(Newswire.net — November 4, 2019) — A state of emergency has been declared in Eastern Germany due to Nazism, and officials say they have a serious problem with the far right in this city.
Dresden, the capital of Saxony, has long been considered a bastion of the far right. The anti-Islamist movement of Pegid was founded here.
Deputies of the city that strive to become the European Capital of Culture in 2025 adopted a resolution stating that more needs to be done to fight the far right movement.
Opponents, however, say the city deputies have gone too far introducing a “state of emergency”. What is a “state of emergency due to Nazism”?
According the local councilor Max Aschenbach, who participated in writing the resolution, this means that it is much like a state of emergency due to climate change. It means “that we have a serious problem,” Aschenbach told the BBC.
Aschenbach is an MP for the left-wing satirical political party Die Partei. He believes that the adoption of this document was necessary because politicians did not “clearly stand” against the far right.
“The request [for a resolution] was an attempt to change that. I also wanted to know what kind of people I’m sitting with in the city council of Dresden,” he said.
The resolution states that “right-wing extremist attitudes and actions […] are increasingly common” and urges the city to help victims of far-right violence, protect minorities and strengthen democracy.
By passing the resolution, councilors have shown that they are committed to maintaining a “free, liberal, democratic society that protects minorities and firmly opposes the Nazis,” Aschenbach said.
Ashenbach’s resolution was supported by 39 councilors, while 29 opposed. The vote was held Wednesday night, with local media saying that the councilors of the ruling Christian Democratic Union of Germany were against the resolution. This means that the ruling party supports far right groups in Dresden.
Members of the party called the resolution “pure political symbolism” and described the powerful formulations as “linguistic errors”, German DPA reported.
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany did not immediately respond to BBC questions on supporting groups that openly advocate the return of Nazi ideology.
The councilors of the German Liberal Party of Free Democrats supported the resolution, but one councilor criticized using the term “state of emergency because of Nazism”, saying that such a formulation would not help Dresden become the European Capital of Culture, which is utterly true.
The rise of Neo-nazism in Dresden, however, brings light to bigger issues than just cultural ones.