‘The Greens are our enemy’: What is fuelling the far right in Germany? 

How climate policies are becoming focus for far-right attacks in Germany ► www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/30/how-climate-policies-are-becoming-focus-for-far-right-attacks-in-germany

What's fueling the right is pretty easy to answer: the left has abandoned the working class and has become the political spectrum of young privileged academics. Social justice has gone from improving the living situations of everyone to identity politics. The left is preoccupied with LGBTQ issues, gendering our language and creating unrealistic climate goals and agendas with no plan about how to finance it or what the additional costs mean for the poor. The central "middle class" parties have also shifted into that direction, the liberal right is the political spectrum of the upper class/ "employers", so all that is left for the people wanting to protest and having their fears and actual problems addressed is the far right which is jumping in to fill that void of representation for the German poor and thereby gathering votes while bringing their explosive core ideology along as a side note to the voters.

this is what happens when enough microplastics get lodged in people's brains

Farmers are far right now. Thanks for the heads up guardian, you should boycot food for a few months in protest.

They are misunderstanding the world by assuming the economy is some fundamental reality to which everything else must conform. It’s hard to blame them when money is the fundamental currency which determines our fate. This, of course, is the real problem. We’re trying to save two systems which are incompatible. Yet admitting the economic model is flawed means conceding that wealth divisions are arbitrary.

The term far right is misused so much these days

Yooo. Germany is gonna remind me of my Argentinian grandpa 👨🏼‍🦳

You mean shutting down working nuclear power plants amidst an energy crunch was a bad idea, especially for a manufacturing-heavy economy that guzzles a shit ton of energy?! Who woulda thought?!

I also don't know why this video chooses to represent the green party as if it is the sole defender of the german climate effort. All sorts of german parties have very elaborate climate programs and there is no reason to circle out the green party in particular here, as merely the fact that they slap a green label onto themselves doesn't make their party the best suited for the job. A lot of green party climate policy is, frankly, amounting to nothing but a financial burden in consumers - which is precisely what has driven some other people to oppose climate policy as a whole in the first place. When the gas prices have risen sky high following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have seen direct proof that german citizens will keep driving their cars even when faced with enormous cost hikes - often because public transport isn't developed enough to be a viable alternative for them. And yet, it is still a main tenet of the green party to artificially make cars more expensive to try to bully car-users to switch to those nonexistent alternatives. All this does is impoverish the people with no climate effect. And yet the green is presented as the shining beacon of environmentalism.

Those far right farmers and ordinary citizens are just hazardous … lol. labeling is not argument

Far right? Those are farmers.

Someone once said that playing with Fascism is like holding an angry dog by the ears.

“The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” Hegel

Imagine the damn conservatives would agree to redistributing all the wealth back to the working people created in the last decade. AfD would evaporate, as people would not fear losing their money anymore.

What is the problem if AFD wins in elections? It means that this is what the people want. That is exactly the definition of democracy. The will of the people expressed through vote.

Shut down ALL coal plants and give the people nuclear power. It is an atrocious lie that every nuclear power plant is Chernobyl waiting to happen.

I think they are protesting because Europe has done a poor job of ensuring that the cost burden of various green policies is shared in a way that is decently fair, or at least recognized as being an honest attempt to approximate such sharing without too badly damaging certain industries or people's livelihoods. I think that is helping to fuel the far-right in Germany and in a number of countries.

If you can tell people how they can live their lives, then why can't other people tell you how to live yours?

you can't have welfare state and open border at the same time.

As a german this enrages me. They are paid for with pur tax dollars ffs

"Far Right" in this context actually might mean "moderate".

You don't need to protest, You need to find a lawyer and also a experienced environmentalist They help negotiate the green policies for your, and see what is best for you. Ill put them on the website, for a signature protest. I think there needs to be someone to help understand how the specific policies will impact you personally. That's why I'm going to meet with the Albertan farmers here in Canada, with a Environmentalists, and Lawyers. Be careful what the News tell you, its not always the truth. ( this news story is reasonable seems factual) This is Activism, there is no need to fight, one must learn the art of negotiation. " Fight with the pen, Not protest"

I am a foreigner in Germany who came here to do my masters and then continue living here for my PhD and then for my job. The biggest threat to Germany is not the so called "far right" as they like to call all the parties that doesn't follow leftist policies but the leftist agenda.. letting in millions and millions of unvetted migrants who live in self formed migrant neighborhoods without any integration and mooching off of tax payer's hard earned money and talking shit about the country that have them refuge is the biggest problem here. Germany has completely abandoned it's working class and old people and been courting migrants for votes Is the very reason Germans have been voting the other unpopular parties as a protest.

Idiocy and populism have always appealed to those unable or unwilling to think critically.

It's like before. They point to others as the culprits and have no solutions.

