For the first time in history, neo-Nazis are marching against themselves
November 18, 2014 9:59 AM   Subscribe

If you can't beat them, sponsor them: residents of Wunsiedel, Upper Franconia, the former burial place of Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, turned an annual neo-Nazi march into "Germany's most involuntary walkathon". For each meter the fascists marched, they unwittingly raised ten euros for Nazi opt-out program Exit Deutschland, which "helps right-wingers to escape from the scene and build a new life for themselves".
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark (11 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
The table with the bananas has a banner saying "Mein Mampf". 'Mampf' apparently means something like 'munchies' in German.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:12 AM on November 18, 2014 [8 favorites]


and who said Germans have no sense of humor?
posted by philip-random at 10:17 AM on November 18, 2014


I like this kind of moral jujitsu. I used to pass by a house owned by Jews that had a large wall on one side of it. Periodically, vandals would paint nazi swastikas on the wall. The next day the owners would whitewash the offending symbols, but they would be back a few days later. Finally, the owners decided to co-opt their adversaries by painting a circle with a line across it around each swastika, basically converting the nazi propaganda into ANTI-nazi propaganda. It worked, the wall was left alone after that.
posted by ubiquity at 10:24 AM on November 18, 2014 [7 favorites]


I like this. As an alternative, I could see them raising money for Jewish, Roma, Black, and LGBTQ causes. Because if you can't convince them to leave, let them know that they are marching for a good cause.
posted by quin at 10:30 AM on November 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Years back, Planned Parenthood in San Jose CA used a similar technique. They got their donors to sponsor the anti-abortion protestors. "You protest, we raise money." It reduced the number of anti people fairly quickly.
posted by njohnson23 at 10:41 AM on November 18, 2014 [6 favorites]


Okay, the two things I've clicked on from Metafilter today led to new-to-me (if 2 years old) Flight of the Conchords material and now this. I'm all grins this morning.
posted by deludingmyself at 10:58 AM on November 18, 2014


For the first time in history, neo-Nazis are marching against themselves

From a holistic perspective, one might say neo-Nazis are always marching against themselves, as they are human beings, and all fascism is anti-human.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:42 AM on November 18, 2014 [5 favorites]


...an annual neo-Nazi march...

I thought public display of any sort of Naziism was illegal in Germany?
posted by Thorzdad at 12:27 PM on November 18, 2014


Freedom of assembly and speech are also protected. The current situation is that Nazi parades and concerts must have explicitly political content to fall on the protected line.
posted by frimble at 12:59 PM on November 18, 2014


Folks also do this when the Westboro Baptist Church comes to town.
posted by feets at 8:45 PM on November 18, 2014


I love the expression involuntary walk-a-thon.
posted by Mitheral at 12:20 PM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]


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