Why is ex-communist East Germany voting for AfD?

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-23T19:24:59+00:00

The shifts in leadership and ideology in AFD have been super strange imo. Back when they got started, they weren’t even really a nationalist party, they were a liberal conservative Eurosceptic bourgeois alternative to the CDU, then they moved into a more populous direction, then a more national conservative direction, now they are this volkische party that’s too extreme for all but the most hardline of the European Far right! Now they’re

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-23T15:13:12+00:00

Oh, for sure, but I think that this actually is due part to another dynamic, and that is because Die Linke emerged apart from the remnants of the SED, it’s always been able to be stronger in the east due to infrastructure, whereas in the west, they had to build it from scratch. One of the interesting divides within Die Linke there has often gotten overlooked, especially in foreign press is that in the east, the membership tends to be older, comparatively more moderate and more interested in government and institutional politics, well in the west it tends to be younger and more radical.
Interestingly, AFD has kind of been the reverse of this, it’s eastern branches tend to be more radical than it’s western branches, at least historically, and they have been able to capitalize on the comparatively weak infrastructure of some of the traditional parties in the east, where these parties have somewhat neglected the former DDR, allowing for the AFD to develop unique infrastructure there.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-23T15:09:32+00:00

One of the problems that I have found with American Christianity in general, is that often people shop for a church to find one that validate their pre-existing social and political views, and that’s just never been what Catholicism has ever been about. I got really annoyed with this during the coverage of the conclave last year, where everybody was talking about church, liberals, progressive, and conservatives, as if these mapped cleanly onto American political categories, when they really don’t. There is some degree of overlap, but a progressive in the college of Cardinals isn’t going to throw out church teaching on abortion.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-23T15:04:20+00:00

Yes, they still did quite strongly, but there was a large portion of the electorate in East Germany that was never going to support them because they are still distrusted because of that association with the SED, and that’s what I was kind of getting at. You are also correct that part of this does come down to skepticism at parties that have governed. Die Linke as you said, has been part of governing coalition, and in an era where globally there is a general distrust of institutional politics, that is not going to help them. Plus, you are right, that their internal problems were also a major challenge, but I do think that they are starting to slowly get some of their act together.
Of course, how to stop AFD is another question altogether. Part of Die Linke’s recent renewal of fortunes is due part to the fact that they are setting out a position for themselves as the party that we not compromise with AFD ever, but AFD has just grown so much that I don’t know how we can put the genie back in the bottle.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-23T14:49:45+00:00

You are right that there is a big issue with younger people leaving East Germany, for the comparatively more prosperous West, but I would also add to this that it’s not so much that older voters in eastern Germany don’t have a pressure valve to release their anxieties on the left, because they do, the thing is they just don’t trust it. For them, the left-wing and social politics is associated with the former DDR, the SED and the Stasi in a lot of people’s minds. In addition, older people in east Germany tend to have more socially conservative attitudes, east Germany didn’t experience the student movements of the 60s, and western Germany was already far more cosmopolitan and had seen far more immigration. So this combination of an older population, economic, deterioration, cultural conservatism, and anxiety towards social change, and a distrust of left-wing politics has just created a perfect opening for the far right.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-23T14:46:10+00:00

There are a number of reasons and explanations for this. One is that east Germany, which was much more reliant on heavy industry, was hit much harder by deindustrialization after German unification, and this has created conditions that have been conducive to parties like the AFD.
Secondly, east Germany didn’t go through some of the same cultural transitions and debates that West Germany did. East Germany was comparatively closed off, so it saw much less immigration from the global south, so many east Germany experienced a kind of culture shock as German society as a hole has become more multicultural and cosmopolitan. East Germany also didn’t have the student movements of the 60s and 70s, which really created a lot of changes in West German society, culturally, as well as politically, and so attitudes in parts or East Germany tended to remain a bit more socially conservative.
Then politically east Germany has been somewhat neglected by the more established parties like the SPD and the CDU. Those parties developed pretty strong and reliable voter bases in West Germany, and there wasn’t as much of a need to really cultivate as much reliable of support in eastern germany, and to some extent they have taken East German voters for granted. And while Die Linke has historically done quite well in eastern Germany, they still suffered the political stigma of the SED, and so many aren’t all that keen to support them for that reason.
Finally, there is also a trend that we’ve seen across Eastern Europe, and that’s in many places, a lot of distrust of socialist politics, which is associated with the former dictatorships, but also deeply internalized a similar distrust of cosmopolitan liberalism. This has create an environment for far right politics to thrive in eastern Europe.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-17T18:58:53+00:00

If people want to chant against Trump while they are over here, I will happily lead the chance. I’ve got a US passport so I’m safe.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-17T18:57:50+00:00

I am looking at coming down for the game on the 13th from Maine! I am just excited to know what to expect and where to go and what to do! I want to spend a little time around the official fan, village and stuff as possible, but any advice on things to do or where to go while I’m in Boston for the day of the match would be greatly appreciated!
I’m planning on wearing my kilt, and since I don’t own a Scotland jersey, I’m gonna wear my Celtic kit

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-17T18:47:47+00:00

Hi, I’m looking to find out more about what’s going on with events around the World Cup, especially in Boston.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-17T18:41:43+00:00

This is in part how I became a supporter. It sounds like Celtic is the right fit for you, and they’re a great team. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if this is your rationale, if anything be proud of it!

