I’m suitably flattered: This week, I’m guest-blogging on Pegida over at the Monkeycage. [contentcards url="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/11/04/every-monday-thousands-of-germans-rally-against-muslims-here-are-the-6-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-pegida-movement/"]
The (conservative) union of grammar school teachers in the east German state of Sachsen-Anhalt has appealed to their members to discourage “girls from the age of 12” from “casual sexual encounters with certainly attractive Muslim men” (page 2). In the same editorial, the association’s president and his deputy voice concerns about “an immigrant invasion”, hint…
Markus Pretzell, UKIP Fan, AfD supremo in NRW and newly minted sweetheart of the newly minted party leader, has a bright idea. In a public speech last week, he suggested to deter refugees at the German border by all means necessary, including the use of firearms. He has now repeated that statement in an interview…
On the coattails of the Pegida anniversary, here is another far-right jubilee: A year on, self-declared hooligans have gathered once more for a “Hooligans against Salafists” (HoGeSa – those guys clearly love their acronyms) rally in Cologne. The two events could not have been more different. While Pegida is a largely regional weekly fixture that…
This week’s Pegida-style AfD march in Erfurt was a bit underwhelming, but Björn Höcke had a much bigger stage when he appeared in a popular talk show. It was probably the first time that a national audience was exposed to the more radical streams within the AfD. It was also the first time that Frauke…
In Dresden, the style of political conflict has plunged to a new low yesterday night when Pegida marchers carried gallows “reserved for Merkel and [vice chancellor and SPD leader] Gabriel” – a classic extreme right prop that nicely complements the usual rallying cries of “lying press” and “traitors of the people”. At first I was…
One major asset of the pre-Petry AfD was its disconnect from the Extreme Right. But the AfD in Thuringia has always been a funny bunch, and Lucke tried (without success) to remove its leader Björn Höcke from the party. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="500"] Photo by Tekniska museet [/caption] With Lucke gone and asylum applications at…
Social media plays a crucial role for the AfD’s mobilisation strategy, with a reach that goes far beyond the party faithful: The AfD’s Facebook wall has become one of the largest right-wing forums on the German-speaking internet. While a ban on overt extremism is enforced by the party, the wall a platform for homophobes, immigration sceptics, Christian fundamentalists, Prussian nostalgics, anti-feminists, Islam critics, and just about everyone who opposes diversity and the policies that support it. This exploratory paper looks at the role this page is playing not just for the AfD but more generally for the dynamics of the wider, highly diverse right-wing subculture in Germany.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="500"] Photo by Athos fotografias [/caption] A mere two weeks after being sacked as the AfD’s supreme leader, Bernd Lucke is back as presumably undisputed chair of the new “Alfa” (Allianz für Fortschritt und Aufbruch ~ Alliance for Progress and a New Beginning) party. Apparently, he already envisions a resounding success in…
In my recent article on the Alternative für Deutschland party, I stress the fact that the AfD is built on an alliance of assorted right-wingers. With no upcoming election campaigns in sight, things have come to a head over the last months, and the various factions have set up [caption id="" align="alignright" width="500"] Photo by…