Nationwide protests against the AfD: embracing against fascism

T he first thing the speaker from the Campact campaign platform wants to tell the thousands of people in front of the Brandenburg Gate is this: "The AfD missed out on an absolute majority. This is the result of the work of thousands of committed people on site!" Thunderous applause breaks out. As if the AfD hadn't just reached 44 percent in Saxony-Anhalt, as if the chances weren't that there would be a largely fascist state government for the first time since 1945 - it remains to be seen whether because of the BSW or a few breakaway CDU members.

In all fairness: the speaker said a lot of useful things afterwards. That there is every reason to be afraid, for example. Or that it is now important to show solidarity with the wonderful people in Saxony-Anhalt who have gone beyond their borders in recent months to mobilize against the AfD. And that it must now be about protecting those who are threatened by fascists: migrant people, queers, leftists. All of this is correct.

And yet the backdrop at the start of the new protest alliance “Time for Action” was a prime example of helpless anti-fascism. These words are not intended to offend anyone. In this shitty situation, the author's ultimate interest is to offend people who want to defend themselves. According to the alliance, 14,000 were said to have been at the Brandenburg Gate; the police spoke of 5,000. People also took to the streets in Salzwedel and Neubrandenburg, and protests have been announced for the weekend in Dresden, Munich, Hamburg and many other places. The demonstration is good and important.

But what was the credo at the Brandenburg Gate? What was the analysis why 65 percent of those voters who were in a precarious financial situation ran to the fascists? Luisa Neubauer called out to her audience - who, by the way, were apparently largely well-off and almost entirely white: "I want us not to take on the hate, to continue to be enthusiastic, uninhibited, for the good things." Because tyranny, said Neubauer, relies on decisions being made “by fear”.

The activist Max Schneller had previously sworn, with explicit reference to Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer, that “we” will “not let hate rule us” because “we” are “too human, too solidarity” for hating. That is exactly what distinguishes “us” from the extreme right. The scene continued so that the Iranian musician Faravaz called for two minutes of meditation in which people should hug each other while Faravaz sang to them that they were beautiful, kind to each other, loving.

Now the need for mutual care after a day like this is understandable. But on Monday evening it was obviously about more: about reassuring the liberal bourgeoisie that they themselves are one of the good guys because the others are the bad guys. Politically, the protest was limited to a rejection of the AfD and the attempts of the (otherwise “democratic”) parties CDU and FDP to tear down the firewall. This was evidenced by the fact that in addition to the Left, whose top personnel marched with anti-fascist fanfare, the Greens and the SPD were also there with many flags.

But why do people hate? What in this civil society, which is so fervently defended, leads to this? In Neubauer's speech, some important points could at least be guessed at: the enormous extent of economic inequality, the years of inaction against right-wing extremism, the repressed fear of the burning planet. These would be analytical approaches that could be built upon.

Instead, the focus was once again on calling up the solidarity of the “democrats”, while people are increasingly falling away from democracy because they only believe that they can feel strong and safe as part of an authoritarian and ethnic fantasy community. And the more dramatic the situation becomes, the louder the “democrats” shout at each other that they are the good guys. Protesting against the AfD is right and important. But this will lead to a dead end.