‘Crime is out of hand’: how young people turned to far right in east German city
Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote in the European elections, with particular support in the east
Paul Friedrich, 16, could not wait to cast his first ballot and had no doubt which German party had earned his support in the watershed European elections.
“Correct, I voted AfD,” he said proudly in the bustle of the commuter railway station in Brandenburg an der Havel, an hour from central Berlin.
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland made particularly stunning gains on Sunday among young voters. For the first time in a national poll, 16- and 17-year-olds could cast their ballots – a reform that had been strongly backed by left-leaning parties.
After overwhelmingly supporting the Greens five years ago, Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote – an 11-point rise – helping place the party second behind the opposition CDU-CSU conservatives and well ahead of the Social Democrats of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
The AfD tapped deep wells of support in the former communist east, winning in every state including Brandenburg, where it claimed 27.5% of the vote.
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And his concerns echo those of many teenagers and twentysomethings in town: fears of war spreading in Europe, inflation, economic decline, “unchecked” immigration and, above all, violent crime, which they say is rampant when they use public transport or hang out in public spaces at night.
Being concerned about "unchecked immigration" in Brandenburg an der Havel of all places. This town has lost more than a quarter of its population since 1990. It has no immigration problem but an emigration problem.
I'm honestly baffled by how immigration in Germany is supposed to be a problem. We have a horribly low birth rate. Our retirement security is basically gone because there won't be enough working people. Retirement homes, hospitals, kindergartens, all these places suffer from a lack of personnel. These jobs are notoriously stressful, have horrible working conditions, and underpay extremely.
The free market has obviously failed to solve this problem. Even with unions and tariffs: An increase of 1€ per hour does a good living not make. Neither are bonuses a long term solution. And even if you made these jobs attractive af: we will still not have enough people choosing them anytime soon. And even if we did, it's simply still not enough people in the workforce to secure pension for the elderly and generations to come.
And let's be very real for a second here. Skilled immigration from third countries (i.e. not EU, not talking about third world here) isn't an easy ride. These high paying job offers of privileged jobs like IT or science are not going away but they are also rather rare. It's a niche thing compared to the waves of immigration of, well, low paying and often low skilled jobs.
And while I can "understand" if an asshole wants to cut the former, why would you want to cut the latter? Jesus, no one is stealing your job because I doubt you want to work cleaning toilets at McDonald's. If you want to go wipe asses in retirement homes you'll find a job stat no matter whether the Ukrainian, Romanian or Syrian girls apply too.
We are literally insanely exploitative of immigrants. We either have a brain drain from countries that immensely need them, or cause them to have a demographic crisis of their own by buffering our birth rates with their people, or we simply give them jobs that pay so little that they hardly survive. All that while doing shit for their integration into society. But they still pay taxes and buy products in the supermarket and ride the tram and everything. We get all the positives and they get all the negatives. Why would you even want to get rid of that if you're a cunt?
This is the case in essentially every developed nation. Immigration is not just beneficial, but necessary for the wheels of capitalism to churn. Not sure what people think is going to happen when those who pick fruit for cash under the table or those who man the Taco Bell drive-thru at 2 am are deported, but I'm guessing their plan doesn't involve applying for those jobs themselves.