AfD muzzles streamers: Why the mob ban for “activist man” is flimsy

The AfD leadership muzzles the right-wing extremist activist and YouTube streamer Matthäus Westfal: In a decision after a telephone conference on Monday, the federal executive board calls on all party branches to grant the video streamer “Activist Mann” access to party events only on the condition “that he gives a binding assurance in advance that he will not harass other streamers and journalists”. In the event of violations, Westfal's accreditation should be "immediately revoked" via house rules or the police. The decision is available to the taz.

Recently, the streamer's aggressiveness in particular caused widespread criticism. Among other things, he harassed the Spiegel journalist Ann-Katrin Müller for minutes at the AfD Saxony-Anhalt election party and shouted at her the same nationalist-inquisitorial questions and slogans: “Are you German?”, “Do something for your homeland!”, or “we only need pro-German journalists!” He then proudly posted a compilation of his harassment, which went viral and caused criticism even in the AfD bubble.

That is exactly the brand essence of “Activist Mann”, as Westfal calls himself on YouTube. In the past he had expressed solidarity with the Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck. In 2020 he took part in the storming of the Reichstag steps. He recently responded to YouTuber Marcant's question about whether he believed in the Holocaust with the counter question: "Are you Jewish?" His behavior was so rowdy in the weeks before the election that he even caused riot media like Nius to shake their heads and was asked by the AfD Saxony-Anhalt during the election campaign to hold back for a few days.

As part of the “Democracy needs many voices” action week, over 150 media outlets in Germany have joined forces - the taz is there. They want to draw attention to the fact that free, professional, responsible media are necessary for democratic cohesion. The organizer is the BDZV, the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers.

The justification for the AfD decision now states that Westfal's business model is to "showcase" journalists who are viewed critically in the AfD bubble - through "harassing questions and vulgar behavior." T-online first reported on the planned decision.

AfD-affiliated media celebrated the demarcation as a maturation process for the party after party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla distanced themselves last week and threatened consequences: “Insults and verbal harassment are forbidden for media professionals,” Weidel and Chrupalla said. The vulgar behavior in Westfal is now also attributed to the AfD, it goes on to say in the justification for the board's decision.

This in turn is probably due to the fact that the streamer is pursuing a similar business model to the AfD itself - just with a much clumsier appearance. In fact, the decision shows once again how skilfully the AfD communicates: Formally, the party clearly differentiates itself, while in terms of content it expresses no criticism and acts structurally in a similar way. In the past, Weidel himself liked to shout at journalists for “stupid questions”. Chrupalla even kept black lists of critical journalists, called media reports in internal letters “enemy propaganda” and called for people to collect “background information about subversive agents disguised as journalists.”

This structural attack by media professionals is particularly clear with regard to the Spiegel reporter Müller, who was repeatedly targeted and personally attacked by the second parliamentary managing director of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Stephan Brandner - and successfully defended herself against it legally.

With this decision, the AfD is obviously relying on the fact that large parts of the media public have the attention span of a goldfish: just a week ago, Ulrich Siegmund sat in the federal press conference, declared war on the alleged “fake news” from critical journalists and explicitly criticized Spiegel and public broadcasting. His election promise is to terminate the media treaty and thus also a declaration of war on freedom of the press.

In return, Siegmund explicitly praised extreme right-wing streamers who accompanied his election campaign. One of them was the activist Matthäus Westfal, who had repeatedly attracted attention before the election party with his extremely aggressive behavior, harassing, harassing, physically attacking and even pushing journalists. Siegmund had nevertheless praised him explicitly by name in a podcast.

Spiegel reporter Ann-Katrin Müller herself now considers this decision to be equally implausible. She told the taz: "It's remarkable how many chances the AfD gives to those who spread their ideology and propaganda. Serious consequences would look different." In addition, it is downright ironic if the AfD leadership is now becoming the protector of press freedom, said Müller: “After all, AfD top officials have themselves attacked press freedom for years and marked many of the critical reporters as enemies.”

Meanwhile, the right-wing extremist streamer continues to rant towards his critics, unimpressed: "Keep tearing your mouths apart, you unmasculine arguers! The German people are behind me in all 16 federal states! What have you done for Germany in the last 14 years?"

Westphalia also receives solidarity from the former cadre of the Identitarian Movement Simon Kaupert: "Anyone who distances themselves is doing the enemy's business," he writes on The term “national community” is a clear reference to National Socialism.