Germany<\/a>\u2018s far-right.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cHow should we deal with the fascists who are entering parliaments and taking to the streets?\u201d Danger Dan asked the Berlin audience. \u201cHow do we deal with right-wing violence that is exploding and becoming increasingly brutal?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHow do we help people [who] fear leaving their homes because Nazis are patrolling?\u201d added Levit. \u201cHow can one alleviate their fear and show them they are not alone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tZDF director General Norbert Himmler defended the decision to pull the band. Their new song is \u201ca manual for violent left-wing resistance,\u201d Himmler told German newspaper S\u00fcddeutschen Zeitung. The lyrics to \u201cKeine Angst\u201d include lines suggesting activists out \u201cnazi pigs\u201d by doxxing far-right extremists. The song ends with a what appears to be a friendly greeting to left-wing activists who have been either convicted of, or are on trial for, violent attacks against members of the far-right.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut not everyone agrees with ZDF\u2019s decision. The hosts of Die Anstalt called the network\u2019s decision \u201ccowardly,\u201d and used their show to argue that ZDF should have let Levit and Danger Dan perform. The comedians attended Tuesday\u2019s concert, sitting in the front row.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn an open letter on Monday, eight members of ZDF\u2019s television council called out Himmler for pulling the song.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cZDF missed an opportunity to spark a debate about right-wing extremism in Germany and the various ways to combat it,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cThe cancellation of the performance by Danger Dan and Igor Levit thus demonstrates not only a lack of courage but also a lack of trust in the program\u2019s editorial team\u2026We fear this could have a chilling effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe debate is coming against the backdrop of rising support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a xenophobic and anti-migrant party that is currently leading national opinion polls. Many consider the AfD a threat to German democracy and have called for the party to be banned. The party is not currently in power anywhere in the country but that could change this year. The AfD is within striking distance of achieving an absolute majority in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s talk about fascism, baby. That was the message from German musicians Danger Dan and Igor Levit at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18,5,355,41,358,3435],"class_list":["post-59422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-berlin","tag-germany","tag-international","tag-music","tag-politics","tag-zdf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}