Germany · de.indymedia · · 1h
Grandmas against the right: "We'll carry on. There is no other option."
Deutsch (original) · Auto-translated to English
Symbolbild · Norbert Nagel / CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The outcome of the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt took many people's breath away. The Grandmas Against the Right in Magdeburg have been experiencing for a long time how the situation has worsened locally and online. We spoke to two of them about community resistance and the election results - and what happens next from their perspective.
Last weekend, thousands of people flocked to Magdeburg on the occasion of the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. Also there: hundreds of grandmothers against the right, many of them from other federal states. They are one of the countless initiatives that have been campaigning for diversity in Saxony-Anhalt online, in the countryside and in the cities for months. They set an example together at the democracy festival on Saturday.
On Sunday evening it is clear: The AfD will win the state elections and will be by far the strongest force in Saxony-Anhalt. How do you deal with a population where...https://wahl Results.sachsen-anhalt.de/wahlen/lt26/erg_land.html?v=178...percentof those entitled to vote for one ashttps://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/deutschland/politik/verfassungsschutz-ext...right-wing extremistclassified national association are correct?
Ute and Karin are among the grandmothers against the right in Magdeburg. Ute was born in the East, Karin moved to Magdeburg from Hesse in 1995. Among other things, you are responsible for the group's online communication. They collect on social mediahttps://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%BCsterwitz">Flfunny jokes, provide information about petitions and accompany demonstrations.
In the interview, they explain how misinformation and right-wing radical views take over digital spaces and are reflected in election results. The only way to combat ignorance and hostility is to do the opposite, say the two activists: by pointing out facts and standing up for community. For security reasons, they asked us to only use their first names.
“Everything is kind of dark at the moment.”
netzpolitik.org:How do you view the results of the state elections?
Karin:I'm just horrified that something like this is possible again. We already have themhttps://www.zeit.de/Schwpointen/baseballschlaegerjahre">Baseballschlyears of angerexperienced when the Nazis walked the streets here, everyone was bald and bought attack dogs. I would never have thought in my life that a society could collapse like that again. My son said he lost his home.
The Saturday before the election was also one of the most beautiful days we have ever experienced here. We were overwhelmed by this community, the many, many people, the speakers and their contributions. I never dreamed that the whole thing would turn out like this the next day.
Ute:We have never had so many people in Magdeburg. That 15,000 people were on the streets and fought for our cause. Everything is kind of dark at the moment. But the memory of that day is the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope that we can salvage this sense of community that was here last weekend and somehow move on.
“These people live in a parallel world”
netzpolitik.org:What were your thoughts after the first projection?
Karin:I was in disbelief that so many people voted for the far right. Despite all the possibilities for clarification, there is still this vicious underlying mood towards other people. If there was an economic need at stake, more people would take to the streets. But when were the big demonstrations for wage equalization in the East? It's not about their needs at all, but about destruction, hatred, expulsion, thoughts of violence.
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These people live in a parallel world. There may always be a few exceptions, of course, but most of them sit at home and feed their hatred.
netzpolitik.org:How does this relate to the digital spaces where people now mainly get information?
Ute:That plays a really big role because people are really taken for fools. Someone comes along, slurs something and underneath it stands Professor for Anyway. That may be the biggest rubbish, but it has to be true if it says Professor underneath. Many people take this at face value.
“What counts is the perceived reality of life”
Karin:This goes so far that they put false information online, for examplehttps://hateaid.org/rechtsextremismus-und-klima/">zumClimate change. Or that young people tell us that Wikipedia only contains lies. All that counts is the perceived reality of life.
It is also unbelievable how fervently public media are dismissed as lying associations. The fact that we have had more migration but less crime for decades is of no interest. The crimes processed have increased since 1995https://www.bka.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Publikationen/PolizeilicheKri...over 300,000 cases https://polizei.sachsen-anhalt.de/fileadmin/bibliothek/Politics_und_Verwa...halved.
netzpolitik.org:Why are you ashttps://www.instagram.com/omas_gegen_rechts_md/">Grandmasagainst Right Magdeburgactive on social media?
Ute:I opened these accounts when I came to live with the grandmas. Social media has helped us a lot. We share posts, others share our posts. This is how you get and stay connected.
In this way, we sometimes receive calls for help from outside of Magdeburg, for example from the community of Zerbst, which is around 40 kilometers southeast of Magdeburg. They wanted to hold a democracy festival there and asked us if we could come along. This wouldn't have happened without this networking because we don't have a phone number. We were down there and supported them.
“Sometimes friendships break down”
Karin:Of course, it is also our goal to reach one or the other. But you can't help it if the Internet is flooded with AI-generated crap, eitherhttps://correctiv.org/aktuelles/kuenstliche-intelligenz/2026/07/17/afd-f...AfD does that. There is a flood of disinformation.
As soon as people put this rubbish aside, others come around the corner with the next nonsense. You do this a few times, but at some point it becomes too tiring. Even when we talk to people and refer to a party program, they call it a lie or simply insult it as left-green filth. You're just left helpless. And sometimes friendships are broken as a result.
Ute:The more people move around in these bubbles, the worse it gets. They no longer look at other content at all and prefer to post hate comments.
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I'm really worried that these insults will now be followed by action because many people feel vindicated after the election. It was in Halle a few days agohttps://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2026-09/halle-demonstration-schu...shot at a demonstration. There was only one person injured, which is bad enough. It could have turned out differently.
“You get the microphone or camera shoved right in your face without asking”
netzpolitik.org:There are now quite a few influencers in the right-wing scene. Have you already had experience with this?
Karin:In any case. Some don't identify themselves, others we know and can smell from afar. Some of them also present press cards to the police,https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2019-02/gefaelschte-pressekarten-ingo...however, are fake. What's particularly bad is that they don't keep a physical distance. You get the microphone or camera shoved straight into your face without asking. They then spread stories, such as that we, as grandmothers against the right, receive money for our commitment.
Ute:You feel strong in a group, in a crowd. Of course, that also makes them more dangerous. We had a grandma meeting the evening before the democracy festival, where there were more than 100 grandmas from all over Germany. They also had negative experiences with groups of right-wing men. They made gestures as if they wanted to wring their grandmothers' necks.
“Our country is not completely lost yet”
netzpolitik.org:How do you, as grandmothers against the right in Magdeburg, look forward now?
Karin:Magdeburg has been a very lively and active city in the past few weeks. On Monday the city was dead, as if in a state of shock. Now people are slowly coming out again. With everyone you see, you wonder which half they belong to. That's awful.
We carry on. There is no other option for the people who are here. We must continue to be there for those who did not vote for the AfD. And explain what will happen now.
After the election, the damage to Saxony-Anhalt's image is great. And the election will also have economic consequences. Some people will soon notice that there are fewer retirement centers and other social facilities. And less tourism. To demonstrate this, we will continue to work with facts and figures.
Ute:At the same time, the solidarity we are experiencing online after the election is fantastic. We receive messages from people we don't know. They support us and think it's great that we're continuing. I think our country is not completely lost yet. This Saturday there ishttps://zeitzumhandeln.org/aktion/1g06qmgkgux340z">againa demo in Magdeburg. We will be there and show that there are still many of us.
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Source: de.indymedia