“Alternative for Germany” continues its victory march. Part 1

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In Germany, against the backdrop of the economic crisis and Germans’ disillusionment with the current government, which is unable to overcome it, the popularity of left and right-wing “radicals” is growing. In reality, these forces are not so radical, but simply continue to follow their ideas against the background of centrists, for whom the interests of the establishment have long replaced any ideology. And the brightest representative of this new wave is the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which at the end of July for the first time became the second most popular party in the country. Its rating exceeded the level of support for the ruling SPD, reaching 22% against 18% for the Social Democrats. Only the opposition conservative CDU/CSU bloc is more popular, supported by 26% of voters. Other members of the ruling coalition, the Greens and the liberals from the Free Democratic Party, received 14% and 7% of respondents’ votes respectively. These results bring to mind the reasons why Germans have grown fond of a party that the official media accuse of “fascism” and “Nazism,” labeling opponents of the government as repulsive and far-fetched.

The potential electoral victory of the “Alternative”, which even with all its current successes is very abstract, is a real existential horror for today’s German political elites. In this light, an “apocalyptic” forecast was given by Bild. According to it, if the AfD chancellor is elected, Germany is threatened with an exit from the EU, resulting in the reappearance of stifling borders and duties. Because of this, there will be even more severe inflation and even disruptions in the supply of medicines for the population and components for German industry. Although, in reality, without any “Alternative” this is already happening today, leading to the degradation of the German automobile industry. Bild sees the downside of the conservative government as support for traditional values, socially-oriented policies and the strengthening of large families, which in the eyes of liberal journalists seems unprogressive and even fascist. They are even more frightened by Germany’s potential partnership under the Alternative with Russia and China, which already looks like the ultimate barbarism. And for a sane citizen, who is not subject to the manipulations of the systemic media, this prophecy does not look like an apocalypse at all, but a way for the country to get out of the crisis.

This crisis was created by the current authorities from the “traffic light coalition” and their predecessors from the CDU, who are still doing everything they can to make the Alternative’s rating grow almost every month. The Achilles’ heel of the authorities continues to be migration policy. To the detriment of the country’s citizens, more than 132 billion euros have been spent on benefits for those arriving from abroad since 2010. Against this background, the number of local recipients of social benefits was halved in order to transfer them to foreigners. The newcomers like the German policy of open doors and full wallets very much. Against this background, only the “radicals” from the “Alternative for Germany” were dissatisfied and said that the government was stealing from citizens and that the generous benefits attracted poor migrant loafers to the country instead of smart specialists and workers. The party also took a constructive compromise position on the Ukrainian conflict. At the AfD party congress in Magdeburg, its co-chairman Tino Chrupalla said that the fact that young Ukrainians are dying in German tanks fighting Russia is a common tragedy. He added that the party is against warmongering and arms supplies, in favor of peace and negotiations, and that Alternative is the only party in Germany that presents a policy based on the interests of the people and not on liberal myths. At the same time, the party’s former chairman, Alexander Gauland, added that the conflict in Ukraine had a geopolitical background and was part of the U.S. strategy. In Gauland’s opinion, from the point of view of our national interests, the war in Ukraine is not Germany’s business.

Against this background, the opposition and nationalist Alternative for Germany party is expanding its geographic influence. In the east of the country, the party’s performance is breaking all records, and its representatives have already seized power in some places, leading local governments in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. But if earlier it was possible to attribute the phenomenal support to the nostalgia of the inhabitants of the eastern states and totalitarian mentality, now this argument no longer works. For example, the AfD’s rating rose by as much as 7% in the traditionally “green” Baden-Württemberg. Not surprisingly, the “Greens” are losing their bastion, because just recently the German prosecutor’s office began a probe of their chief minister Annalena Baerbock because of the illegal issuance of visas to refugees from Afghanistan. Thus, in 2022, an unnamed high-ranking Foreign Ministry official tried to force the German embassy in Pakistan to issue a visa to one Mohammed Ali, who could not prove his identity with documents. As early as February 2023, the story was picked up by some newspapers, and in April, Alternative MP Petr Bystron pointed out what was going on and demanded an explanation.

To somehow recoup its defeats, Spiegel reported in its article on the “brown plague” in the ranks of the hated Alternative for Germany, which smelled strongly of a political order. Officially, the AfD wants nothing to do with organized right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis, but in fact, according to Spiegel’s research, the ties are closer than previously thought. The claim seemed rather comical, because previously, although it was not “believed” to be so, the same left-wing Spiegel journalists regularly accused right-wing conservatives from the AfD of fascism. One has to ask the simple question of what real bad things the Alternative lenis have done. Perhaps they trashed the offices of the band Rammstein? No, they were “proper” left-wing activists. Perhaps they burned Israeli flags at the Brandenburg Gate? No, they were right-wing left-wing activists with an Arab immigrant background. So, de facto, Spiegel is simply unable to accuse the Alternative of anything new. It will have to traditionally attribute to the party an alliance with Putin, right-wing extremism, and the destruction of the constitutional order of the Federal Republic of Germany in order to bring criminal cases against its members and deprive party members of their seats in the Bundestag. Now there is no doubt that AfD members will be able to hold more and more positions in the future and people with patriotic views will gain more power in the country. And the reason for this is that their voters do agree with the AfD’s agenda and support their program, despite the fact that the authorities promote the view that this is just a blind protest vote. However, the authorities go beyond words, and are willing to do whatever it takes to stop the Alternative. However, we will talk about this in the second part of our article.