In the stranglehold of the AfD
The election is getting closer, the mood is getting more nervous, and everyone is fighting for the votes of the undecided. But one thing remains the same. The AfD is sweeping the board. Whether in talk shows or at party conferences or just in public opinion. You get the feeling that the party of protesting patriots is setting the agenda, while the others are just following suit.
by Serdar Somuncu
by Serdar Somuncu
The dominant theme of the election campaign is migration. And even if you try to argue against it with sober figures, there is still an emotional residue that will probably decide at the ballot box whether we have a government in the next four years that lets the right wing push it around or manages to set its own goals. In fact, we are neglecting to talk about more important things during this entire pre-election period than limiting an alleged uncontrolled influx of foreigners into our country. There is a lot to do in domestic and foreign policy.
The restructuring of the welfare state. Structural reforms, digitization, the expansion of renewable energies, infrastructure and education policy are just as much on the agenda as the question of what Germany's role in Europe should look like. Only a few parties are addressing these questions because they are far too afraid of being punished for a substantive debate. It seems more important to intercept the superficial impulse of a media-driven campaign than to rely on the fact that the majority of people will not be impressed by the hysterical debates of the Pied Pipers on the right.
The only answer that the majority of moderate forces try to give to this is an almost dogmatic claim to represent the democratic center of society and a symbolic resistance to a threatening message from the right. None of this is effective, because the more the center of society reveals its powerlessness by escalating into angry defensiveness and losing itself in demonstratively excluding gestures, the more the AfD feels vindicated and can benefit from a mixture of blackmailing the political partners who depend on it and arrogance towards its critics, because most of its voters consider it to be a clever and courageous voice of resistance. The AfD is anything but courageous, and certainly not clever. Their programmatic disorientation, which they disguise as a constant warning of doom and the simultaneous panacea of rigid nationalism, is nothing other than a dip in the mothballs of reactionary ideology. This relies primarily on authoritarian solutions rather than compromises and less on structural changes rather than marginal regulations and bans. Even if we were to fulfill the AfD's goals at some point, it would be clear that the adversities of our time will not pass us by without leaving a trace, but that we as a modern and open-minded society must learn that the effects of our previous policies, in their injustice, can also affect us.
With the election of Donald Trump, as paradoxical as that may sound, this awareness has obviously reached the USA as well. And so Trump is almost frantically trying to find a peaceful solution to conflicts that have been simmering for far too long, such as in Gaza or Ukraine. The fact that he is falling back into the tone of a threatening superpower is just as much a tactical maneuver as his bold announcements about immigration and migration.
The AfD's fatal misconception is that US conditions can be applied to Germany. Because Germany is neither a superpower nor does it have the right, for historical reasons, to fall into authoritarian behavior. Rather, unlike anywhere else, in this country, in addition to the many forces of reason, there are also people and organizations that base their actions on the legacy of their history and do not seek to relativize or negate it. The hope remains that the AfD will eventually wear itself out in its populism to the point that the appeal it exerts on its voters to accept the least possible effort in the fight for a fairer world turns into an awareness of what we in Germany can really do for our country. Namely, not to rely on nationalistic and one-sided solutions that may seem patent at first, but to commit ourselves to not making ourselves dependent on the developments and decisions of others in the future and instead to developing our own ethos of justice that guides us in doing as much good for others as for ourselves.
12.02.25
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Soul Healing" now available for download in the shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW BOOK
TICKETS FOR THE SHOW "SONGS & STORIES"
TICKETS FOR THE SHOW "HE\\'S BACK"
The restructuring of the welfare state. Structural reforms, digitization, the expansion of renewable energies, infrastructure and education policy are just as much on the agenda as the question of what Germany's role in Europe should look like. Only a few parties are addressing these questions because they are far too afraid of being punished for a substantive debate. It seems more important to intercept the superficial impulse of a media-driven campaign than to rely on the fact that the majority of people will not be impressed by the hysterical debates of the Pied Pipers on the right.
The only answer that the majority of moderate forces try to give to this is an almost dogmatic claim to represent the democratic center of society and a symbolic resistance to a threatening message from the right. None of this is effective, because the more the center of society reveals its powerlessness by escalating into angry defensiveness and losing itself in demonstratively excluding gestures, the more the AfD feels vindicated and can benefit from a mixture of blackmailing the political partners who depend on it and arrogance towards its critics, because most of its voters consider it to be a clever and courageous voice of resistance. The AfD is anything but courageous, and certainly not clever. Their programmatic disorientation, which they disguise as a constant warning of doom and the simultaneous panacea of rigid nationalism, is nothing other than a dip in the mothballs of reactionary ideology. This relies primarily on authoritarian solutions rather than compromises and less on structural changes rather than marginal regulations and bans. Even if we were to fulfill the AfD's goals at some point, it would be clear that the adversities of our time will not pass us by without leaving a trace, but that we as a modern and open-minded society must learn that the effects of our previous policies, in their injustice, can also affect us.
With the election of Donald Trump, as paradoxical as that may sound, this awareness has obviously reached the USA as well. And so Trump is almost frantically trying to find a peaceful solution to conflicts that have been simmering for far too long, such as in Gaza or Ukraine. The fact that he is falling back into the tone of a threatening superpower is just as much a tactical maneuver as his bold announcements about immigration and migration.
The AfD's fatal misconception is that US conditions can be applied to Germany. Because Germany is neither a superpower nor does it have the right, for historical reasons, to fall into authoritarian behavior. Rather, unlike anywhere else, in this country, in addition to the many forces of reason, there are also people and organizations that base their actions on the legacy of their history and do not seek to relativize or negate it. The hope remains that the AfD will eventually wear itself out in its populism to the point that the appeal it exerts on its voters to accept the least possible effort in the fight for a fairer world turns into an awareness of what we in Germany can really do for our country. Namely, not to rely on nationalistic and one-sided solutions that may seem patent at first, but to commit ourselves to not making ourselves dependent on the developments and decisions of others in the future and instead to developing our own ethos of justice that guides us in doing as much good for others as for ourselves.
12.02.25
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Soul Healing" now available for download in the shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW BOOK
TICKETS FOR THE SHOW "SONGS & STORIES"
TICKETS FOR THE SHOW "HE\\'S BACK"
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