cmv: Neo Nazism is on the rise both in popularity and in terms of political power

Although obvious, I will say that neo Nazism (as if self evident) is abhorrent. I only say this so it is not thought my post is being celebratory in any way of this trend.

This will be a bit disordered, but bear with it as I put a bunch of statistics here, then I'll get onto my reasoning:

The ADL's Center on Extremism counted 282 events organised or attended by white supremacists in 2023, a 63 percent increase from the 173 recorded in 2022

The far-right AfD is polling at 21% ahead of Germany's snap election in February, up from 10% or so in the 2021 election. The AfD has numerous links to neo Nazism:

It is enthusiastically supported by neo Nazis

The party was expelled from the far-right bloc of the European Parliament called ID after its lead candidate Maximilian Krah commented that not all members of the Waffen SS were criminals and individual guilt needed to be established

Their leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, questioned why "Lebensraum" is still taboo, branded Berlin's Holocaust memorial "a monument of shame". Germany's AfD Thuringian branch has been characterised as right wing extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence service. He referred to a political opponent as "Volksverderber" or corrupter of the people which is a term used by Hitler in "Mein Kampf". It is speculated that he has studied Goebbels's speeches. Björn Höcke almost definitely wrote in a neo Nazi magazine under the pseudonym "Landolf Ladig". He also said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2017 that "The big problem is one presents Hitler as absolutely evil (...) But of course we know that there is no black and white in history". Höcke has criticised the idea that the defeat of Nazi Germany should be seen as a liberation of Germany. He has also been found criminally liable for using a Nazi slogan.

The AfD's leader Alice Weidel also said the defeat of Germany in 1945 should not be seen as a liberation.

The winner of the 2023 Dutch elections, Geert Wilders, ran in 2017 on a platform of banning all mosques and said that in some ways Islam is worse than Nazism and has been brought to court for hate speech.

In Austria Herbert Kickl of the Freedom Party came first in the recent elections with 29% of the vote. His slogans include "Viennese blood-too many foreigners does no one any good". He has pledged to be a Volkskanzler (people's chancellor) the term used by Adolf Hitler before führer. When he was interior minister in a coalition government he suggested "concentrating" refugees in centralised facilities. His platform includes building "Fortress Austria" with strict border controls, forced deportations, a suspension of asylum rights for refugees and the stripping of Austrian citizenship from asylum seekers for life. Kickl calls his political opponents "traitors" and said he wants to put unfriendly journalists on "arrest lists". The Freedom Party was founded by former SS men in the 1950s.

Anecdotally, whenever I see any content on Instagram pertaining to World War Two in any measure the comments section is flooded with pro Hitler comments and/or Holocaust denialism. Although social media is a fairly poor proxy for general population thought this was worth noting.

This is without mentioning Donald Trump, who won the popular vote for the first time out of his three attempts. Apart from what John Kelly said about Trump saying Hitler did some good things, whether or not Trump is a neo Nazi he definitely enabled neo Nazism in his first term (through his statement that a Unite The Right rally might have had some fine people when it was a white nationalist rally, his ardent defence of symbols of the Confederacy, and his call for the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by). And also the fact he put Elon Musk into the cabinet, who made a Nazi salute that sent American neo Nazis into gleeful paeans of praise.