Neo-Nazis gathered in a small German town found themselves the target of an anti-fascist prank this week when they inadvertently raised €10,000 for an anti-extremist organisation.
For decades, far-right extremists have marched through Wunsiedel in Bavaria every year, to the despair of those who live there. This year, the organisers of Rechts gegen Rechts (Right against Right) took a different approach.
Without the marchers’ knowledge, local residents and businesses sponsored the 250 participants of the march on 15 November in what was dubbed Germany’s “most involuntary walkathon”. For every metre they walked, €10 went to a programme called EXIT Deutschland, which helps people escape extremist groups.
Campaigners hung humorous posters to make the march look more like a sporting event, with slogans such as “If only the Führer knew!” and “Mein Mampf” (my munch) next to a table laden with bananas. They even hung a sign at the end, thanking the marchers for their “donations”.
Neo-Nazis are attracted to the town because Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess was once buried there. Though his remains were exhumed in 2011 and his grave was destroyed, far-right extremists still flock to the town year after year. Residents have attempted protests and numerous legal complaints to no avail – Wunsiedel is still treated as a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis all over Europe.
One of Rechts gegen Rechts’ organisers Fabian Wichmann, an education researcher at EXIT, told German news agency DPA: “We want to show what else you can do, what other courses of action you have. You can do more than just block the street or close the shutters.”
For once, the FB comments were actually worth reading!
David Wenidoppler : i guess they... did Nazi that coming
Kevin Gallagher : Did jew?
Jan Anthony Mendoza : Kevin that pun was outside Mein Kampf-ort zone.
If this is worth posting, isn't it worth posting without making shit up? The Neo-Nazis weren't tricked into doing anything, a third party donated to an anti-extremism cause in response to their march.
Grumman wrote:If this is worth posting, isn't it worth posting without making shit up? The Neo-Nazis weren't tricked into doing anything, a third party donated to an anti-extremism cause in response to their march.
Eh, no they were definitely tricked. The donation was per meter of the march. If the Neo Nazis had simply cancelled the march, nothing would have been donated.
Grumman wrote:If this is worth posting, isn't it worth posting without making shit up? The Neo-Nazis weren't tricked into doing anything, a third party donated to an anti-extremism cause in response to their march.
Eh, no they were definitely tricked. The donation was per meter of the march. If the Neo Nazis had simply cancelled the march, nothing would have been donated.
No. They were not tricked. For them to have been tricked it would mean they would have to have had zero foreknowledge of their opponents plan.
We pissing our pants yet?
-Negan
You got your shittin' pants on? Because you’re about to Shit. Your. Pants!
-Negan
He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches.
-George Bernard Shaw
Grumman wrote:If this is worth posting, isn't it worth posting without making shit up? The Neo-Nazis weren't tricked into doing anything, a third party donated to an anti-extremism cause in response to their march.
Eh, no they were definitely tricked. The donation was per meter of the march. If the Neo Nazis had simply cancelled the march, nothing would have been donated.
No, that's the kind of stupidity that gave us the heckler's veto. Shoddy logic is shoddy logic even when the people on the receiving end are assholes. If a bunch of Neo-Nazis donated to the Adolf Hitler Memorial Fund for every meter of an anti-extremism march, it would be absurd to claim that the anti-extremism campaigners were tricked into supporting Nazism, right? Well it's still just as absurd when it's the other way around.
Yeah, not so certain the heckler's veto really applies here. If the heckler's veto was actually relevant to this case, this news story never would have happened in the first place, because the Neo-Nazis would have been stopped from congregating there YEARS ago. The citizens of Wunsiedel have been trying to keep the Neo-Nazi rallies from happening there for a very long time. The entire reason this happened was because the heckler's veto scenario never transpired, so the citizens changed their approach to dealing with the situation.
That said, "tricked" certainly seems appropriate, as from what the article describes the Neo-Nazis did not realize this donation bit was going down until they got to the "finish line".
Borgholio wrote:How so? Doesn't the heckler's veto require the marchers to actually stop what they were doing?
It is not a heckler's veto, but it is the same wrong-headed mindset behind the heckler's veto, that you are responsible for what your opponents do in response to your free speech. A third party donated money to EXIT Deutschland, and they were fully capable of doing this or not doing this regardless of what the Neo-Nazis did.
