The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is government protection
To this day, the misconception that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is a neutral, independent authority that serves to protect the free and democratic basic order still persists in some circles in political Germany. But in reality it is a government surveillance and defamation tool against the opposition.
By Konstantin Schink
By Konstantin Schink
As an example, let's look at a federal state in which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has only been an authority subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior since 2015. In 2014, a red-red-green government under left-wing Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow was elected to power in Thuringia. At that time, the Left Party had the abolition of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in its program, after having been under its observation for years. But things turned out differently.
In November 2015, SPD Interior Minister Holger Poppenhäger appointed SPD politician and board member of the Amadeo Antonio Foundation Stephan Kramer as President of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In March 2021, the AfD was finally classified as right-wing extremist. But let's finally take a look at the 2022 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution report, in which the AfD is still characterized as firmly right-wing extremist, in order to understand this assessment.
The first accusation, which is intended to prove that the AfD is unconstitutional, is that it represents an ethnic-cultural concept of the people. It is not written which specific statements from politicians or the party are meant by this, but the VS is probably referring to the demand to reintroduce the old citizenship law, which applied before 2000, which was demanded by Björn Höcke, among others. According to this logic, the CDU, SPD and FDP should have been classified as definitely right-wing extremists, since they governed in changing coalitions from 1949 to 1998 without taking offense at this oh-so-bad ethno-cultural nationality law.
Next, leading AfD members will be accused of anti-Semitism in the most adventurous way without any evidence. The VS writes:
"Björn Höcke also defamed Emmanuel Macron in a Facebook post on April 12th as a "spokesman of the globalist establishment." In scientific research on anti-Semitism, it is established that anti-Semitic stereotypes do not always require the mention of 'Jews as Jews'. Often, as in this case, ciphers take their place. In this case, with the reference to the Rothschild family in conjunction with the infantilization of President Macron as a urchin, the stereotype of Jewish influence is updated, whereas in Höcke's case it is through the cipher "globalist establishment" is being replaced. An overall assessment in the context of all known such statements by the regional association about "global elites" suggests that anti-Semitic stereotypes are being practiced and spread on an open stage."
Höcke criticized the political ideology of globalism and its exponents. That was it. Nothing more comes here. In the eyes of the VS, that is enough to bring it close to anti-Semitism. After all, the VS can read minds. When Höcke talks about a globalist establishment, he doesn't actually mean the parts of the Western establishment with a globalist agenda. Why should you mean what you say? No, he actually means the Jews. At least according to VS Thuringia, which, unlike Höcke, knows what he actually thinks.
Of course, what the VS claims here would fall under the criminal offense of defamation in a functioning constitutional state. But in Thuringia, this agitation against the strongest opposition party was financed by the state with 8.5 million euros in 2022. The fact that I don't support the AfD but rather the BSW does not detract from my criticism of this. As an opponent of the AfD, you should also take offense at such an approach. The VS Thuringia could make similar absurd accusations against the BSW if it does too well in the next election and doesn't do what Bodo Ramelow wants.
The accusations of contact guilt that run through the entire report seem somewhat redundant. The whole thing goes something like this: They are at a demonstration together! And that one is really bad... he has nothing to do with the AfD... but an AfD member once shared an article by him! Honestly, I'm too stupid to go into it.
I find the following passage particularly disgusting:
"Even when focusing thematically on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the AfD Thuringia resorted to its tried and tested strategy of making simple allegations instead of looking at complex and open problems. A recurring theme is the conspiratorial claim of a globalist elite that is secretly instigating migration processes, pandemics and even wars. In this way, the Thuringian AfD is building on anti-Semitic explanations that were also used in a similar way during National Socialism. In this way, the democratically legitimized decision-makers are portrayed as being controlled by others with the aim of depriving them of any legitimacy and legitimizing resistance - without reference to the means of the constitutional state.
Here we have a really interesting thesis: The fact that the elite decides on war and peace is a conspiratorial claim. Who in Russia made the decision to invade Ukraine? Was there a referendum? No, President Putin gave the order. And who in Ukraine decided to fight the pro-Russian separatists with violence in 2014? Was there a referendum on this? No, President Oleksandr Turchynov, who came to power in a coup, was responsible for this. And today things are not looking any better in Ukraine. President Zelensky has banned all left-wing opposition parties and canceled elections until further notice. There has not yet been a referendum on the numerous arms deliveries in any NATO country.
Such decisions are of course made by the elite. The fact that these people have the power to decide on such questions shows that they belong to the elite. And democratically elected decision-makers who are happy to do the opposite of what they promised before after the election also belong to the elite. Saying this simple fact is enough for the US to associate it with National Socialism.
But the example of Thuringia is only an example of how the VS operates. And in terms of its structure, it can't be any different. A government-run domestic intelligence agency designed to monitor legitimate parties or organizations will sooner or later be used by the government to combat the opposition under flimsy pretexts. How stupidly contrived and completely devoid of evidence the allegations against the Thuringian AfD are is surprising. Hopefully these gaffes will show everyone that the VS is an instrument of repression that could easily be directed against parties other than the AfD and should be abolished without replacement.
Quellen
Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz Landesbehörden
Amt für Verfassungsschutz Thüringen - Wikipedia
Thüringer AfD: Warum stuft der Verfassungsschutz den Landesverband als rechtsextrem ein? | MDR.DE
VSB_2022_Pressefassung.pdf(thueringen.de)
10.04.24
Konstantin Schink (born November 8, 2001) graduated from high school in Lower Saxony in 2021. He is currently studying economics and politics in the 2-subject bachelor's program and runs the YouTube channels "Agitator of the Social Market Economy" and "Secondary Agitation."
