The rise of the AfD in Germany
Since Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) was first founded in 2013, the goals of the party and its success in German politics have both shifted dramatically. Originally founded as a Eurosceptic party, its main thrust was opposing the bailouts of indebted EU member states such as Greece. Support for AfD then grew as it moved its focus to immigration and Islam, campaigning against Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel’s policy of welcoming nearly a million non-EU migrants to Germany in 2015. Despite the party being increasingly seen as far-right in its tone, it still has a relatively moderate wing. This wing has helped to bring in almost a million new voters to the party from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), and half a million from the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Now in 2019, with members of AfD flirting with neo-Nazi language, rallying support through xenophobic and authoritarian rhetoric and playing on the fears and complaints of former East Germans, are we set to see a far-right party taking over the Bundestag?
Boasting more than 23,000 members, the AfD is not only the current largest opposition party in the Bundestag but it has also managed to win seats in the European parliament and all the state parliaments. Just two months before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, AfD came second in both Brandenburg and Saxony September 2019 elections, symbolising to many the increasing division between former East and West Germany. The AfD won 23.5 per cent of the vote in Brandenburg, just 2.7 per cent below the ruling centre-left SPD. In Saxony, it won 27.5 per cent of the vote, only 4.6 per cent behind Merkel’s centre-right CDU. Now in November 2019, Dresden, the capital city of Saxony, is in a declared state of ‘Nazinotstand’ (‘Nazi emergency’). Many are left asking - why are so many German citizens starting to support more extreme parties?
There are multiple factors that have contributed to the rise in support for Alternativ für Deutschland. Some would argue that racism and xenophobia are the largest factors for this phenomenon. Former Chair of AfD Frauke Petry faced backlash for her interview with the Mannheim Morgen newspaper, as she supported the use of firearms ‘if necessary’ in the attempts by police to stop migrants crossing illegally from Austria. The last German politician who condoned shooting at the border was Communist East German leader, Erich Honecker, thus Petry’s remarks were condemned as radical and inhumane by the other parties. Despite such inflammatory rhetoric, the AfD are succeeding in siphoning off voters from the moderate centre parties. In some instances, a far-right member will voice extreme opinions to attract right-wing voters, only for a moderate member of the party to then qualify their colleague’s remarks to deliver a more palatable message to a wider electorate.
Other factors are rooted in deep historical resentments since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It is generally in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) where the AfD party is performing the strongest; polling over 20%, perhaps due to former East Germans maintaining they are yet to see the promised benefits of the reunification. AfD draw on this discontent in the former GDR and even use the slogan ‘let’s complete the change’ in their campaign. This rhetoric harks back to the ‘Wende’ (‘the turning point’) of 1990 after the reunification of Germany, which many former East Germans view as unfinished business of the state. Despite huge investment from the richer West Germany, for many people, the economic restructuring that happened after reunification did not transform their lives as they had originally hoped. The AfD are using the feelings of former ‘Ossis’ (colloquial term for Germans from former East Germany) who regard themselves as 2nd class citizens in Germany and playing on their desires for migrants to be below them as a ‘3rd class’. The irony that so many of the leading members in the party are from the West has not, however, hindered the success of these campaigns.
It is important to take into account the shock of reunification 30 years ago which resulted in changes to the social fabric of Germany and has continued as the country has become more and more multicultural ever since. Those citizens who grew up in former East Germany lived in an insulated society, so have perhaps struggled to deal with the integration of different cultures and ideas into their country today. AfD campaigners have also been known to play on cultural security concerns stemming from bigoted views against migrants: an example of this was seen in campaigns such as‘Burkas? Wir steh’n auf Bikins’ (‘Burkas? We prefer bikins.’), which were posted around Germany. These posters link the motivations of AfD with PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) as they dismiss and condemn the customs and traditions of Muslims looking to live in Germany. The AfD have also adopted some of PEGIDA’s anti-establishment rhetoric, such as the slogan ‘Lügenpresse’ (‘lying press’), to combat critics accusing the party of Islamophobia and racism. This word, commonly used by the Nazis, is now seen on banners at AfD rallies, again adding to the party’s far-right tone.
So, where can we expect to see the AfD party in the future? As of last week, 17 members of Merkel’s party put forward a letter calling for a lift on the cordon sanitaire (an agreement to exclude extreme parties from mainstream politics). These CDU members want to go against the party line and ask for open conversation with all of Germany’s parties; including AfD. The proposal has been condemned within CDU’s national leadership. CDU party secretary Paul Ziemiak called the Thuringian leader of AfD, Björn Höcke, ‘a Nazi’ as he argued to Der Spiegel newspaper that a governing alliance would amount to ‘a betrayal of our Christian Democratic values’. With such a division of opinion within the CDU, it will be gripping to see what these party members want to discuss. Could Merkel’s CDU and the far-right AfD be nearing cooperation?
