The report notes "a growing trend among far-right groups to use music to recruit young people".
Widerstands Radio (Resistance Radio) broadcasts music and ideology reflecting neo-Nazi views - something which is illegal in Germany. Prosecutors say those held face charges of forming a criminal organisation and inciting racial hatred. Police said the suspects were in their 20s and 30s and were believed to have broadcast on the station, or helped to organise the broadcasts.
The Federal Crime Office (BKA) said the 24-hour station used a computer server in the US and listeners would register under false names and addresses.
"[The] investigations are a strong hint to people running other extreme-right internet radio stations that dissemination of songs with extreme-right wing and xenophobic lyrics, even on the internet, will be pursued," said BKA head Joerg Ziercke.
He said they had noticed a growing trend among far-right groups to use music to recruit young people. Last month, the BKA said that over the past decade the number of people with the potential to carry out far-right violence in Germany had doubled to around 9,000. The BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin says the arrests come during an intense debate in Germany over immigration, particularly from Muslim countries.
Source: BBC News
Oh horrors!!!! They were listening to music with mean lyrics!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that Germany is taking on such serious criminals—kids with a radio station.
Germany has real problems, a tiny underground radio station with unpopular content is hardly one of them.
The refrain "they are using music to recruit youth" is stupid.
I feel so much safer now.
They were not just "listening to music with mean lyrics" but broadcasting it in order to help build the Nazi movement in Germany. Nazis "using music to recruit youth" is precisely what is happening. If you think that is a stupid idea then you don't know anything about Blood and Honour, Resistance Records or any of the other perfectly explicit and well documented attempts by Fascists to... use music to recruit (as well as raise money to promote their cause). The National Alliance (ultra-Nazi William Pierce's sect) even invested in, and bought up the 'Resistance' label & fanzine because they understand that not only is the business lucrative but it helps them recruit among youth. It's not even as though Fascists deny doing this themselves, so why are you so keen to step into the breach to defend them, even if it means calling a well-documented and long proven idea 'stupid'? Oh, let me guess...
ReplyDeleteGermany does have a real problem with Anti-fa attacking music fans outside gigs of their choice. It's been an issue at WGT for years and it seems they have carte blanche to practice their thuggery. I wonder when the authorities will wake up and decide to stop that?
ReplyDeleteThe usual paranoia about Antifa I see. How many racist attacks have there been in Germany this year? How much Fascist street violence, etc? And yet it's the Antifa that worry you? You should get a sense of proportion. Occasionally, but rarely, 'non-combatants' get caught up in Anti-fa actions, but antifa have no meaningful record of attacking 'non-combatants'. Nazi violence, on the other hand, is almost invariably aimed at random targets (Black, Jewish, Asian, Muslim, Gay - you know the score). But that doesn't bother you in the slightest.
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me; I recommend the (new) book 'Beating the Fascists' by Sean Birchall, a really excellent history of Anti-Fascist Action and their long history of successful opposition to Britain's Fascists.
What does racist attacks have to do with the anti-fa attacking music fans at WGT?
ReplyDeleteNazis make racist, etc., attacks. Antifa oppose Nazis. In attacking WGT Antifa would be trying to target Nazis. I understand you to imply that some non-Nazis were hurt. I have no idea at all if that is true, but if it is then any such attack would be ultimately counter-productive (If it's true). Of course, any such mistakes are made more likely when you are dealing with a scene that harbours so many pro-Fascist bands, so it is clearly in everyone's interests to isolate and identify the Fascists.
ReplyDeleteI emphasise that I wouldn't condemning anyone for liking this or that genre of music or 'scene' - but it is in everyone's interests to draw a clear line between Fascists and non-Fascists within any milieu. This is made harder by people who will complain at length about Antifa without ever putting their activism in the proper context - which is one of extensive neo-Nazi organisation and widespread racist attacks.
Are those nazi gnomes chocolate?
ReplyDeleteI'd eat one!!