One interesting phenomenon of the political turmoil of the Weimar Republic was the brief emergence of "Nationalbolschewismus" - a fusion of communism with right-wing nationalism. In fact, there was a great deal of fluidity among members of the far-right and far-left groups towards the end of the Weimar era. Hitler quickly liquidated the "socialist" leaders of the National Socialist movement during the Night of Long Knives in 1934.
Now, a new National Bolshevist movement is on the rise in Germany, and the watchword is Souveränität ("sovereignty"). The new National Bolschevism is an outgrowth of the anti-American hysteria stemming from the NSA spying revelations leaked by Edward Snowden. The movement is driven by an animus against the United States and an adulation of Vladimir Putin, who is providing sanctuary to Mr. Snowden.
See if you can tell which of the following paragraphs was published by the left-wing Neues Deutschland and which by Deutsche Stimme ("Voice of Germany"), the mouthpiece of the neo-Nazi NPD:
Deutschland muss das Verhältnis zu den USA neu ordnen: Die geheimdienstliche Zusammenarbeit zwischen den USA und Deutschland ist aufzukündigen, die Bundesanwaltschaft muss strafrechtliche Ermittlungen gegen die für Spionage Verantwortlichen einleiten. Die Abhöreinrichtungen in der US-Botschaft sowie in weiteren US-Institutionen in Deutschland sind sofort zu demontieren.Die Abkommen der Europäischen Union zum Datenaustausch - darunter der Austausch von Fluggastdaten (PNR), Bankdaten (SWIFT) und die Vorratsdatenspeicherung - sind zu annullieren. Darüber hinaus muss das geplante Freihandelsabkommen mit den USA beerdigt werden, es ist ohnehin schädlich.
("Germany must have a new relationship with the US: all cooperation in the area of intelligence between the US and Germany must end; the federal prosecutor must initiate criminal proceedings against those responsible for the spying. The listening outposts in the US embassy and other facilities in Germany must be dismantled immediately. The agreements with the European Union pertaining to information exchange - including databases of airplane passengers, bank data (SWIFT) and the archiving of data must be cancelled. Furthermore, negotiations on the free trade agreement with the US must cease; they are in case damaging.")
Es ist an der Zeit, mit den Amerikanern in einem Ton zu reden, den sie verstehen. Vor dem Hintergrund der Ausspähaffäre fordern wir die sofortige Beendigung der Gespräche über das geplante Freihandelsabkommen mit den USA, die Ausweisung des amerikanischen Spionagepersonals aus Deutschland und ein Einreiseverbot für Personen wie Herrn Rogers, die nicht bereit sind, die Grundrechte deutscher Bürger zu akzeptieren. Der im Entstehen begriffenen neuen NSA-Deutschlandzentrale, dem sogenannten ‚Zentrum für militärische Aufklärung‛ in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, muß die Baugenehmigung entzogen werden. Auf die amerikanischen Sirenengesänge, alles geschehe nur zur Terrorabwehr, darf künftig kein Glauben mehr geschenkt werden;
("It's time that we speak to the Americans in a tone they understand. In light of the spying scandal we demand that the talks concerning a free trade agreement with the US be terminated immediately, that all American personnel engaged in spying be expelled and that individuals like Mr. Rogers, who refused to accept the basic civil rights of German citizens be denied entry to Germany. The building permit for the new NSA center in Germany in Wiesbaden should be withdrawn. We must reject any insistence by the Americans that these activities are to prevent terrrorist attacks.")
Left - Right: virtually interchangeable.
The new National Bolshevism even has its own magazine - Compact - which has the tag line: "Magazin für Souveränität" (Magazine for Sovereignty). The editor of Compact - Juergen Elsässer- was formerly a journalist for the left-wing Junge Welt as well as communist publications, but is now a super-nationalist. The magazine recently organized a conference in Leipzig on the "future of the family". The featured speaker was Elena Misulina - Vladimir Putin's emissary of anti-gay hate - who spoke about the great success in Russia of detaining gays, lesbiann and transgender people.
Far more interesting than why the Germans suddenly turn against American "safekeeping" of our sovereignty (how dare we?) is how Germans could turn a blind eye to brazen American operations on our soil in the past. More documentaries on this should be sponsored by the state so that the people's current uncertainty can be addressed.
Denouncing movements which seem to aim at rectifying this untenable situation only shows how unregenerate you are in defending American meddling within foreign countries.
If both left and right stand up to deal with these problems, all it does is that it looks like a promising trend towards increased national unity.
Posted by: Zyme | December 01, 2013 at 07:24 PM
And if this increased unity is something the Americans gave rise to - well then we finally found something we can actually thank them for! :-D
Posted by: Zyme | December 01, 2013 at 07:27 PM
@Zyme,
You are just upset because your AfD is imploding. As I predicted.
Posted by: David | December 02, 2013 at 06:26 PM
Upset? I rejoice :-D
Granted these developments don't come to completion over night. But the general way the political landscape in central Europe is heading to looks very promising to me.
I guess you disagree?
Posted by: Zyme | December 02, 2013 at 07:09 PM
I am an American and enjoy these prospects. I personally miss the 1980s with people like Schroder being chummy with Kremlin. Of course, this will make it rough for Americans visiting or living in Germany, but hell I am not going to Germany anytime soon! These events make me glad. After all, I dont like being spied on either.
Posted by: happyamerican | December 03, 2013 at 09:20 AM
@Zyme, I do see a resurgence of far right political groups in France, Austria, and, to some extent, in the Nordic countries. In Germany, not so much. The majority of voters in the national election voted "left" - if you consider the Green Party left.
If I read the Koalitionsvertrag correctly, the Grand Coalition will be implementing center-left policies (minimum wage, etc). That should make most Germans happy.
Posted by: David | December 03, 2013 at 04:16 PM