Agreed. Being able to identify effective interventions that support or protect democracy in certain contexts doesn’t necessarily seem like a bad idea.
The challenge with the AfD is that they seem to be the victims of behaviour that could be considered antidemocratic: lawmakers are considering banning the party, and the state has put the party under surveillance. This would be unconstitutional in many countries. I think there could be legitimate arguments that “protecting democracy” could sometimes involve defending groups like the AfD, as well as defending democracy from them.
I’d prefer for a politically neutral pro-democracy organisation to have the courage to defend a party like the AfD when their democratic freedoms are under threat, while also ensuring that they are stopped from damaging the democratic system. But, because this could be very messy, and have significant PR risks, I think EA-aligned groups just shouldn’t be taking that risk either way.
I agree that there are some interventions like calling for the banning of a certain party might be net negative, even if they seem appealing at first sight. I also think that it can be possible and laudable to defend the rights of people you strongly disagree with like the ACLU does (or used to do → haven’t really followed them lately)
It might be worth pointing out to others reading this who aren’t aware that the banning of parties constituting a threat to the constitution is constitutional in Germany. It was enshrined in the German Basic Law to prevent repeating the mistakes of the Weimar Republic.
(This is not to say that banning the AfD is a good idea, I am personally sceptical about this.)
Agreed. Being able to identify effective interventions that support or protect democracy in certain contexts doesn’t necessarily seem like a bad idea.
The challenge with the AfD is that they seem to be the victims of behaviour that could be considered antidemocratic: lawmakers are considering banning the party, and the state has put the party under surveillance. This would be unconstitutional in many countries. I think there could be legitimate arguments that “protecting democracy” could sometimes involve defending groups like the AfD, as well as defending democracy from them.
I’d prefer for a politically neutral pro-democracy organisation to have the courage to defend a party like the AfD when their democratic freedoms are under threat, while also ensuring that they are stopped from damaging the democratic system. But, because this could be very messy, and have significant PR risks, I think EA-aligned groups just shouldn’t be taking that risk either way.
I agree that there are some interventions like calling for the banning of a certain party might be net negative, even if they seem appealing at first sight. I also think that it can be possible and laudable to defend the rights of people you strongly disagree with like the ACLU does (or used to do → haven’t really followed them lately)
It might be worth pointing out to others reading this who aren’t aware that the banning of parties constituting a threat to the constitution is constitutional in Germany. It was enshrined in the German Basic Law to prevent repeating the mistakes of the Weimar Republic.
(This is not to say that banning the AfD is a good idea, I am personally sceptical about this.)