Nation at a crossroads: mass protests against the far right shake Germany

In late January, a wave of mass protests against the far right swept through Germany. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and more than 90 other cities, united by a belief in the diversity and plurality of German society and a determination to defend this cornerstone of the country’s democracy. Some protests were cut short due to overcrowding, and at the time of writing, more rallies are planned for the upcoming weeks.

The protests were sparked by a recent investigation published by the journalist collective Correctiv on 15 January 2024, which exposed the details of a far-right meeting that took place in November 2023. Organised by a known neo-Nazi, with a prominent figure of the white supremacist Identitarian Movement as one the keynote speakers, the meeting was attended by higher-ups from the far-right party ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD). Notably, the now-resigned personal aide of party co-leader Alice Weidel and several AfD Members of Parliament were present – as well as at least one member of conservative party CDU and board members of CDU-affiliated organisations.

The investigation brought to light disturbing details of plans for the mass deportation (cynically referred to as “remigration”) of millions of people from Germany should the AfD enter power. This would include asylum seekers and people with indefinite leave to remain as well as German citizens with a so-called “migration background” (this denotes people who either migrated to Germany themselves or have at least one parent that is not a German citizen by birth) – a prime example of a flawed statistical category appropriated by the far right and turned into a racist dog whistle. For context, 23.8 million people, 28.7% of Germany’s population, fell into this category in 2022. Potential targets of these deportation fantasies also included political opponents such as pro-asylum activists.

There is no shortage of ominous historical parallels to draw from. The plans have been compared to the Madagascar Plan of 1940, where Nazi leaders seriously considered the idea of deporting all Jewish people to Madagascar and, perhaps due to the meeting’s location at a cosy country house in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, the Wannsee Conference of 1942, at which the administrative and logistical details of the Holocaust were finalised.

However, the threat posed to German democracy by the AfD is not merely a repetition of the rise of fascism in the 1920s and ‘30s

However, the threat posed to German democracy by the AfD is not merely a repetition of the rise of fascism in the 1920s and ‘30s. The German take on democracy has since evolved to be more resilient and less vulnerable, so those seeking to undermine it have adopted new strategies to project an image of bourgeois respectability, substituting rallies, uniforms, and “total war” with pearl necklaces, blazers, and racist dog-whistling. Leading figures of the AfD are well-spoken and educated – were supported by excellence scholarships during their studies – and have law degrees which provide them an understanding of the legal and political system, as well as the ways in which it can be exploited and eventually dismantled.

The AfD has been flying especially high in polls since the summer of 2023, consistently polling at 20–23%. The party looks set to come first in all three regional elections that are scheduled to take place later this year in the east German states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg. Due to the highly federalised nature of the German political system, an AfD-led government, even at the regional level, would have far-reaching implications for local policing and education, to name just two policy areas.

At the federal level, current trends have seen the government, consisting of the social-democratic SPD, the Greens, and the liberal FDP, lose its majority in polls. If elections were held today, the AfD, CDU, and CSU (the CDU’s Bavarian sister party) combined would likely have just over half the vote and could therefore govern together. While leading CDU figures have dismissed any claims of a potential collaboration with the AfD and stressed the importance of presenting a united front against the far right, it is unclear whether this would hold in practice. The presence of CDU party members at the meeting in November suggests there is a faction of the party that would not be opposed to collaborating with fascists.

Beyond its remarkable electoral successes, the AfD’s biggest achievement, and arguably the most serious threat it poses to German democracy, lies not in the votes and supporters the party has garnered, but in its ability to shift political discourse in Germany and wield agenda-setting power

In fact, the AfD is already tolerated by regional conservative parties in some instances: On 24 January, the Bavarian regional parliament confirmed the appointment of new judges to the Bavarian Constitutional Court, two of them being AfD politicians. This was only possible because MPs from the CSU and Freie Wähler (a minor centre-right party) voted in favour of the appointment. Meanwhile, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, Alice Weidel freely admitted the AfD was in no hurry, more than happy to play the long game. One of the aims of the meeting in Potsdam appears to have been fundraising for future electoral and disinformation campaigns.

