The AfD and the state elections: Imagine we live in a country

Imagine we live in a country where millions of people live together who differ in many ways. They speak different languages, believe in different gods or none at all, live alone, in pairs, in families or in shared apartments. They argue about what is fair, how much tax is right, how they heat and drive, how they want to love and die. Because these differences cannot be brought to a common denominator, they always have to come to an agreement: in families and businesses, in marketplaces, in parliaments and courtrooms. Most of the time, something comes out of it that no one really wanted, but that as many people as possible can live with.

Imagine that we live in a country where this difference is not considered an industrial accident. In which people cannot simply impose their ideas about what is right - even if they are in the majority. In which every person has dignity and rights that are worth something especially when others don't like the way someone lives, thinks or speaks. People are allowed to criticize their government, join forces with others and sue the state in independent courts. Majorities can decide, but they are not allowed to do everything. And minorities remain protected, especially when the majority doesn't like them.

Imagine that we live in a rich country where not everyone has the same amount and some even have shockingly little, a country where people live longer and healthier lives than generations before them and have access to medicine, education and social security. A country that has created this wealth together - and in which there are arguments about how it is distributed.

Imagine we live in a country where people are allowed to be different. Muslim, Christian, Jewish or atheist. Straight or queer. Cis or trans. Tradwife or feminist. With or without family, with two passports, multiple languages ​​and affiliations that do not have to end at a state border. Progressive or conservative. Football fan, gamer, allotment gardener or opera goer. Nobody has to think all of this is good. Recognition does not mean having to take on all life plans yourself, but rather allowing others the same space that you claim for yourself - as long as your own freedom does not come at the expense of the same freedom and dignity of others.

Imagine that we live in a country where many things are not going well. In which the struggle is over how pensions, care and the welfare state are secured and the costs of climate change are distributed. In which poverty persists, wealth is extremely unequally distributed and people have worse opportunities. In which others feel slighted with their traditional life plans. And in which, in the face of rapid change, people sometimes no longer recognize their country as they once knew and liked it.

is professor of ethnology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. His research in political and legal anthropology addresses multidimensional questions of justice, multidirectional memories and alternative futures in the Global North and Global South.

But imagine that we live in a country where the means for change have long been available. Elections and parliaments. Courts and fundamental rights. Collective bargaining and strikes. parties and associations. Citizens' councils and citizens' initiatives. Free media and science. Dispute, criticism, compromise and reform. None of this guarantees good results. But all of this makes bad results criticizable, decisions correctable and circumstances changeable.

Imagine we live in a country that doesn't have to be a big hassle. Especially not someone who tears everything down so that something new can emerge. A country in which things are constantly jerking. Because people give themselves and others a boost every day: teaching children, caring for relatives, starting a company, teaching German to refugees, training a football club, protesting against a decision or even agreeing on a compromise after a bitter argument.

Imagine that we live in a country that is not frightened by the claim that there is an aloof elite on one side and “the people” on the other. Of course there is power and privilege. But political opponents are not enemies - in a country that does not derive its own idea of ​​a good coexistence from what it is against. That does not look enviously at the power of authoritarian slogans and believes that only hate can move people emotionally. Freedom moves. Justice moves. Diversity brings joy. Solidarity inspires. And the experience of achieving something together despite fundamental differences creates pride.

Imagine: we live in this country! Not because everything here is as it should be. Many things are going well, many things are going badly, some things are unbearable. People are discriminated against, opportunities are unfairly distributed, institutions fail. No free society has a guarantee of its continued existence, but must protect and defend itself. But we live in a country where decisions must remain correctable. And in which everyone belongs – despite all the differences. This is precisely why the free-democratic basic order protects the equal freedom and dignity of all and is allowed to defend itself against those who want to eliminate it.

The community that we want to become has long since emerged in the community that we are: unfinished, contradictory, unjust but changeable. It is important that we always recreate what we have in common through our joint actions. This is not a vision of another country. That was, is and remains our country in the making.