Protests and Violence: Left Suicide

As bizarre as it sounds, the next few weeks give cause for hope. The global New Right could be shipwrecked in just a few days. In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu could be voted out of office, and in the USA, Donald Trump's Republicans could lose the majority in Congress. From the left-wing election victory in Berlin to the wave of social protests from Spain to India, a new self-confidence is emerging against the powerful. The reasons are obvious: rising costs of living, unaffordable housing, dwindling opportunities for advancement, incompetent governments, mobilization against the threat from the right.

At the same time, it is precisely this threat that is cause for concern. It's not just in Germany that the extreme right is as self-confident as it is rare. In France, as things stand, Marine Le Pen would win the presidential election against any challenger. And should Netanyahu and Trump survive their elections, they would have free rein in their own eyes to complete their work of destruction - destruction of the liberal order and its external enemies. A new war against Iran is at the top of the list. Russia, actually Iran's ally, could feed Ukraine in return; the weakening Putin terror system is increasingly surviving anyway, mainly thanks to Trump.

A three-way summit between the US President, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping in China in November is intended to seal this new division of the world. By the way, all of this is possible even if Netanyahu and Trump lose the elections. In the USA, the newly elected US Congress will not meet until January 2027; in Israel, forming a government after the elections could take just as long. Until then, there will be a vacuum in which all inhibitions can fall.

The taz is an independent, left-wing and opinionated daily newspaper. We have been arguing in our comments, essays and debate texts since the taz was founded in 1979. We often cannot and do not want to agree on an opinion. That's why you'll find some completely opposing positions here - all part of the very broad left-wing spectrum of opinions.

The rest of 2026 will be extremely dangerous for the world. What is currently happening on the streets in Paris and other metropolises is accelerating the fire. The violence is grist to the mill of the extreme right with its simple recipe: a free hand for law enforcement to crush the barbarians of dubious origins and loyalty who terrorize righteous citizens. The burned down town hall of Limoges is a beacon.

The suspected arsonist, who has now been arrested by special forces, has nothing to do with social protest; he lived in a village with his family of Basque origins, is a radical eco-activist known to the police and is listed as a left-wing terrorist threat. Meanwhile, ostensibly left-wing activists, who act crudely like AI material from Russian propaganda campaigns, are spreading new calls for protest and violence for October 31st - not only in France, but also in Germany. This is how radical left and radical right play the ball to each other.

Left-wing politicians who get involved in this game in the name of solidarity against the right are committing political suicide. Because there are no social and political majorities in favor of violence on the streets. Excesses of violence lead to the need for protection and security displacing the desire for change and change, and then it is not the left but the right that has the apolitical majority on their side.

In France this means: If Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whose party has the most sympathizers of violent perpetrators, asserts himself as a leading left-wing politician, France's next president will be Marine Le Pen. In Germany it is said: If those on the left in power do not distance themselves from the ultra-left fringe, they will be the stirrups of the AfD. It is already clear to the political center: If the Left governs in Berlin, the AfD can also do so in Saxony-Anhalt. If there is no firewall to the left, there cannot be one to the right.

One may find that wrong. But if you don't want that, you have to avoid political polarization yourself. If left and right deny each other's right to exist and do not accept election victories of their opponents but instead fight them, a democratic multi-party system is no longer possible. When hatred, demonization and violence are the preferred means of political debate, only the law of the strongest applies. The world of Trump and Putin then continues to thrive, even if these characters are shipwrecked.