This was a good report, informative & all, cheers.

My advice to younger people who are worried about the climate; study engineering. Learn how and why the proposed systems to be implemented might be ineffective in stopping climate change and drive up the costs of electricity enormously, and what the effect of this will be on society. Study electrical infrastructure, field theory, study the historic thermal power plant infrastructure, and come together and make something fantastic. The greenhouse affect is a thing, and everyone wants cleaner air to breathe. But the statistics have been overblown are being used to radicalize youths by people who have special interests.

Climate change doesnt exist - says central european Man u don't need to travel to central africa or south asia to see it affecting peoples lives today, u can literally just go to spain Its disheartening that people are just conceptually stuck in such a small local world and are unable to think globally Since europe is so far up north we're going to be least affected Its so scary to think that a huge climate migration is inevitable, and people here just cant comprehend the humanity of the people escaping and seeking safety here in europe

is that a Supra!!!

Everybody that doesn't read the Guardian is far right.

"Asceticism in most cases is either the result of a sordid imagination or of passion diverted from its natural course, and experience has shown that when the protection of public morals is entrusted to its votaries, the consequences are usually appalling". Rudolf Rocker

The questions for the greens lady could be a bit more critical (like those for the afd politician). Bit of a missed opportunity.

It's the east. In the old Western-Germany the AfD will get maybe 15%. In the former GDR around 40%. And Görlitz is a liberal city there (sry4 my broken english)..

Hi... I usually like your videos, but in this video, the background noise is so loud, I can hardly hear the narrator. It's impossible to understand anything.

Every art school in Germany better have 100% acceptance rate right now.

4:12 In Germany we call such dudes "Intelligenzbestie" :D

The rejection is not limited to the right-wing extremists, it extends far into the center.

I don’t understand this problem with green energy, it is now among the cheapest ones and the subsidy for them is nothing close to what fossil fuels receive. So, even before putting climate change into question, green energy just makes sense.

There are aspects for which the German Greens deserve heavy criticism, like shutting down the German nuclear power plants, which is just an incredibly stupid idea, ironically most of all from the climate perspective. But it's really sad to see farmers of all people protesting against decarbonization, when climate change is impacting agriculture the most. Like one of the biggest reason why we are trying to stop climate change is to make sure we can grow enough food in the future, to protects our crops from droughts, heat waves, extreme weather. Farmers should be the biggest climate campaigners.

I was shocked when a Jewish person appear support the green young people and talking about "nazis". It's like to be in 20's.

😂😂😂 A Greens politician saying that ‘they are not making politics based on evidence, but on feelings’ !?!? You have got to love the self awareness of this lady.

Sweden is seeing quite a lot of similar issues, and I just can't help but feel that it's strange that so many seem to not comprehend cause and effect. Both countries have Green parties that were instrumental in shutting down nuclear power which lead to extreme spikes in power costs, i.e. making life noticeably worse for the majority. In both countries the mainstream leftwing political discussion has been poisoned by identity politics and LGBTQetcetc questions, which first of all does't really interest the majority, and if it does the majority is generally opposed. Third, both countries have sort of switched how schools and higher education function, making them much more friendly to women. This might look good on paper, but it means women move to places with higher education at a significantly higher rate than men, which leaves much of the countryside with a gender imbalance that's comparable to the worst situation China had during their one-child period. Multiple academic papers have shown that when the ratio of men:women exceeds 1.15:1, the men tend to become significantly more aggressive and support of extreme ideologies rise sharply. It also exacerbates the demographic issues, since it means women are having less children and later in life too. Then add to this taking in a huge numbers of mostly male immigrants, who mostly live in the larger cities, and importantly shield their own women aggressively from local men (thus preventing most real cross-culture 'pollination'). What sort of response from the locals did people expect? Hugs and kisses all around? This is the result of what so-called competent politicians, basing their decisions of facts rather than feeling, have produced. I mean, how can anyone be surprised that people are now voting for incompetent politicians instead?

All-green and all-denialist policy demand competition is part of the problem here in America too. I think the propaganda for both parties has people arguing, in their powerlessness wanting to be right in their outrage rather than finding common sense solutions that are environmentally conservative.

Common sense must prevail, especially in addressing the challenge of global warming. While we must tackle this issue, we also need to consider the rise of far-right parties like the AfD in Germany. Solutions should be implemented gradually over the next 10-15 years to ensure effectiveness and to navigate the complexities of these interconnected issues.

Same old story: Mortys killing Mortys

"The Faaar right"

pretty difficult to argue about climate change with someone who doesnt believe in climate change

1:33 You know, I expected some pretty dumb arguments like the one at the start of the video, but these two are quite reasonable.

