Provocation, protest and populism

Provocation, protest and populism

Böhmermann makes a blunt joke and the Völkische Tribune sharpens their knives for an ideological attack.

By Serdar Somuncu
The so-called politics of the new old right is nothing more than a cynical brew of lamentation and padded rage. The ingredients are always the same. A bunch of devious and frustrated people, pumped up with false courage and hollow nationalism, set themselves up as avengers of the disappointed and saviors of the disinherited. The AfD also sees itself as the attack dog of a nation and jumps over every stick that is thrown at it. It is nothing other than a pitiful reflection of its invisible role models from the German past and the European present. Half-baked and insubstantial. And at the same time she is thoroughly bourgeois and small-minded.
The bobble-headed dachshunds, the mustache-topped boys wearing checkered hats and ties under their sweaters, used to cavort on the right-wing fringes of the CDU and dream wetly about the NPD, but now they have found their own national paddling pool and are diarrheatly squeezing out their pseudo-Prussian-German poop sausages in it.
But the uniform credo of these failing parties is "We say the unspeakable, we expose it and we represent the people!".

Admittedly, dealing with this absolute attitude is not easy and even if many are of the opinion that the AfD can only be demystified through arguments, I now have a different opinion. I believe that this movement of stubbornness must be challenged at the same level at which it works best. The unclear, the clumsy, the irrefutable claims, the flirtation with the supposedly ultimate truth, as well as the inconsistent and unassessable. That's exactly what gets right-wing sympathizers angry.
In this respect, Jan Böhmermann's action, if it was really planned that way, is a brilliant move. Because it not only exposes the right-wing spectrum's affinity for right-wing radicalism, but it also shows once again how little it can handle criticism, let alone satire and irony. Anyone who lumps "Nazi club" and "Nazis club" together with criminally relevant statements should also know how to classify "monument of shame" and "bird shit from German history" accordingly. The depth of focus of the right-wing mob regularly fails when something hits the center of their German national (in short) DNA.

It has always been a characteristic of extremes that they are, above all, extremely humorless. In this case, however, their pride-struck minions not only show that they have no sense of humor, but that they also can't stand being treated in the same way they treat others. Their playing with ambiguities and their constant recourse to things that one can probably say again only apply if they use it themselves.
But if it is used on you, then immediately use the means of the democratic constitutional state, which you otherwise like to question as the "system", to defend yourself against it. You behave in the same petty-bourgeois way that you always expect them to has already believed. Nevertheless, it is surprising to see how quickly the right-wing posse now files charges. And ironically, mostly for incitement or trivialization of the Holocaust, even though that (sic) should actually be their very own profession.
This perhaps shows even more clearly that it is not really parties that make politics in the interests of all people, but that they only represent themselves and their own interests. What these interests are remains unclear. The main thing is to have something against it. Because there are also different directions within the right. The only thing they have in common is that they draw their strength from permanently latent alien, Islamic, Jewish and anti-multicultural hallucinations.

The campaigns of the last few weeks seem to have damaged the AfD, but it can be assumed that it will regenerate and that dealing with this party confidently will continue to be a main task of the democratic spectrum in the future. These forces waited far too long and did far too little to prevent the AfD from spreading and spreading its ideology. Now you can see this on every corner. Especially on the Internet, where the AfD practically has the sovereignty of opinion and conducts politics against the alleged establishment with various influencers and opinion makers disguised as journalists and thus plays the wrong game with rebellion and resistance against a dictatorship. Numerous bots, mostly recognizable by their anonymous profiles, shower anyone who contradicts them, attacks them or makes fun of them with malice and insults. The radical mob feels most comfortable in the invisible, because there it has no face and no voice, but can be loud and bare its teeth. Intimidation for beginners.
In reality, the protagonists of this demagogic strategy are easy to recognize and their hypocritical behavior is quickly transparent. You just have to google it to see what connections exist and which think tanks these supposedly serious opinion makers come from. Often these connections can be clearly identified and those spoken to rarely defend themselves against them. Because they know full well that their playing with fire is exactly the incentive they have to give to those they consider to be representatives of their unheard interests.

This is precisely why it is now important not only to confront the AfD with objective arguments, but also to irritate them, provoke them and counter them with populist strategies similar to their own. The AfD is the least able to deal with this, because it suffers from it own narrow-mindedness and limited view of things. And as long as this characteristic is not yet developed, even if some AfD members are already meeting humorous standards simply by appearing here, we can stay ahead of you by constantly changing our appearance and arguments.

For example, if you watched Tino Chrupalla's last appearance at Lanz, you can see how much the AfD grandees have become accustomed to being confronted with the same accusations and how they react to them in an almost stereotypical way point out that all quotes and all content that could be held against them are relative and that there is just as much to criticize from other parties. This invalidates any argument and at the same time exposes the ignorance and arrogance of the AfD. Because she actually believes that she is immune from being accused of having fascist tendencies. She believes that one can simply ignore the fact that Björn Höcke says things in the clearest style that do not begin to obscure his political orientation. And this is not about right-wing or right-wing extremism, but actually an attitude that is outside of the Basic Law. An anti-state attitude and a conception of a nation cleansed of foreign influences and objects that are harmful. This is fascist ideology in its purest form. The mere fact that the AfD tolerates this within its ranks speaks volumes, and no statement can relativize it. Nevertheless, it remains that way.

The substantive debate with the AfD is only part of what needs to be done to unhinge it. The other will be the unpredictability it takes to expose and show them off again and again.

02/21/24
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Soul Heil" can now be downloaded in the shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
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