Extremism expert about Saxony-Anhalt: “Civil society needs support from outside”

taz: Mr. Begrich, the AfD emerges as the election winner in Saxony-Anhalt. What now?

David Begrich: First we have to see whether the AfD resorts to a power option and what it implements. The key question will be: Are the AfD and BSW entering into a power-political interaction? And the second thing is about civil society. They will only be able to carry out their work with any degree of success if there is support from outside.

born 1972 in Erfurt, is a theologian and employee of the right-wing extremism office at Miteinander e. V. in Magdeburg

taz: What support can there be from outside Saxony-Anhalt?

Begrich: It must be understood as quickly as possible that Saxony-Anhalt is not an insignificant, small federal state. If the AfD has its way, Saxony-Anhalt will become a laboratory for right-wing authoritarian politics. Sooner or later she wants to transfer this to other federal states or to the entire Federal Republic. This means that if it is now possible to maintain democratic cores in civil society, it will delay the emergence of authoritarianism in other regions.

taz: But how specifically can people support – by sending donations?

Begrich: At the moment, attention is much more important than financial resources. My fear is that Saxony-Anhalt will disappear from the spotlight in a week. Even on election night, I was frustrated by how the political and media world had, so to speak, moved on to business as usual. Government constellations and eventualities were considered in the television discussions. What a break with the political culture in Germany is that a right-wing extremist party got more than 40 percent was only discussed in passing. This is not just a problem for people who are committed to democratic culture in Saxony-Anhalt.

Begrich: This also becomes a problem for those who believe that they are in a zone of democratic normality and security in West Germany.

taz: What gives you hope the day after the election, despite everything?

Begrich: There are a lot of committed people in Saxony-Anhalt who are putting their faces in the wind for democracy. Since yesterday there is no longer any wind, but a storm. But they lack visibility. On election evening we also had the phenomenon that the interpretation came from Berlin, Hamburg or Frankfurt am Main and little from Saxony-Anhalt. My wish is that those with great reach and interpretive power will selflessly make it available to those who need it in the coming weeks.

taz: Who especially needs this support when you look at the people and structures in Saxony-Anhalt?

Begrich: You can inquire with us, the Miteinander association, or with Polilux. There is, for example, the Reichenstrasse umbrella organization in Quedlinburg, or the Mood youth club and the Kulturwerk Ost in Gardelegen, which burned down last week. They need 150,000 euros alone to restore a certain basic ability to work.

taz: After the election, the AfD announced that the clubs in Saxony-Anhalt should, in essence, arm themselves. How did you prepare for this at the Miteinander association?

Begrich: We are examining all options as to how we can continue our work. But the situation is still very volatile. We still have to wait and see.

taz: Is now the time for some people to leave Saxony-Anhalt?

Begrich: I can understand well when people are afraid. I can also understand people who say they can no longer live here under these conditions. But for me the sentence from the civil rights movement in the GDR applies: We will stay here.

taz: If the AfD were to govern in Saxony-Anhalt: Do you believe in the theory that the party will be disenchanted?

Begrich: The question is, to whom? There could be a process of disillusionment among voters who are not ideologically close to the AfD. But what can you buy from it politically? The election is over. Nothing will change that any time soon. You have to differentiate between the AfD electorate; they are not all neo-Nazis. But this election program, which the AfD calls the “government program,” is one of the most radical written down in the history of the German party. And that got more than 40 percent. Regardless of the question of whether people voted because they think it's so great what it says or whether they just accepted it: Anyone who voted for the AfD knew which party they were voting for.