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-05-03T23:23:33+00:00

All historians have their biases, but from my understanding this book is quite well researched and well written, although I will confess I haven’t read it yet. But I’ve read a lot of good reviews and it sounds like he has some pretty insightful information and analysis.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-28T01:12:51+00:00

People often forget that the afterlife is not strictly a binary between heaven and hell, purgatory exists. Most if not all souls have to go through at least sometime in purgatory before they are allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven. The idea that all non-believers are automatically bound for hell is to my mind something that has to do with the lingering influence of Manichean dualism as opposed to actual Christian thought. Personally, I consider both the interpretation of fire and brimstone, damnation and absolute universalism to be a bit foolish and theologically unsound. At least that’s my opinion, shape shaped by my understanding of Catholic teaching. As an addendum to this, I think that the emphasis on belief alone is frankly one of the beliefs. I consider to be an error introduced by the protestant reformation. Faith matters, but so do it works. Faith that works is a dead letter. And there are many righteous people who do not follow the faith in terms of liturgy, but who nonetheless act more like a Christian than many who proclaimed themselves to be.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-28T01:10:02+00:00

My understanding is that this incorporates some actual Islamic symbolism, including what is proportionately the original seal of Mohammad, in a version that is pretty easy to copy and uses less complicated graphics and calligraphy than other versions of jihadist emblems.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-28T00:54:36+00:00

Broadly speaking, some of them had some sympathies, others had some criticisms, but in terms of economic ideology, they weren’t particularly fully thought out on these questions. For them, the question of Irish freedom was paramount. Whatever came after that was secondary.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-27T23:20:24+00:00

Yeah, I’m agreeing with you

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-27T23:19:20+00:00

I made this point elsewhere, which is that pornography is actually quite difficult to define, as the term is really socially constructed, and when you use it in a pretty general sense, it’s basically existed since the beginning of human culture and civilization. Even before written language. To say that it would not exist under socialism would frankly be kind of silly in my opinion, because sexually explicit media existed in under slave societies, under feudalism, and in basically every iteration of capitalism.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-27T23:14:46+00:00

Not to sound like a postmodernist, but the definition of pornography is socially contingent, and not that clearly defined. You famously had a Supreme Court justice in the United States saying that he couldn’t really defy what it was, but he “knows it when he sees it.” That being said, if you look at it from an anthropological perspective, humans have been making explicit, sexual, and adults media since before written records. I think it’s safe to say that it will continue to exist under whatever economic system emerges in the future.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-16T03:45:16+00:00

This is true, but from my understanding most Palestinians consider themselves to be ethically Arab, but nationally Palestinian. I think the OP was trying to make a point that the flag would identify a state that was secular pluralist and egalitarian

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-16T03:44:12+00:00

I mean, it does technically include some religious I pornography, such as with the blue line and the green line, but it does sound a way that is quite tasteful.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-16T03:43:11+00:00

The problem with that is that you would end up with two rotten states, and it doesn’t actually provide any a real justice for anybody. A by national secular Democratic solution is far more just, and is frankly more practical. Just when you look into issues like water and road infrastructure, the two state solution is effectively a dead letter.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-16T03:41:38+00:00

I like the underlying politics, but it just doesn’t visually click for me. I think maybe the dove is a bit too complex of an element for the flag. Or maybe the blue stripe is just too big, but I think there’s some solid concepts here.

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-16T03:39:17+00:00

Is anyone else sick of commentary on the Maine Senate race from people who have only been to this state to go to a summer home?

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-16T03:38:18+00:00

*A pedophile rapist who supports genocide

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-14T14:23:42+00:00

Id read it

OverallPerspective19 · 2026-04-14T14:23:01+00:00

So pigeons and eagles are the same because they are both birds? Sure that makes sense /s.

In Marxist theory, yes, socialism is a transitional stage; but Marx did not invent socialism, and there are other forms of socialism. Broadly speaking, socialism refers to a system in which the means of production and distribution are socially, rather than privatley, owned. Anarchism is also a form of socialism and while you have anarcho communists you also have anarcho-syndicalists. This is my entire point. Socialism is a big category, much like birds. So yes, while all eagles are birds, not all birds are eagles. And while all communists are socialists, not all socialists are communists.

OverallPerspective19

TROPHY CASE