Joanna:
> Do you think Germany is more racist than other European countries?
I'm reluctant to make statements about other countries, as I am not informed enough. I do get the impression from pop culture and newspapers that immigration is regarded as far more of a fait accompli in Great Britain or France. Whereas in Germany, one still tends to think of third or fourth or even fifth generation descendents of Anatolian immigrants as being "foreigners".
Openly fascist parties have less of a chance of succeeding at a national level (regional level is another story; the NPD has percentages of a mainstream party in some cities and municipalities in the East), but the mainstream has a way of appropriating racist discourse so that it really doesn't *need* the outlet of formal parties. It used to be the stated aim of the CSU (the Bavarian sister party of the CDU) to integrate all forces of the right, i.e. an organized political force to the right of the CSU was considered a taboo, whereas the base constituting such a force has its rightful place in the CSU.
There was a good article in the newspaper Jungle World a while back about how "conservatism" as an actual political tendency is an anachronism of the 19th century, representing clerical and monarchist forces at odds with both liberalism and socialism. Contemporary "conservative" programs have economic and social programs indistinguishable from the neo-liberal mainstream that encompasses other parties, so what distinguishes them as "conservatives" is basically their appeal to racism. That sounds about right to me.