Who is afraid of the AfD?
The elections in Saxony and Thuringia have taken place. The AfD has won. With over 30%, it achieved an election result that many had expected and that many had warned about. But what happens now?
By Serdar Somuncu
By Serdar Somuncu
Is this nation moving further to the right? Is it a silent return of fascism? Or do we have to live with it? A lot has already been written and said about the AfD. So I'll spare myself the trouble of providing evidence here. It has long been clear to me that the AfD is a party that has no other intention than to turn back the clock.
It will use any means to do so. And that is why it is dangerous. Because the AfD is a master at camouflaging itself. After initial difficulties and changes of position, it has finally found its identity. As a party of those who dare to say what others don't. It poses as the representative of a silent majority that acts in the interests of a nation
that does not exist at all. Anyone who believes the AfD is ignoring the reality in which we live. Because there is no return to nation-statehood. Just as there is no other alternative than to recognize that the problems we have can only be solved by fighting the causes and not naming the symptoms. The conclusions that the AfD draws from this always end up with the same conclusion. According to the AfD, this nation is plagued by immigration and criminal foreigners who have settled here to harm us and thereby propagate their ideology. It is only a small part of the truth that is exaggerated and dramatized in such a way that it reaches people who prefer to believe in the simple rather than deal with the complicated. Because the reasons why we are in this situation are varied. And some of what the AfD has claimed is certainly true.
We have a problem with immigration. But this problem did not arise out of nowhere. Rather, it is the result of decades of politics that were geared towards exploiting other countries, profiting from the misery and suffering of other people and later ignoring the fact that what one has done will eventually end up with oneself. So the conflicts that our societies were able to ignore for many years are now on our own doorstep and we are realizing that the world that we often thought was very clearly ordered is actually chaos. This scares many people, and that is why they resort to simple solutions and believe the AfD and those who promise us salvation in a return to simplicity. It is an idyllic caricature of a time that never existed. Because 30 years ago we had problems too. There was terrorism, an energy crisis and also social divisions that occurred as a result of changes of both a demographic nature and historical and ideological developments.
If we act today as if Germany in the 1970s was a paradise, we are ignoring or forgetting a lot of things in order to pretend that the apocalypse is imminent and that there is only one solution, namely a return to narrow-mindedness and a rigorous reversal of authoritarian decision-making. That this is not possible is shown not only by the obligations that Germany has as a result of its historical responsibility, but also by the position that modern Germany plays in world affairs today. Anyone who wants to be an economy and a world power on the one hand and ignores the fact that the effects of globalization also mean that we have to accept that we live in a complex and diverse society whose extreme, sometimes even frightening forms are mutating must also accept that in their ideal vision many things that they now take for granted would no longer exist.
Simply put: Anyone who accepts the conveniences of globalization cannot avoid the unpleasant aspects on the other. Because since it has been possible for people in distant countries to see how we live in Europe, new desires have arisen that are completely natural. Everyone wants to have a good life. And this does not depend on what passport they have, but on where they can get it. But the fact that we should also enable other people to have a good life. No matter where they come from or what passport they have, is a reality that we should accept if we want our conditions for recognition to be accepted and implemented.
09/02/24
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Seelenheil" now downloadable in Shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
It will use any means to do so. And that is why it is dangerous. Because the AfD is a master at camouflaging itself. After initial difficulties and changes of position, it has finally found its identity. As a party of those who dare to say what others don't. It poses as the representative of a silent majority that acts in the interests of a nation
that does not exist at all. Anyone who believes the AfD is ignoring the reality in which we live. Because there is no return to nation-statehood. Just as there is no other alternative than to recognize that the problems we have can only be solved by fighting the causes and not naming the symptoms. The conclusions that the AfD draws from this always end up with the same conclusion. According to the AfD, this nation is plagued by immigration and criminal foreigners who have settled here to harm us and thereby propagate their ideology. It is only a small part of the truth that is exaggerated and dramatized in such a way that it reaches people who prefer to believe in the simple rather than deal with the complicated. Because the reasons why we are in this situation are varied. And some of what the AfD has claimed is certainly true.
We have a problem with immigration. But this problem did not arise out of nowhere. Rather, it is the result of decades of politics that were geared towards exploiting other countries, profiting from the misery and suffering of other people and later ignoring the fact that what one has done will eventually end up with oneself. So the conflicts that our societies were able to ignore for many years are now on our own doorstep and we are realizing that the world that we often thought was very clearly ordered is actually chaos. This scares many people, and that is why they resort to simple solutions and believe the AfD and those who promise us salvation in a return to simplicity. It is an idyllic caricature of a time that never existed. Because 30 years ago we had problems too. There was terrorism, an energy crisis and also social divisions that occurred as a result of changes of both a demographic nature and historical and ideological developments.
If we act today as if Germany in the 1970s was a paradise, we are ignoring or forgetting a lot of things in order to pretend that the apocalypse is imminent and that there is only one solution, namely a return to narrow-mindedness and a rigorous reversal of authoritarian decision-making. That this is not possible is shown not only by the obligations that Germany has as a result of its historical responsibility, but also by the position that modern Germany plays in world affairs today. Anyone who wants to be an economy and a world power on the one hand and ignores the fact that the effects of globalization also mean that we have to accept that we live in a complex and diverse society whose extreme, sometimes even frightening forms are mutating must also accept that in their ideal vision many things that they now take for granted would no longer exist.
Simply put: Anyone who accepts the conveniences of globalization cannot avoid the unpleasant aspects on the other. Because since it has been possible for people in distant countries to see how we live in Europe, new desires have arisen that are completely natural. Everyone wants to have a good life. And this does not depend on what passport they have, but on where they can get it. But the fact that we should also enable other people to have a good life. No matter where they come from or what passport they have, is a reality that we should accept if we want our conditions for recognition to be accepted and implemented.
09/02/24
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Seelenheil" now downloadable in Shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
Write a comment