“We are the largest party in Thuringia. They should not call us right-wing extremists. This country needs change, and only the AfD can bring it.”
The leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, once again protested yesterday on German television against the “shameful” label attached to him.
A label that keeps its party on the fringes of politics in Germany… even if the AfD is now seeking, in certain regions, first place, up to a third of the votes cast, and the same proportion in seats.
But in a unanimous movement of the other parties, all the political leaderships agreed, on Sunday evening, on the left, in the centre and on the right, to immediately refuse any possibility of a government coalition which would include this “plague victim”.
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Fifty days earlier, in neighbouring France, this time through the unique mechanism of a two-round legislative election, political parties of all persuasions had joined forces (tactically, because they hate each other) to reduce the influence of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. This party thus went from 33% of the vote in the first round to 25% of the seats in the second round.
(A word in passing on electoral mechanics and the immense difference it can make… If, hypothetically, France had voted on June 30 in a single-round election, then the National Rally would have won an absolute majority of seats with a third of the vote. Coincidentally, this is precisely the feat that Keir Starmer’s British Labour Party would achieve four days later, having — according to the headlines — “swept” the electoral scene. In fact, in terms of “sweeping,” it won almost two-thirds of the seats… with 33.7% of the votes cast and 20% of those registered.)
On the other hand, in Italy, and this time through the play of very accommodating right-wing coalitions, Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party, often described as “post-fascist”, came to power in 2022 and has been in power for almost two years.
Should we call all these fine people “extreme right”? The term is morally loaded, the meaning it takes on eminently variable, linked to national configurations.
Social extremism? Economic? Identity-based? Racist? Anti-European? Authoritarian and anti-democratic? The term is certainly open to discussion in Meloni’s case: by rubbing shoulders with power, this cunning political beast has watered down her “post-fascist” wine, and she is certainly not building a totalitarian state. The Lady of Ferro anti-Europe has shown its credentials to Brussels. It has supported NATO’s efforts in Ukraine, and even its anti-immigration policy has softened with use.
All these cases are special. They call for nuances and distinctions. But the German AfD, officially designated “extreme right” by its country’s authorities, seems the best candidate for the deserved label of extremist.
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Despite the nuances and despite the imperative to replace moral imprecation with analysis, sometimes we have to call a spade a spade.
Looking back at Sunday’s elections in Thuringia and Saxony, one figure stands out: Björn Höcke. An influential figure in the party, he is one of its most radical leaders nationwide.
Höcke repeated the slogan “Everything for Germany” more than once. All for Germany…which evokes Germany’s darkest, ultra-nationalist, racist and anti-Semitic past. The famous verse Germany about everything (“Germany above all”) was the beginning of the national anthem under the Nazi Party. So many taboos were broken that it was placed under surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
This party is also the one whose leaders, along with ultra-groups in November 2023, had envisaged a plan for the mass expulsion of all “non-Germans” on the national territory – including non-natives who had acquired citizenship.
A party that, even on the European parliamentary scene, is considered unapproachable by the Patriots for Europe groups (allies of Viktor Orbán and Marine Le Pen) and European Conservatives and Reformists (Giorgia Meloni, the Polish PiS). That’s saying something!
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In Germany on Sunday, there was also a party at the other end of the political spectrum that did very well.
A party, that’s the word, far left, pro-Russian, anti-war… and also anti-immigration. This new formation, which is not a year old, made a spectacular breakthrough on Sunday, with 16% in Thuringia… which can in some way be added to the 33% of the AfD.
It is called Bündnis (Alliance) Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), modestly named after its leader, a high-profile Marxist intellectual who defines herself as a radical pacifist and campaigns (like the AfD) for an end to aid to Ukraine, increased financial support for the disadvantaged and a radical reduction in immigration – proof that this type of position is not the preserve of the right. According to her, “massive immigration undermines our welfare state and disadvantages poor Germans”.
Klaus Stuttmann is a famous German cartoonist. A recent cartoon published in the Tagesspiegel shows Putin slumped on a couch, wondering: “I don’t remember well, who is our candidate in Thuringia: Höcke or Wagenknecht?” And in another, a Russian bear reads the latest news: “We have 18% of Ukraine and 50% of Thuringia.”
AfD and BSW: two sides of the same coin?