The posters went up on Aug. 1; 10 days later, the NPD attacked Schall on its website, calling him a "n_____ for the CDU party quota," telling him to "go back home to Angola" and urging its members to deliver the message to him personally. In an act that had tones of a modern-day lynching, NPD supporters tried to march to Schall's house in the central town of Hildburghausen, but they were stopped by police. Since Aug. 11, Schall has been under police protection.

Schall, 45, has been living in Hildburghausen for more than 20 years and has been advising the regional CDU party on integration issues since 2007. Although he isn't running for office in the Thuringia state elections, he's a prominent member of the CDU's campaign team. Schall's picture on the party's posters — alongside shots of a florist, a pensioner and a student — is meant to celebrate Thuringia's diversity, despite the fact that the state is home to very few immigrants. "I was shocked by what the NPD did," he tells TIME in a statement. "I've never experienced anything like this, but I'm not going to give up. I love Thuringia, and I'm going to continue in politics."

The CDU condemned the NPD's statements, and party officials asked state prosecutors to investigate whether criminal charges could be pressed on grounds of incitement to racial hatred. State prosecutors have launched an official inquiry. "The NPD is aggressive, xenophobic and inhuman," says Heiko Senebald, a spokesman for the CDU in Hildburghausen. "The NPD pretends to be looking after local communities, but the party has revealed its true colors by attacking Zeca Schall."

In its defense, the NPD says on its website that it's reacting out of concern for German workers: "Angola needs Schall, and there are 100,000 Germans who need Schall's job in Thuringia." But many see the party's outright attacks on Schall as a sinister sign that the once sidelined party is growing more confident. While the party hasn't been able to get into Germany's federal parliament — the Bundestag — it has been more successful at the grass-roots level. The NPD is well organized and active in local communities, launching popular campaigns and reaching out to young, unemployed people who are disillusioned with mainstream politicians. Thuringia has emerged as a key election battleground for the NPD ahead of the state vote at the end of August, with the party determined to enter the regional parliament. If it does, Thuringia would be the third state where the NPD is represented, along with the east German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony.

Ever since reunification, far-right violence has been on the rise in eastern Germany, and some places have virtually become no-go areas for people with an immigrant background. Recent figures from Germany's domestic intelligence agency show that the number of far-right crimes jumped about 16% from 2007 to 2008. "The Zeca Schall case is horrific, and it exposes the dangerous far-right ideology of the NPD, but there are hundreds of other people who've been attacked by far-right groups," says Timo Reinfrank, program director of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which helps victims of far-right violence. "This is the reality in eastern Germany where immigrants are targeted by right-wing extremists."

Reinfrank says the conservative government in Thuringia, led by Merkel ally Dieter Althaus, isn't doing enough to counter the threat of far-right extremism. "The state government should support local groups that fight against the far right," he says. "Other regional governments have mobile consulting teams or help lines for victims of far-right violence, but the state of Thuringia doesn't invest enough time and resources to tackle the problem." The Thuringia government refutes Reinfrank's criticisms, arguing that it has steadily increased funds dedicated to working against the rise of the far right.

Other politicians have been moved to more immediate action. The Schall case has prompted some to call for a ban against the NPD, with the Interior Minister of Bavaria, Joachim Herrmann, announcing on Aug. 15 that he would launch a bid next year to ban the party. The federal government had already tried to ban the NPD in 2003, saying its far-right ideology breached Germany's constitution and strict anti-Nazi laws. But that attempt failed when judges at Germany's highest court threw out the government's case, saying some of the evidence against the NPD was inadmissible because it had been collected by informants for the German intelligence service. continues here

German neo-Nazi 'youth camp' shut down

An effort by one of Germany's leading Holocaust deniers to set up a neo-Nazi "youth camp" in a rural hotel has been scotched by a court decision to have the neo-Nazis thrown out.

The court in Lower Saxony cleared the way for the debt-ridden hotel's receiver to evict the neo-Nazis, who had been occupying the premises amid a tense standoff with police and local anti-Nazi protesters.

Hours before the decision, German commandos had raided the hotel after hearing what they thought to be gunshots.

They found several fake firearms, a concealable truncheon and pepper spray. Twelve neo-Nazis were on the premises, four of whom were minors and were handed over to youth services.

Late on Tuesday, the eight remaining neo-Nazis, masked and hooded, left the premises peacefully after police moved in, a police spokesman said.

One day before they went into receivership, the owners of the hotel had signed a 10-year lease with Jürgen Rieger, a Hamburg lawyer, holocaust denier and senior member of the far-right National Democratic Party.

When the receiver, Jens Wilhelm, tried to order Rieger's supporters off the premises in mid-July, a group of them stormed the building and refused to leave.

During the volatile standoff that followed, shots were fired in the surrounding area and police confiscated weapons from the Nazis and from leftist counter-demonstrators.

Rieger, who has a lengthy criminal record for Holocaust denial and other crimes, sparked fury in Germany with his plan for the training centre, which evoked painful memories of the "Hitler Youth" during the Third Reich.

The court decision came as the far-right Collegium Humanum organisation prepared to appeal to the federal court on Wednesday to have its ban overturned. continues here

Imagine if you will the scenario, in that I or indeed another right of centre individual won the lottery, imagine then if I bought a piece of land or a home with a considerable amount of land, do you think it would make any difference if I choose to associate with like-minded individuals, would it make any difference if those visiting were well-behaved, if they were merely exercising an individuals right to free association. You know it would make a difference ,you see the left have long had a strategy, this strategy is really quite simple, should the right endeavour to establish their own community or freely associate in a given area, then the left will create havoc, they will descent en-masse upon the area, commit crime, indulge in violence and generally make it rather unpleasant for any inhabitants surrounding the area that rightists have chosen to gather.

Of course it is rare for the left to physically attack the right, except when their numbers are greater or in hopes of stirring the right to retaliation and law enforcement agencies to action, all of this in the name from the supposed morally superior. The truth of the matter of course is that they simply have no argument, that the ideas and arguments put forth by the right are too strong, unassailable and therefore duplicity, violence and enforced tyranny are the order of the day. Of course don’t take my word for it, after all I am of the right and therefore I am somewhat predisposed towards my own, I would ask that you took great interest in any situation whereby the right and the left clash or where the right choose to establish themselves and soon you will find, that it is the left that instigate the trouble, that cause chaos and force, in many cases, the right to retaliate.

Yet there is a myth put about, a lie that the right consists primarily of hooligans, newspapers print articles such as above to suggest to a gulible public, that rightist ideology is one of hate and harm, nothing could be further from the truth, certainly as a group we have the absolute right to defend ourselves as do you dear reader, that does not make it a crime. You will generally not know it, not realise it but we live in strange times, times in which free speech is not so much under attack as non-existent, if I oppose miscegenation, immigration, exploitation of the west and its people, that is my right and non, neither the state nor leftist thugs can deny me my voice.