Wir sind Sachsen - We are Trump

I've been way behind in my reading, but on a plane the other day I happened to pick up a recent issue of Der Spiegel and came across an article that was very unsettling to read - Besorgte Brandstifter ("Concerned Arsonists").  Of course I've been following the news reports of shelters and homes for migrants in Germany being set on fire.  I always assumed the arsonists were skinheads, or members of neo-Nazi organizations.  But no, the people who commit these terrible acts are our neighbors and colleagues: 

Das Bundeskriminalamt hat unlängst einen neuen Tätertypus ausgemacht, man könnte ihn „Brandstifter von nebenan“ nennen. In mehr als 70 Prozent der Fälle, in denen nach Übergriffen auf Asylunterkünfte Verdächtige ermittelt werden konnten, wohnten diese vor Ort. Die Mehrheit war nicht in die rechtsextreme Szene eingebunden, nur knapp ein Drittel einschlägig vorbestraft.

There is the friendly and hard-working 24-year-old Dennis L., who, before showing up for work one morning stopped and tossed a Molotov Cocktail under the bed of a 11-year-old boy from Zimbawe. His fellow workers were shocked:  Dennis had never attended any right-wing extremist Pegida marches or demos, nor had he ever expressed hate against migrants or any foreigners.  There was the single mother of two and the nice bank clerk - normal middle-class people - "Brandstifter aus der Mitte" - both charged with arson against a migrant facility. Especially grotesque is the case of Dirk D. - a young man who poured gasoline on the roof of a migrant shelter and lit a match.  Dirk D. was much beloved locally for his work as a  - fire fighter.

And let's not pretend that these fires are just being set in Saxony - the heart of Pegida-Land.  The arsonists next door are doing their work in every state throughout Germany.  Saxony is everywhere - Wir sind Sachsen:

Sachsen ist die Spitze des gesamtdeutschen Eisbergs. Das Ressentiment in Sachsen ist kein anderes als im Rest von Deutschland, es tritt nur offener zutage. All die Probleme, die Sachsen macht, findet man überall in Deutschland – seien es rassistische Polizisten, wütende Mobs oder brennende Asylunterkünfte. Viele Positionen von Pegida treffen auf große Zustimmung in ganz Deutschland. Die »Alternative für Deutschland« feiert ihren Siegeszug bundesweit. Im März wird sie wohl in drei weitere Landtage einziehen. Und es war nicht der sächsische Landtag, sondern der Deutsche Bundestag, der vergangene Woche die Asylgesetzgebung erneut verschärfte und dem Mob so weitere Wünsche erfüllte. Das Problem heißt Deutschland. Und Sachsen bleibt deutsch.

("Saxony is the tip of the iceberg for all of Germany.  The resentment in Saxony is no different than in the rest of Germany; it is just more visible. All of the problems we see in Saxony can also be seen everywhere in Germany - whether it's racist police, raging mobs or burning asylum shelters. Many of Pegida's positions are supported throughout Germany. The "Alternative for Germany" - AfD - is winning voters all across the nation. In March it will most likely win seats in three more state assemblies. And it wasn't the Saxony state assembly that passed the new restrictions pertaining to migrants - fulfilling the wishes of the mob - but rather the Bundestag - that national parliament.  The problem is Germany. And Saxony is German.")

In the US we have Donald Trump driving a mass movement of white resentment - appealing to racism and bigotry of the mob, combined with a crude nationalism.  And let's not pretend the Trump phenomenon is limited to the poorly-educated white male underclass. The Beast is US: 

it’s time to place the blame for the elevation of a tyrant as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee where it belongs — with the people. Yes, you. Donald Trump’s supporters know exactly what he stands for: hatred of immigrants, racial superiority, a sneering disregard of the basic civility that binds a society. Educated and poorly educated alike, men and women — they know what they’re getting from him.

 

Comments

[KR]

Lipset's theory of the "extremism of the middle" seems to be up to date.

[David]

@KR,
Thanks for mentioning Seymour Lipset. It made me go back to his book "It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism failed in the United States." It provides a good explanation for why Bernie Sanders' campaign is doomed to failure.

[James]

"It provides a good explanation for why Bernie Sanders' campaign is doomed to failure."

But am I ever going to Stand With Hillary? Hell, no!

[Zyme]

Could you elaborate on why Sanders is doomed to failure? It isn't easy to get a realistic perception from the outside.

Regarding the violence in Germany, I would say the reason for that is rather simple and immediately becomes evident when you compare the German political landscape to its neighboring countries:
While in all countries around Germany there is a political representation on a national level for everyone "right" wing, none exists in Germany. Instead all German parties represented on a national level pursue rather leftist policies.

Imagine ALL members of Congress meeting to discuss in detail how the second amendment can be replaced/abolished and they only diverge concerning petty details - not a single member wants it untouched. Imagine most of the American media concertedly condemning all weapons owners as barbarians no reasonable person should listen to.
How would Americans react?

However lunatic such a situation may seem to Americans, this is what happens in Germany regarding the refugee crisis.
Whenever a significant part of the society is without any representation, violence is bound to erupt.
At the same time, our mostly Merkel-subservient media sure does not help to extinguish the flames.

[David]

Sanders made the mistake of calling himself a "democratic socialist" instead of "social democrat". He has never been a member of the Democratic Party. If, by some miracle, he wins the Democrat nomination for US president, he will be savaged as a socialist by the Republicans. Even though Sanders' proposals are very moderate, most Americans automatically reject anything with the "socialist" label.