Extremism – Pike & Hurricane

Under Pressure: Right-Wing Party AfD Moves into the German Parliament

Annika Müller — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 12:38:45 +0000

“The AfD will hunt Merkel down. We will reclaim our country and our people”, is what party representative Alexander Gauland proclaimed in reaction to his party’s success in the German parliament election. The AfD (“Alternative für Deutschland”- engl. “Alternative for Germany”) gained 12.6% of all votes, making them the third-biggest fraction in the German parliament. For the first time in 50 years, a party to the right of the Christian-Democratic Union – lead by Angela Merkel – will move into the parliament. How long will the party’s success last?

From protest movement to popular opposition

The AfD was formed in Berlin in 2013 as a “party and citizens’ movement against the undemocratic and unjust arbitrariness”, as they put it on their website. Only a year later, they gained 7 seats in the European Parliament, as well as access to regional governments in Germany.

The party gained publicity through their controversial, conservative stances on issues such as the European Union, marriage equality for homosexual couples, immigration and asylum. In detail, the party advocated for Germany to leave the European Union, fully opposes gay rights – despite providing an openly lesbian woman as the chancellor candidate – and is continuously critical of Merkel’s refugee policy.

Now, the party is likely to become the new leader of the opposition. Werner Patzelt – political scientist working at University of Dresden, Saxony – highlights two main advantages of being the opposition leader in the German parliament: Being in charge of the chairmanship of the Committee of Budgets, as well as the right to be the first respondent to parliament decisions. Therefore, the AfD might be prone to gain even more political influence and also more publicity.

Power to persist?

What kind of policies is the AfD likely to push now that they gained a considerable amount of legislative power? According to NPR, one of the party’s main goals is the complete closure of the German border to refugees and immigrants, including the prohibition of subsequent immigration of family members, which up until now was possible for immigrants with a residence permit.

Moreover, the party favors the ban of headscarves and strongly advocates for Germany’s withdrawal from the Eurozone. However, party representative and election campaign manager Alexander Gauland failed to give concrete answers when asked about plans concerning retirement and health care reforms, as reported by the “Berliner Zeitung”.

DESCRIPTION: Locals protesting AfD’s party convention in Cologne, partially waving flags of the German left party “Die Linke”. Their signs say “Racists in sheep’s clothing”, (from left to right) “We are one” and “AfD is not an alternative”. Credit: Elke Wetzig, Wikimedia Commons.

“Electoral breakthrough is different from electoral persistence”, highlights Cas Mudde, who works at the Center of Research on Extremism at the University of Oslo, in his opinion piece about the AfD’s election success. Historically, it has been difficult for right-wing parties to not only establish a faction but also hold it together. Here it should be mentioned that no other German Party is willing to form a coalition with AfD, as NPR reported.

Moreover, Mudde states that AfD has a weak relationship to its voters, as the majority claim to be “against all other parties”, as opposed to voting for AfD out of sincere conviction. In addition, only 12 percent of the AfD-voters support chancellor candidate Alice Weidel, which makes her the least popular candidate within her own party and in all of Germany. Overall, Mudde doubts that the AfD will be a consistent force in the parliament.

Young party on shaky ground

Many political scientists, like Mudde in the referenced article above, predict that AfD will split into different, smaller groups as the legislative period progresses. In addition, one of AfD’s most famous party leaders – Frauke Petry – announced that she will not sit in the parliament as an AfD-representative, but as an independent representative, which was universally received as a surprise.

The voters themselves have heavily criticized the party for not clearly rejecting racist ideals and “distancing themselves from extreme positions”. In the eyes of their voters and even party members, it seems like AfD is failing to establish themselves as a real “alternative” to the established parties of the German political spectrum. Of course, frequent protests and public backlash against their conservative policies put pressure on the party as well.

AfD is a rather young party that began as a protest movement and turned into the third strongest force in the German parliament today. Their stances are controversial, which causes the party to face criticism from opposing parties and politicians, political activists and even within their own following. Whether they will be able to last in the German parliament, let alone successfully execute their ideas for policies, only time will tell.

By Annika Aries Müller

Photo credit:

AfD, Olaf Kosinsky, CC-BY-SA-3.0-DE

Köln stellt sich quer, Elke Wetzig, CC-BY-SA-4.0

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Terror in Europe: Extremism from Both Sides

Leticia Santos — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 15:18:36 +0000

During 2015 Western Europe has suffered an increase in attacks from jihadist groups as well as the violent acts of anti-Islamic groups. After the recent jihadist attacks in Belgium and France, extremism keeps posing a complex challenge for the European Union and its citizens; as it affects security in general and raises questions of migration, ethnic and religious minorities in Europe. Several EU nations were targets of extremist violence (jihadist and right-wing) that has led to considerable negative impacts for European society; creating fear as well as breeding violence and prejudice.

