The far-right National Democratic Party has published a political comic book, with allegorical animal characters, aimed at bringing its anti-democratic, anti-immigrant message to a younger audience.

"Ducks versus Chickens" is the title of a new comic book published by the NPD, designed to convert disaffected young people to its racist right-wing cause. The comic, whose first edition runs 30,000 copies, is to be distributed free of charge, and represents "the first in a series of political comics," an NPD statement said.

Structured as an allegorical fable with a strong, overarching moral, the story, told in rhyming couplets, revolves around a peaceful community of ducks who live in a colorful, bucolic paradise, "in a free land, far from our times." The ducks live there happily, sharing their food in a primitive socialist community.

The comic then shows how this harmonious duck-land is invaded by an influx of chicken guests, who complain that an "evil fox" has driven them there. With their higher fertility rate, the chickens quickly multiply and dominate duck-land. The chickens also tempt the good, happy ducks into materialism, drug abuse, criminality and homosexuality, causing a general decay in duck society.

Borrowing from Nazi propaganda

In the far-right comic book, the chickens are seen taking over neighboring lands from the native geese and swans and enslaving the inhabitants of these other poultry-based countries, who occasionally die as martyrs if they resist. The final message is then unequivocally aggressive, exhorting its readers to fight the immigrants, shut borders to newcomers, and "don't follow foreign birds."

With its provocative, anti-immigrant message and eye-catching, populist aesthetic, the comic's style owes much to the Nazi propaganda of the late 1920s and early 1930s, which often used animal metaphors to portray foreigners as the root of social ills. Nazi mythology also frequently imagined a pre-capitalist idyll of pure, simple communities.

The book also borrows from the lilting, rhyming style of German children's storiese, clearly aiming to seduce young readers.

NPD strongest in Saxony 

The NPD is currently fighting election campaigns in a number of German states. Its best chance of gaining entry to a state parliament is in Saxony, where a state election will be held on Aug. 30. After winning 9.2 percent of the Saxon vote in 2004, the right-wing party has dramatically lost voters, according to a recent poll, and currently stands only slightly above the vital five percent threshold.

Deusche Welle Newspaper