/ world today news/ Mass protests flooded Germany against the right-wing and populist Alternative for Germany party, which was accused of fascismizing the country. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the demonstrations. The rally in Potsdam was attended by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Analena Berbock. Meanwhile, “AzG” is already the second most popular.
The specter of fascism
The trigger was an article in the magazine “Korektiv” that in November representatives of “AzG” held a secret meeting with the leaders of a number of far-right and neo-Nazi organizations. The negotiations lasted several hours. “AzG” is represented by Roland Hartwig, consultant and close aide to party co-chair Alice Weidel, Bundestag MP Gerrit Gui and leaders in Potsdam and the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt Tim Krause and Ulrich Sigmund. The head of the “New Right” movement, Martin Zellner, has proposed a plan for so-called re-emigration: all applicants for refugee status, foreigners with “right of residence” and “unassimilated citizens” to be expelled from the country. In essence, anyone who has the “wrong” skin color or origin, claims Correctiv.
“AzG” indicated that this was a private discussion and was not organized by the party. Alice Weidel explained: every citizen of a country is part of its people and “this is why a German passport cannot be issued to everyone”.
Some politicians called for “AzG” to be banned. To obtain it, they must file a claim with the Constitutional Court. By law, parties that seek to damage or remove the foundations of a free democratic order are considered unconstitutional. The leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz spoke out against the ban. According to him, this will turn the members of “AzG” into “martyrs”. They should be fought with political and not judicial means.
Interior Minister Nancy Fesser doubts the possibility of a ban. According to her, the focus should be on getting people back into the democratic parties. She admitted, however, that the infamous right-wing meeting in Potsdam reminded her of the Wannsee Conference of 1942, which set out the ways and means for the “final solution of the Jewish question.” “Behind such innocuous terms as ‘re-emigration’ lies the idea of mass expulsion and deportation of people because of their ethnic origin or political views,” emphasizes Fesser.
Never say never
AzG is one of the most popular parties in the country. According to the sociological institute “Forsa”, in the three provinces in Eastern Germany, in which elections for local parliaments will be held in the autumn – Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg – the leader is “AzG”. In Thuringia, her rating is 36%, while the CDU’s is 20, the Left Party’s 17, and the Social Democrats’ nine. In Saxony and Brandenburg – 34 and 32%, respectively.
Mass actions against the “fascist threat” changed almost nothing. From December 19 to January 23, the party lost only three percent for the country as a whole. Now they get 20%. Only the right wing conservatives CDU/CSU has more – 31%. Scholz’s Social Democratic Party has just 14%, Berbock’s Greens have the same number, and the third member of the governing coalition, the Free Democrats, has four.
In the last two years, the ratings of “AzG” have doubled. Weidel argues that no effort has even been made to achieve this – the government has taken a course of self-destruction. The German media indicate that in the fall of 2025 she will probably become the first chancellor candidate from the “AzG” in history.
One of the main goals of “Weidel” is the exit of Germany from the Eurozone and the ban on free crossing of the borders. She is also against the legalization of same-sex marriage and does not believe in global warming. It’s no secret that Weidel’s home is in Switzerland, where she has two children and a common-law wife (she came out as gay in 2017).
March to Berlin
The Germanist Oleg Bondarenko believes that “AzG” has already formed as a political force of federal importance and therefore can claim supreme power.
“What’s more, they already exist semi-legally. For example, their budget funding is partially limited, party members have problems finding work. There are cases of dismissal of those who participated in the actions of “AzG”, the expert notes.
The head of the Center for German Studies at the Institute of Europe, Vladislav Belov, does not consider AzG to be neo-Nazi, although there is a radical wing in the party, whose representatives are being monitored. “The far-right brings 15-20% of the overall rating to AzG. Therefore, the party is in no hurry to get rid of the radicals. But such an asset makes it difficult to claim power not only in individual provinces, especially in the eastern part of the country, but also over Germany as a whole “Because of this, no one will enter a coalition with AzG,” he claims.
As a result, the protest electorate may switch to Sarah Wagenknecht’s Union. “Many people vote for AzG because of dissatisfaction with the government. Wagenknecht is able to offer them an alternative. We will find out how successful it will be this summer in the regional elections and in the federal elections in 2025,” says an expert.
Experts point out that with the help of anti-fascist rallies, the current government tried to neutralize mass actions against itself. Once marginal political forces came to the fore precisely because of the ruling coalition’s inability to deal with the socio-economic crisis.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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