How about two taxes on the uppermost brackets: (1) a 2% per year wealth tax only applying beyond the first €50 million? That plus a 50% tax on all income beyond the first €1 million? Then leave everybody with both less wealth and income out of this. That should raise a lot of subsidy funds very quickly.

😢😢😢now you realize, your Guardians reporters job is crucial and vital because....evil never sleeps , the threat of new extremists trends are there to mess up our lives instead of seeking for peace and understanding 😢😢😢 there's so much to hate, some people feel worthy having enemies to fight against, for first, the vulnerable ones, war refugees or immigrants, then women and handicap suffering ones, something to take advantage on 😢😢😢

Tut mir ja fast leid das sagen zu müssen, aber nur weil man die Grünen hasst ist man noch lange nicht rechts und nur weil man rechts ist - wenn man es den überhaupt ist, weil oft ist man es eben nicht und gehört überhaupt keiner Strömung an bzw. ist nicht auf eine beschränkt (was wenn man mal ehrlich ist ohnehin sehr beschränkt wäre) wird aber einfach als das abgestempelt - ist man nicht gleich böse. Manche Leute sollten sich echt mal informieren was diese ganze Rechts, Links, Mitte Spektra überhaupt bedeuten bzw. wie sie zu stande kommen bzw. auch historisch zu stande kamen. Es ist krass wie solche Begriffe nach wie vor als Schlagwörter und Keulen missbraucht werden. Mit dem Extrembeispiel Nazi oder auch Faschist. Keinerlei Vorstellungen davon was das überhaupt ist oder war. In der heutigen Demokratie läuft eine Menge falsch... selbsterklärte Demokratieretter die sich ähnlich faschistischen Methoden bedienen um nicht nur selbsterklärte Demokratiefeinde sondern eben auch Gegner und allgemein Menschen mit anderen Sichtweisen an den Pranger zu stellen und tatsächlich auch gesellschaftliche Spaltung zu ihren Gunsten betreiben. Demokratie ist, dass man sich gemeinsam mit den Sichtweisen zusammensetzt und einen Kompromiss findet und an Lösungen arbeitet, statt nur darüber zu lamentieren und leere Versprechen abzugeben. Stattdessen läuft es oftmals gegeneinander und selten tatsächlich nach dem Wille des Volkes, zumal das bei Weitem auch nicht alle mit einbezieht. Viele Menschen sind komplett außen vor - insbesondere eben die am Rand. Und im Endeffekt spricht überhaupt nicht jeder mit von wegen Wahlen. Die Masse bestimmt den Ausgang. Das kann nicht angehen, genau so wenig das Politiker sich aufführen wie Adel und Herrscher. Zumal oftmals ja sogar aus den Reihen 'von' und 'zu'. Für sowas hatten unsere Vorfahren garantiert ihre Revolutionen nur damit sich das Pack dann halt einfach wählen lässt statt sich einfach selbst auf den Thron zu setzen. Aber auch allgemein den Eliten ohne irgendwelchen Bezug zu bürgerlichen Sorgen, Ängste und generell Angelegenheiten. Hauptsache persönliche Macht, Interessen und Einfluss stimmt. Und oftmals eben auch Gehalt. Schließlich beträgt das bei den Spitzenpolitikern auch mindestens 5000€ aufwärts oftmals sogar bis zu 20.000€ monatlich und eine Menge extras auf Staatskosten. So Leute bestimmen dann über Mindestlohn und urteilen darüber ob ein Regelsatz für Bürgergeld und Grundsicherung sowie Rücklagen angemessen sind.

Good video, I think narration of English over the top could be a good idea. Many people listen as they are busy but don’t watch….. all the best

A good sequel to this video would be to trace the sources of the information people are consuming and sharing with each other.

Why do they have to label everybody. "Far Right" .....Nah, they're just economy-minded citizens who are trying to make ends meet. By labeling them is a means to an end.

Are the greens called the far left

Interesting that the interviews with AFD and random germans were all carried out in German. And interviews with Greens were mostly in English. Curious if that was the preference of the interviewer, the preference of the interviewies, or just what made sense naturally if some people know more english than others.

modern society has been built without escape door. enjoy the last decades of relative well being.

Either the interviewer is just as left-wing as she is or he was trying to nail that Green Party chick because that was the most softball interview ever. She made some comment about these people being "losers" in the "1990 transformation" and being afraid of being "losers" in "the current transformation." Um... OK... hey environmentalist lady, what is this "current transformation" you are speaking of? Why is it happening? Who is driving it? How is it affecting everyday people? Was this something that was decided democratically? Do you think maybe "these people" have a right to be concerned? It's like, the whole point of this interview is to figure out why people are lashing out at the Green Party, a radical environmentalist party pushing a top-down climate hysteria agenda, and the interviewer just totally whiffs it. Oh, Gee, IDK, I guess it's just those mean AfD people tricking everyone into hating us for no reason... hur dur....

