By Oliver Bradley
According to a December Forsa Trend-Barometer poll taken for RTL/n-tv network, AfD could count on just under 25% of the vote in a nationwide election.
Germany’s far right political party, the ‘’Alternative for Germany’’ (AfD) has come under increasing fire by large swathes of German society fearing the steady rise in the party’s popularity, confirmed by leading polls.
Large demonstrations against the AfD with protestors numbering in the tens of thousands have become an almost weekly ritual in cities throughout Germany. A recent Berlin protest saw over 150,000 demonstrating against the AfD.
Reason for the protests was probably less the blistering media coverage of the participation of two senior party members at a meeting, last November, with leaders of the extreme right-wing ‘’Identitarian Movement’’ (IM) – crusaders of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory that claim non-white migrants are plotting to replace Europe’s “native” white population. Rather, the AfD’s chances at winning a majority of votes in several upcoming regional and the EU-parliamentary elections has raised fears that Germany might actually be slipping uncontrollably towards the right.
The AfD-IM meeting took place in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam, a stone’s throw from the Wannsee Villa where the murder of Europe’s Jews had been planned by the Nazis, in 1942. The meeting included discussions to consider planned mass deportation of citizens of foreign origin should their far-right ideologies gain electoral majorities.
The mass protests have also included voices from the cultural sector who have been increasingly declaring ‘’hate-free’’ zones around cultural venues, Germany-wide. This week, the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) joined the bandwagon by disinviting five previously invited AfD politicians from the gala-opening of this year’s Berlinale after days of heated discussions in the cultural sector, in the press and on social media as well as within the Berlinale team about the invitations that had been extended.
The current discourse has highlighted the commitment of many of Berlin’s leading political and civic players to increase their vigilance against right-wing extremism, including the Berlinale. According to a recent Berlinale press statement, the festival has committed itself to upholding democratic values and to fight all forms of right-wing extremism. Festival leaders have repeatedly pointed out that they observe with concern how anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim resentment, hate speech and other anti-democratic and discriminatory attitudes are on the rise in Germany.
Like the protestors of the mass-demonstrations of recent weeks, the leaders of the Berlinale, concerned about the realistic prospects of right-wing extremists gaining majorities in parliaments, took a clear stance by disinviting AfD from the Berlinale.
“Especially in light of the revelations that have been made in recent weeks about explicitly anti-democratic positions and individual politicians of the AfD, it is important for us – as the Berlinale and as a team – to take an unequivocal stand in favour of an open democracy. We have therefore today written to all previously invited AfD politicians and informed them that they are not welcome at the Berlinale,” said outgoing Berlinale director-duo, Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.
The AfD was born in 2013 as a Euro-sceptic party primarily made up of disgruntled Christian Democrats who did not agree with former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-left economic policy. The party’s radicalization purportedly began when Merkel opened Germany’s doors to millions of asylum seekers in the wake of the Syrian war, in 2015. Particularly eastern Germans, having known little immigration until 1989, were particularly attracted to the AfD’s anti-migrant, homophobic, revisionist and often outright racist calls. What began as a party focusing on conservative economic policy has become a home to a growing segment of the population seeking a homogeneous society of limited immigration – not to mention mass deportations.
According to a December Forsa Trend-Barometer poll taken for RTL/n-tv network, AfD could count on just under 25% of the vote in a nationwide election.
The Berlin International Film Festival will run from 15-25 February.
https://www.berlinale.de/en/home.html