AfD strongest force in Saxony-Anhalt: No reason to be shocked, a reason to organize

The projections for the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt are there, and they are not an industrial accident: According to the ARD forecast, the AfD is at over 40 percent, by far the best result the party has ever achieved in a state election. The CDU collapses to its historically worst result in the country. Whether it is ultimately enough for an absolute majority or whether tolerance by the BSW is necessary does not change the essence: a federal state with over two million inhabitants has the majority elected a party that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in parts classifies as definitely right-wing extremist.

Anyone who dismisses this as an industrial accident of democracy has not understood what has happened in recent years. The AfD is winning not despite but because of a political culture that has normalized right-wing agitation, in talk shows, in hesitant editorial offices, in the negotiations of CDU state politicians who believed that they could stop the shift to the right with "bourgeois toughness" against migration and instead prepared the ground for it. Reports speak of dissatisfaction with the federal government as the main motive, of fear of social decline, of a federal state with the lowest average income and an aging population. These are real problems. The AfD does not have a single answer to this that is not based on exclusion, but it is the only one that has credibly addressed it while the government in Berlin is discussing pension cuts and social cuts.

The weekend before the election also showed that this development will not be accepted without objection. In Magdeburg, thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the AfD and the so-called "Festival of Freedom of Expression", a format in which, according to reports from the anti-fascist scene, the BSW once again presented itself in solidarity with fascists. These protests were right and necessary, but an election result of over 40 percent cannot be countered with a demonstration the day before. It takes more than symbolic politics against symbolic politics.

What is needed is an anti-fascist practice that does not only take to the streets when the election campaign is already underway. That means: structures in the districts that solve social problems before they become resentments. That means: consistent solidarity with those who will be first affected by AfD policies, migrant communities, queer people, people without papers, the unemployed. This also means: no false hopes of a "firewall" that CDU state associations have been making more holes for years, while at the same time asserting that they will defend it.

Saxony-Anhalt is not an isolated event. It is a laboratory for what lies ahead in other federal states if nothing changes in the social and political situation. Anyone who believes that with a right-wing extremist party in government responsibility "the tone" would somehow moderate has learned nothing from Thuringia and Saxony. The answer to this is not resignation, but organization, now, outside of parliament, in solidarity, without compromise with those who believe that right-wing politics can be curbed through more right-wing rhetoric.

Sources:
- https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/wahl-sachsen-anhalt-analyse-100.html
- https://de.indymedia.org/node/860393
- https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/thousands-rally-against-far-right-afd-party-in-germany-ahead-of-saxony-anhalt-state-elections/4048352