According to the 2016 Europol report (TE-SAT 2016), The a significant increase of jihadist terrorism occurred recently, a jump from 4 jihadist attacks in 2004 to 17 attacks in 2015 was registered. In addition, a jump from zero to 9 right-wing terrorist was also reported by Europol. Two extreme ideologies that oppose each other are directly impacting today’s Europe however neither of them are impacting positively the future of EU.

Jihadist Terror

During last year the total number of jihadist attacks against an EU member state was seventeen; of which fifteen were in France and two in Denmark; These attacks were responsible for 150 victims and many injured persons. This year, twelve jihadist attacks were reported, of which six were in Germany, four in France and one in Belgium. The total number of fatalities are so far 126 fatalities and many others severely injured.

According to an article by Quintan Wiktorowicz, a former White House security adviser, jihadism is rooted in the belief that a “struggle” is a necessity to remove the obstacles to reestablishing “God’s rule” on Earth and protecting the Muslim community. The long-term complex geopolitical conflicts involving EU member states and terrorist groups could be one of the strongest reasons for jihadism in Europe. For instance several counter-terrorism missions are significant measures of security of French foreign policy, as French authorities state that “France and French interests have been the target of international terrorism linked to the situation in the Near and Middle East in the 1980s (…) and international jihadist networks close to or inspired by Al-Qaeda since the 2001 attacks in the United States and the subsequent war on terror.”

Right-wing Terrorism

Europol also reported an increase in violent attacks inside several EU member states that were classified as right-wing terrorism. Some of these countries did not previously suffer from jihadist attacks but yet the growing number of anti-islamic sentiment is considerable.

In the aftermath of the deaths of twelve journalists in January 2015, right-wing attacks took place against a Jewish supermarket, six mosques and a restaurant. Several local mosques were targets of gunshots in Port-la- Nouvelle, Albi, Saint Júery, Vendôme, Soissons and Digne-les-Bain. Another right wing incident in France occurred at a kebab shop near a mosque which used an improvised explosive device.

According to the 2016 Europol report, anti-immigration and anti-Islam views remain a vital focus of right-wing extremists. The German domestic intelligence service 2015 report also reports that jihadist terror has led right-wing extremists to be able to extend their anti-Islam and anti-immigration propaganda, in addition to sensationalizing the threat by spinning it as an “ethnic-cultural conflict”.

Islamophobia: A Reaction to Terrorism?

Over the decades, anti-Islamic views have been at the core of right-wing nationalists’ agenda, this view is deeply rooted on the idea of us versus them and a clear distinction between the two. According to right-wing movements, Europe is being “invaded” by migrants and therefore will be “Islamified” by muslim migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers. The starting process of this narrative is the mass migration that followed WWII, and now uses recent migration – especially Syrian and North African refugee flows from conflict areas or poor zones – to argue against this invasion. The idea of migration as an insidious process is generally accepted and it is opposed to a humanitarian one.

In 2015, Islamophobic offenses targeting the Muslim community in general have increased, according to Europol. In Poland, for instance, a man was arrested for conspiring to set fire on a mosque. In addition, the Polish police arrested 13 members of the right-wing extremist group Blood & Honour. Many materials related to fascism were found, as well as live ammunition and air weapons.

Violence against refugees and asylum seekers has also increased. According to Europol, “EU Member States have increasingly reported that the far-right try to exploit the current migration crisis in an effort to obtain support and stoke resentment.”. In other words, in order to gain political support, the right-wing movement and political parties are exploiting the current refugee crisis and economic issues to spread and support their ideologies. Some parties are against hosting refugees while others are advocating for white and Christian religious dominance.

Europol also reported that by the end of 2015, the German Interior Ministry reported that more than 800 attacks against Muslim properties occurred, in comparison to 198 in 2014. These incidents range from vandalism to arson. Most of these attacks were classified as anti-immigrant right-wing. In addition, a relevant share of these incidents were carried out either by perpetrators that remain unknown, or by individuals or small groups with no direct links to right-wing extremism.

The jihadist attacks did play a significant role for reinforcing the propaganda and attention of right-wing ideologies but certainly did not originally cause the rise of right-wing extremism. One can further argue that in contrast with Jihadist terror, which is inflicted by direct violence, the violence perpetrated by right-wing groups affects mostly structures of society, for instance adopting anti-immigration policies or integration processes.

The local population’s sentimental reactions of these attacks are clear: fear and anger. Eventually, each side of the population will construct an enemy’s face. “The domino effect of terror” is the chain of reaction caused by fear. The sentiments of revolt combined with a desire for justice can create the continuous effect of violence towards both Europeans and Muslims; as victims or perpetrators.

Leticia Santos

Image 1: Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic. cylonfingers. Mural symbolizing extremism in Shoreditch, London.

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