Fascism is always descending on the United States, but somehow it keeps landing in Europe.” — Tom Wolfe
I can’t imagine that Nazism could ever become mainstream in Germany again, or anywhere else in Europe for that matter, but “this”:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3688161,00.html isn’t encouraging.
Roughly one in 20 15-year-old German males is a member of a neo-Nazi group, a higher proportion than are involved in mainstream politics, according to a study released on Tuesday.
Many politicians fear a resurgence of right-wing extremism as unemployment creeps higher in Germany, which is facing its deepest recession since World War II. Government figures have shown anti-Semitic crimes rose at the end of last year.
“It is shocking that right-wing groups have more success recruiting male youths than the established political parties,” said Christian Pfeiffer, author of the report issued by Lower Saxony’s criminal research institute.
Pfeiffer said fewer than 2% of young men were active in mainstream politics, compared to the 5% involved in far-right groups.
The study, conducted in 2007 and 2008, also revealed that neo Nazi-symbols — in either rock music, stickers or special clothing – were used by one in 10 of the youths surveyed. The swastika and other Nazi symbols are banned in Germany.
The highest proportion of neo-Nazis was in former communist eastern Germany, where almost one in eight youths were in such groups. More than 14% of those questioned were described as racist, and anti-Semitism was rife.
What would our European friends think if something like this were happening in America? What would Americans think?
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