This is a whole new reason (not that I needed a thousandth to add to the list) for me to be chuffed to be a Green campaigner! If you can, to any extent, discern your identity in the whites of the eyes of your enemies, then I'm sitting pretty with who and where I am.

Germany needs democracy.

Baby do not born just tomorrow. Green should make people in love with green and see the future of green. Stopping people's livelihood and investment is basically killing the people, killing Germany in large. Green must give alternative to affected people and compensation to others lost. China has been the green country of future not because the government force them. Chinese people love green and government facilitate with policy. To the German green, please do not force people to accept something they don't want.

When people feel like they live in a place that is unfamiliar to them and doesn't feel like the country they grew up in that's when shit like this starts to happen. Germany has destroyed many communities because of low birth rates. I truly feel for these disenfranchised people

bad politics of the last few years is what mostly fuels them and rightfully so

Here we go again. 😔

"extreme rechte"...why not "mega ultron extrem power rechte"?

I’ve been to Germany; beautiful and mountainous. Ivv seen films of mudslides, avalanches, villages totoally destroyed. Who do they call for emergency assistance?

Beautiful place

I do vote AFD in germany. The reason for that is not because im racist or homophobic. The reason for that is because the CDU that was supposed to be a conservative Party now is going to left side and I just feel the AFD is more taking the position as the conservatives. I dont agree with any extreme sides like "far right" or "far left" but i believe that we have to get germany to what it stood for 10 - 20 years ago. Crime rate is going crazy because we let immigrants into the country without checking them. I have nothing against legal immigrants. But i have smth against people that hurt germans. I hope this makes yall realise that AFD doesnt stand for anything far right. Im sure there are far right people in the AFD, but i aint one of them and i aint supporting their cause

Supporting Putin in Germany is silly

The term far right is oversued. That said the simping for an actual fascist like Putin is mindboggling.

There’s on convincing these people - very sad

If they greens are serious about climate, the easiest thing they can do is de-escalate wars through peaceful negotiations. Instead, they are among the most pro-war parties in the world. Doesn't matter which side you choose, you have to do what reduces violence. Instead the Green-led coalition has chosen sides in the 2 wars that prolongs the conflict and causes damage to human life, infrastructure, economy and anything useful in the regions.

I hope germany finally comes back to normal.

Sad

A frickin crate saying it will become Germany again how inspiring 😂

MGGA. Make Germany great again. If they start wearing that slogan on red ball caps, you know you're in trouble. Don't take them lightly. They're not wackos. They're not crazies. They're bigots who are very serious about what they're doing

Ah yes, the greens, who have never had any power anywhere in the world, are the enemy. Hilarious.

PS Who ever you hired for your on screen translations needs to be fired, can't blame the auto convert on RU-vid because these are hard encoded

Its funny if ppl vote from them if u consider the fine print of their dream policy: not just climate or immigrants, also many social security policies here would be kicked in the trash My bad. Thats not funny but scary af

Where are all these migrants in Germany I keep hearing about? Didn't see a single one in this video

The good opportunities to rich migrants rather than ppl who live there originally. This happens as a result. Cause and effect.

Uncontrolled immigration does that.

Die 2 Polinen,ihr statement .1.immer schlechte Laune, 2 das ist die Atmosphäre der Stadt. 😅

At the same time, Germany could bridge the green transition with nuclear power plants but they don‘t due to Ideology.

Right wing government always better than left wing governments

Everyone hates the greens lol

ALL the un"adjusted" climate data, either direct or proxy, proves that the AGW hypothesis is false. Saying otherwise is mere AGW devotional mantra.

Far left media...

Are you being serious, Guardian??? The Greens HAD to be represented by a cute little girl that starts to cry on camera? How low can you go with your completely ridiculous manipulation?

it is so sad that the misinformation campaigns are not named as the big problem.

Good Point: Will there be more immigrants if we do not fix the climate change - I fully agree: however, are we fixing the situation if we shrink and lower our C02 emissions? No! We just deprive ourselves of the economic power to help billions through innovation!

Mr Haback wasn't attacked. The people wanted to talk but instead he made the ferry leave the harbour. That's when the people got angry and tried to break the barrier but only a few . Please check your sources

I have so much hope for the next generation. They really seem to be observant in a way that the older generations seem to have lost. I hope they vote this way, thinking long-term.

Enemies of the World Worst than Rodents

No farmers blocked habeck on the ferry....my guy check ur sousces....

I don't have any party affiliations but this report is really embarrassing in the way it shows favoritism. That's just truly bad journalism.

Farmers arent far right

The CSU party is the worst thing in Germany!!

Die armen Grünen!

If we can’t fix man made climate change, I just hope and pray that the deniers live to see its incontrovertibility.