Summary
Elon Musk livestreamed a conversation with Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, on his platform X, endorsing her and urging support for the AfD ahead of Germany’s February 23 election.
The livestream, which drew over 200,000 viewers, raised concerns across Europe about Musk’s influence in foreign politics.
AfD, under observation for extremism, has gained popularity amid discontent with Chancellor Scholz’s government.
Musk’s promotion of Weidel and controversial remarks on other European issues are being monitored for violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act.
The afd is not the root problem and won’t go away if it were banned
The problem is moderate politicians persistently ignoring (and patronising) the working class over serious reservations they have over immigration and cultural dilution
Same as everywhere else…
When I moves to Germany I saw the exact same propaganda lines used in the US against African Americans and Median Americans leveraged against Turkish immigrants. The same percentage bullshit, the same lazy / taking our job lines.
Cultural dilution is not an objective metric, it’s a tool to rule up the uneducated and the racist. It’s all culture warfare to hide the constant class warfare.
The problem is not the immigrant population in every country on earth, totaling hundreds of millions of people, it’s the billionaire/millionaire class in every country totalling tens of thousands of people. The fuckin growing wealth disparity isn’t happening because of skilled labor or asylum seekers, it’s because of the rich.
There is absolutely a class war going on but it has many fronts. Globalised capitalists acting like one can simply pour population from here to there to satisfy the economic machine creates exactly the kind of cultural tension we see. Many people don’t like the conservative values that come with Islam. That’s ok. Moderate politicians acting like that’s a totally invalid (even evil) opinion only patronises people and leaves them disillusioned with the democratic process altogether. In a democracy people will have different values to oneself, they’ll even have a different idea over what’s important. The idea that it would be ok for the country to be poorer by have less immigration is a democratic choice and urban elites acting like you can’t even think like that is ultimately undemocratic.
The world is trending towards atheism bud. This Islamic fear mongering is horseshit. “Many people” who don’t like the “conservative values” that come from Islam are likely the same people who don’t like the conservative values that stem from Christianity or Catholicism and yet that’s far more prevalent in the US or Germany - in same cases literally baked in to their government - than the number of Islamic migrants could ever reach. It’s just smoke screen for blatant racism and xenophobia. Those two religions are more similar than they are different and yet one is tied to brown people and immigrants (looking for a better future). I bet if we looked at immigration statistics for the US the number of Islamic immigrants would represent a minority percentage of the total immigrant population. And that’s not even considering the fact that some people label themselves as the religious group they grew up with but aren’t practicing and possibly have even fallen out of faith.
I’m a Christian immigrant in Germany but I’m probably more likely agnostic at this point. Now tell me what my values are? Tell me what cultural pressure I’m putting on Germany? The reality is religion, except for heavy practitioners, is not necessarily indicative of their beliefs.
Immigrants bring skilled labor that societies need to survive. Its Not just Germany being poorer, it’s Germany not having working infrastructure, hospitals and clinics having larger wait times, it’s less organic and ethically produced products in your neighborhoods, it’s worse education and more expensive housing. Populations are declining and the best way to ensure every job is still filled, for the betterment of society, is immigration. Culture is a horseshit political word for people who didn’t grow up in my small town, which is most people.
Europeans and racist Americans talk about culture as if we’re in a fantasy or sci-fi setting, like people across an imaginary border don’t use money and don’t like music and don’t like good food. It’s stupid.
this really doesn’t have anything to do with the concerns caused by a minority of culturally conservative islamists
it’s ok to dislike religious fascism in all its formed though? right? one might take the view that it’s ok to limit it coming from abroad as it’s hardly going to improve the situation.
this is patronising. there are racists and there are xenophobes and there are people who would prefer that immigration be slower or just less. these are overlapping groups of people but they are not the same. by making it impossible for moderate politicians to talk about immigration control on the basis of values, it leaves only the more exteme ideologues
we are talking about Europe…
are you homophobic? do you think being gay should be illegal? think gay teachers should be fired? want to see sharia law implemented? support violenence against people for drawing offensive cartoons? stay silent when other express support for terrorism? i expect you would answer ‘no’ to most of this. it is not unreasonable to express some discerement over people who would answer ‘yes’ to any of these when they are seeking to enter the country.
the necessity of immigration is a consequence of class warfare. only immigrants will accept the poor conditions fostered by neglect of the working class. global capitalists want to shift workforces wherever it is profitable, urban eliites agree because it’s unfashionable to express any discerement over an immigrant’s values. meanwhile it’s the working class whose ongoing struggle is masked by all this and who bear the brunt of social problems when immigrants are funneled into underequiped areas of the country.