Beyond its remarkable electoral successes, the AfD’s biggest achievement, and arguably the most serious threat it poses to German democracy, lies not in the votes and supporters the party has garnered, but in its ability to shift political discourse in Germany and wield agenda-setting power. For one, the topics that were seen as crucial in recent regional elections in Hesse and Bavaria (namely, migration) work in the AfD’s favour. Moreover, substantial parts of the respectable, democratic parties have adopted the far right’s talking points when it comes to migration. In a recent interview with Der Spiegel, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Angela Merkel’s successor as the head of the Federal Government, said: “We need to deport people more often and faster.”

Even more concerningly, this shift is not merely taking place at the level of speech but has already found its way into legislation. A new migration law was passed on 18 January, creating a stricter regime for the deportation of irregular migrants and infringing on some of their basic rights. When the law was debated, the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser (SPD), described Germany as “a country that shows solidarity. Those coming to us to escape war and terror can rely on our protection and our support.” Solidarity, protection, and support appear to be loosely defined here given the controversial “asylum compromise” EU member states reached in Summer 2023, which human rights NGO Amnesty International warned would “set back European asylum law for decades to come” and lead to “a surge in suffering”.

While alarming due to their far-reaching nature, their strong financial backing, and the ties to established parties, far-right “remigration” fantasies and extremist ideologies are not a new phenomenon in German politics. Between 2000–2007, the National-Socialist Underground (NSU), a neo-Nazi terror group, murdered 10 people. On 22 July 2016, the anniversary of prominent right-wing extremist Anders Breivik’s 2011 massacre of left-wing youth activists, nine people were killed at a shopping centre in northern Munich. Between 2018–2021, death threats signed “NSU 2.0” were sent to predominantly female left-wing and anti-racist writers, politicians, and activists; in 2019, Walter Lübcke (CDU), a local Hesse politician and supporter of Angela Merkel’s pro-refugee policies, was assassinated; on 19 February 2020, ten people were murdered in Hanau near Frankfurt, targeted on the grounds of their supposed otherness. A climate of fear has been a lived reality for many people in Germany for years now, yet far-right hate crimes and terrorist attacks have long been dismissed as isolated incidents.

If the straits German democracy is entering are as dire as the evidence suggests, what is to be done to prevent the obvious historical parallels from reasserting themselves once again? There is certainly value in speaking out against fascistic, inhumane deportation plans and taking to the streets – because qui tacet consentire videtur: those who remain silent appear to consent. However, as encouraging as the spectacular turnout at the recent protests has been, symbolism on its own is not enough.

At the institutional level, demands to ban AfD, which were already discussed prior to the publication of Correctiv’s investigation, have grown louder

Rather than paying lip service to the values of plural democracy, democratic parties should reconsider how they position themselves in terms of policy. Is trying to outflank the AfD on the right and outmanoeuvre it on a terrain that works to its advantage really the way to go when trying to win back voters?

At the institutional level, demands to ban AfD, which were already discussed prior to the publication of Correctiv’s investigation, have grown louder. Germany’s self-image is that of a decidedly resilient democracy, ready, able, and willing to defend itself against those who seek to undermine its very foundations. In this spirit, Article 21 of the German constitution allows for banning parties if they seek to overthrow the constitutional order and have a realistic chance of achieving this goal. Unlike the NPD, a neo-nazi party that the Federal Constitutional Court considered banning back in 2017, but which ultimately faded into irrelevance, AfD ticks both of these boxes.

There is also the option of temporarily stripping individuals of their constitutional rights if they pose a threat to the constitutional order, effectively limiting their right to free speech and depriving them of the opportunity to run for office. One such figure is Björn Höcke, leader of the Thuringian division of the AfD which is currently being monitored by the Federal Government as an officially confirmed right-wing extremist organisation. A petition calling for the opening of such proceedings against Höcke had garnered more than 1.5 million signatories at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether some AfD voters will be swayed back and steered into more democratic waters once again given the shock value of the most recent revelations, or whether the mass expulsion of millions of people is precisely what 20% of the German population wants to see happen in the next few years. Germany votes again in 2025, and the time until then might prove decisive if German democracy is to survive in its current form.