I’m currently in the process of digging deeper into what the AfD and their supporters do on Facebook and have collected almost eleven more months of posts. The emerging picture is rather clear. Overall, Lucke’s presence is still remarkable, but Petry is rapidly gaining ground.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180"] Photo by *_* [/caption] My favourite if vaguely remembered piece of medieval history is the bit when assorted popes, antipopes, and anti-antipopes busily excommunicated each other. The AfD has reached that stage. A few days ago, Lucke forced a motion of the national executive that aims at unseating Höcke as party…
I would not normally recommend acting on any of my predictions, because I have an amazing track-record of being wrong a long time in advance. But once in a blue moon, I get it right. In my WEP article on the AfD’s EP 2014 manifesto, I have pointed out that there was a rift between…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Photo by ubiquit23 [/caption] If you are following the latest attempt to have Germany’s right-wing extremist NPD declared unconstitutional, you might be disappointed by the lack of news. Today, the federal states that push for such a ban have submitted four folders with additional evidence requested by the Federal Constitutional Court…
Welcome back dear friends / to the show that never ends: In the latest instalment of the great AfD soap, national leader Lucke is trying to remove Höcke as leader in Thuringia over Höcke’s friendly words towards the NPD. Contrary to some reports, Lucke is not (yet) trying to kick Höcke out of the party…
Update : Lucke now thinks that a break-up may be inevitable. Sunday evening, time for my weekly post on the state of the AfD. So, without further ado, a look at this week’s carnage. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="500"] Photo by JamesReaFotos [/caption] NPD The right-wing extremist NPD claims that they are “networking” with AfD functionaries…
A year after their EP election triumph and a week before the Bremen state election, the Germany’s AfD party seems set to continue on its path to self-destruction. On second thought, I may be exaggerating, but only a bit.
Over on his blog, Andreas Kemper has an interesting piece (in German) on the five state-level party conferences the AfD has held last weekend. According to him, the outcomes of the conferences demonstrate that the party has shifted further to the right in four (Hesse, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt) of these five cases. A sixth party…
I’m guest-blogging over at the Disclaimer Magazine We live under the impression that the extreme right in Germany is weak. While it is less visible than equivalents in France or the Netherlands, there is a rich undercurrent of rightist dissent that could rise to the surface to enter the mainstream of German politics. More ……
Not yet, but they are working on it. What’s The Matter with the AfD? In my research paper on the AfD party’s 2014 EP manifesto, I argue that the AfD will have to face a choice between their current mix of social conservatism/economic liberalism on the one hand and right-wing populism proper on the other.…