Democracy Fading in Eastern Germany

The results of yesterday state elections in Brandenburg and Saxony should be a wake-up call for all Germans.  The Alternative for Germany (AfD)  - a profoundly anti-democratic party - surged to become the second largest political party in both states. The AfD gained more than 550,000 votes over the last elections, half of which came from new voters, including young voters. To make matters worse, the AfD party in those states is led by an extreme right-wing contingent (der "Flügel") that promotes the völkisch ideal of a genetically homogeneous Germanic Volk, and all others - even with German citizenship - are Auslānder who should be expelled from sacred German soil.  One gathers that the AfD would like to bring back the Nazi requirement of Ariernachweis for German citizenship.  Indeed, the rhetoric of the Flügel has its roots in Nazi propaganda: 

Ideologisch ist man sich in diesen Kreisen völlig einig mit Nazis: Es gibt ein "deutsches Volk", und zwar ein genetisch definiertes. Es ist besser als die anderen "Völker" und muss deshalb "verteidigt" werden. Zum Beispiel gegen die ständige lästige Erinnerung an die entsetzlichen Verbrechen, die dieses angeblich doch bessere "Volk" begangen hat. Und gegen die "Selbstvernichtung" durch "Multikultipropaganda" (Kalbitz).

Some observers argue that many AfD voters do not actually buy into the extremist views of its leaders, that their votes are really "protest votes."  But Andreas Kalbitz, the Afd leader in Brandenburg, is known for palling around with neo-Nazis and even hung a swastika from a hotel window in Athens.  They voted for him anyway.  I do believe that the AfD achieved its electoral success not despite the extremism of the Flügel but because of it.  In the past, the recipient of the protest vote in the east was the far-left die LINKE.  But a surprising number of these left voters have now defected to the AfD - more or less switching allegiance from Stalin to Hitler. 

The results of yesterday's vote will not just impact Brandenburg and Saxony, but have implications for the entire German nation.  From time to time, I read the daily newsletter from the political journalist/writer Gabor Steingart.  This morning Herr Steingart wrote:

"Die bisherige bundesdeutsche Normalität – wenn die CDU verliert, gewinnt die SPD – gilt schon länger nicht mehr. Auch die Geschichte des gestrigen Wahlabends ist eine Geschichte, die von einer Gesellschaft auf Wanderschaft erzählt. Sie handelt von Transformation und Disruption, die vor allem dann deutlich werden, wenn man auf die Details der Wahlanalyse schaut."

In other words, the vote yesterday was a turning point:  Germany must now come to terms with the fact that sizable number of its citizens - and not just in the east - have turned their backs on democracy.

See my earlier post: AfD Leader Björn Höcke Channels Adolf Hitler

 

Comments

[sol1]

Vorwärts nimmer - rückwärts immer:

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