this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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I'd say the biggest risk isn't losing the case, it can be made sufficiently water-tight as what yardsticks the court will use to judge are known, it's not a new area of law, the biggest risk is banning the party and then failing to address the concerns of the precariat whose legitimate feelings of betrayal and abandonment the AfD's electoral successes are based on.
I definitely have my issues with Waga Zarenknecht but big picture, yes, by and large that's the exact kind of representation the precariat needs, a thing Die Linke never managed because a) just as the SPD, where they're in government (or close to) they're bound to the labour aristocracy and b) they lacked focus.
A lot of those "legitimate feelings" are fabricated by the AfD. Fake news, as some orange ex- and likely future president of the USA would call them.
For the rest, I don't see any politician having the guts to tell people the truth, that climate change, foremost, costs a lot of money and sacrifice. "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei", and everybody will have to get used to a more frugal way of life. We need somebody willing to make a "blood, sweat and tears" narrative popular. I guess the majority of the people is ready, but the politicians are some years or decades behind on that matter.
There's a fucking reason I said legitimate and not just feelings. The AfD didn't cause precarious employment relations, it wasn't the first to agitate against welfare recipients, it didn't cause the lack of affordable housing, it didn't come up with Hartz IV and unconstitutional sanction regimes. It didn't set the policy of the established parties since reunification. 30% of the workforce are in precarious employment, not counting the unemployed mind you, about 12% never know anything else. More are afraid of landing there.
What the AfD did is direct those feelings in directions that suit them and not address the actual issues (according to their programme they even want to make it worse).
No it doesn't. Maybe from the rich when we finally get around to taxing private planes out of existence but not in general. Making sure that there's proper public transit means not only that people don't need to buy a new car, they can get rid of their old one, investing in district heating would mean that people don't need to buy heat pumps and generally make building cheaper. A lot of climate measures have the opportunity to save money and simultaneously make the life of the precariat better. More vacation days means people won't be annoyed if you tell them to take a train and ferry to Mallorca. I diagnose you with lack of political imagination.
That addresses the precariat. To address capital there's another equation: Not investing now will mean magnitudes more of economical damage down the line. We literally can't afford to do nothing.