Was this problem something German people were concerned with when their government colonized Tanzania and other African counties prior to WW1?
Did they see the forced christianization and emigration to the colonies with the same distaste as their nationalistic descendents do immigration and islam today?
Not to mention the difference between top down colonization and bottom up immigration being fundamentally different. One revolves around cultural amalgamation and the other around forced cultural erasure.
Or do you think this only matters when it happens to white europeans?
If they are fundamentally different, why bring it up at all?
The Afd, nor the people who vote for them, advocate the colonisation of Africa. Correct me if I’m wrong.
One can acknowledge evils in the past, even be in favour of redressing them financially. That doesn’t invalidate the preference that conservative Islam be prejudiced against at the point of immigration.
Because it highlights the ideological continuity between colonial racism and current anti-Muslim sentiment - just with new targets and updated language.
Are you really trying to tell me that Germany exploiting African countries because of “national greatness” is ideologically different to claiming Islam is the bane of Germany’s existence?
How come Germans are okay with immigrants and refugees coming into Germany to work and support their retirement - but are opposed to those people’s cultures? (which ironically seems to be what drives the most technically apt ones away)
Even when research has shown that the influence of religion on integration is often overestimated with regard to people from predominantly Muslim countries of origin." you still get the same old racist views that religion is the problem and if only we could get the “good immigrants” and not the “bad ones” nationalistic (nazi) groups would accept them with open arms.
You can recognize issues with skill and employment of migrants (and advocate for inclusive solutions) without falling back on the anti-muslim dogwhistles.
no, I’m claiming that shoehorning people with serious reservations over conservative islam into a racial narrative is itself part of the problem
they aren’t. the article itself mentions that such immigrants faced discrimiation and resentment. the necessity of immigration is an economic one arising from a class conflict between global capitalists who seek profitability at any cost and the working class who resent the local changes made to accomodate this while their ongoing struggle is ignored
nazis are a minority. they end up attracting the previous moderates when those people feel deserted by the political elite. shaming any discussion of preferring ones own cultural values (oftentimes just a placeholder for “human rights”) to those espoused in large degrees by immigrant populations is the beginning of this. in fact we’re far past it. any talk of needing discerement over immigration on basis of a persons views or religiious convictions is hardly possible without someone overreacting and crying “racism”.
muslim communities have significant portions who i) do not support homosexuality being legal (82% with 52% oppose, 30% unsure) ii) think gay teachers should be fired (47%) iii) feel women should always be subservient to their husband (39%) iv) will not condemn violence as a response to insulting the prophet muhammad (32%) v) would not report someone to the police if they expressed a desire to engage in terrorism abroad (66%) vi) support the replacement of national law with Sharia Law (23%) vii) either support or are indiffernet to stoning people for adultery (21%) viii) support polygamy (31%) (https://www.channel4.com/press/news/c4-survey-and-documentary-reveals-what-british-muslims-really-think)
and this is amongst settled muslim communities in Britain (I am more familiar with UK research, but I don’t think it unfair to consider UK and German muslim immigants broadly similar) immigrants are typically far more conservative (see: your BAMF report)
pretending that having some objection to this is “racism” is only fueling the current problems seen across Europe as populations find the only parties sharing any of their concerns over this are lunatic far right groups
working versions of your links:
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-needs-288000-foreign-workers-annually-until-2040-study/a-70885279
https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Forschung/Forschungsberichte/Kurzberichte/fb38-muslimisches-leben-kurzfassung.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=15