In November 2015, SPD Interior Minister Holger Poppenhäger appointed SPD politician and board member of the Amadeo Antonio Foundation Stephan Kramer as President of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In March 2021, the AfD was finally classified as right-wing extremist. But let's finally take a look at the 2022 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution report, in which the AfD is still characterized as firmly right-wing extremist, in order to understand this assessment.
The first accusation, which is intended to prove that the AfD is unconstitutional, is that it represents an ethnic-cultural concept of the people. It is not written which specific statements from politicians or the party are meant by this, but the VS is probably referring to the demand to reintroduce the old citizenship law, which applied before 2000, which was demanded by Björn Höcke, among others. According to this logic, the CDU, SPD and FDP should have been classified as definitely right-wing extremists, since they governed in changing coalitions from 1949 to 1998 without taking offense at this oh-so-bad ethno-cultural nationality law.
Next, leading AfD members will be accused of anti-Semitism in the most adventurous way without any evidence. The VS writes:
"Björn Höcke also defamed Emmanuel Macron in a Facebook post on April 12th as a "spokesman of the globalist establishment." In scientific research on anti-Semitism, it is established that anti-Semitic stereotypes do not always require the mention of 'Jews as Jews'. Often, as in this case, ciphers take their place. In this case, with the reference to the Rothschild family in conjunction with the infantilization of President Macron as a urchin, the stereotype of Jewish influence is updated, whereas in Höcke's case it is through the cipher "globalist establishment" is being replaced. An overall assessment in the context of all known such statements by the regional association about "global elites" suggests that anti-Semitic stereotypes are being practiced and spread on an open stage."
Höcke criticized the political ideology of globalism and its exponents. That was it. Nothing more comes here. In the eyes of the VS, that is enough to bring it close to anti-Semitism. After all, the VS can read minds. When Höcke talks about a globalist establishment, he doesn't actually mean the parts of the Western establishment with a globalist agenda. Why should you mean what you say? No, he actually means the Jews. At least according to VS Thuringia, which, unlike Höcke, knows what he actually thinks.
Of course, what the VS claims here would fall under the criminal offense of defamation in a functioning constitutional state. But in Thuringia, this agitation against the strongest opposition party was financed by the state with 8.5 million euros in 2022. The fact that I don't support the AfD but rather the BSW does not detract from my criticism of this. As an opponent of the AfD, you should also take offense at such an approach. The VS Thuringia could make similar absurd accusations against the BSW if it does too well in the next election and doesn't do what Bodo Ramelow wants.
The accusations of contact guilt that run through the entire report seem somewhat redundant. The whole thing goes something like this: They are at a demonstration together! And that one is really bad... he has nothing to do with the AfD... but an AfD member once shared an article by him! Honestly, I'm too stupid to go into it.
I find the following passage particularly disgusting:
"Even when focusing thematically on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the AfD Thuringia resorted to its tried and tested strategy of making simple allegations instead of looking at complex and open problems. A recurring theme is the conspiratorial claim of a globalist elite that is secretly instigating migration processes, pandemics and even wars. In this way, the Thuringian AfD is building on anti-Semitic explanations that were also used in a similar way during National Socialism. In this way, the democratically legitimized decision-makers are portrayed as being controlled by others with the aim of depriving them of any legitimacy and legitimizing resistance - without reference to the means of the constitutional state.
Here we have a really interesting thesis: The fact that the elite decides on war and peace is a conspiratorial claim. Who in Russia made the decision to invade Ukraine? Was there a referendum? No, President Putin gave the order. And who in Ukraine decided to fight the pro-Russian separatists with violence in 2014? Was there a referendum on this? No, President Oleksandr Turchynov, who came to power in a coup, was responsible for this. And today things are not looking any better in Ukraine. President Zelensky has banned all left-wing opposition parties and canceled elections until further notice. There has not yet been a referendum on the numerous arms deliveries in any NATO country.
Such decisions are of course made by the elite. The fact that these people have the power to decide on such questions shows that they belong to the elite. And democratically elected decision-makers who are happy to do the opposite of what they promised before after the election also belong to the elite. Saying this simple fact is enough for the US to associate it with National Socialism.
But the example of Thuringia is only an example of how the VS operates. And in terms of its structure, it can't be any different. A government-run domestic intelligence agency designed to monitor legitimate parties or organizations will sooner or later be used by the government to combat the opposition under flimsy pretexts. How stupidly contrived and completely devoid of evidence the allegations against the Thuringian AfD are is surprising. Hopefully these gaffes will show everyone that the VS is an instrument of repression that could easily be directed against parties other than the AfD and should be abolished without replacement.
Quellen
Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz Landesbehörden
Amt für Verfassungsschutz Thüringen - Wikipedia
Thüringer AfD: Warum stuft der Verfassungsschutz den Landesverband als rechtsextrem ein? | MDR.DE
VSB_2022_Pressefassung.pdf(thueringen.de)
10.04.24
Konstantin Schink (born November 8, 2001) graduated from high school in Lower Saxony in 2021. He is currently studying economics and politics in the 2-subject bachelor's program and runs the YouTube channels "Agitator of the Social Market Economy" and "Secondary Agitation."
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