Show civil courage: What we can all do now against the AfD

What the AfD does best is managing fear and hate. Their foaming, eliminatory anger is aimed at migrant people, queers, feminists, disabled people, and human rights defenders. Their business model is the projection of everything negative onto people who live differently, their currency is the fully automated lie using bots on social media.

In Saxony-Anhalt it could soon restrict the basic rights of people living differently. They also have to fear that an uninhibited, victory-drunk mob will attack them directly: denounce them on social media, publish private addresses or chase them through places with rabble-rousers.

We must not leave committed people alone now. There are many ways to support them directly or indirectly. Here is a partial list.

For example, the “German Fund for Democracy” founded in spring 2026. The founding members range from the campaign organizations Campact and innn.it to the ex-Federal Data Protection Commissioner Ulrich Kelber (SPD) to the former Federal Government Commissioner for the East Marco Wanderwitz (CDU). "Youth clubs, educational institutions, advice centers and cultural and neighborhood centers support our coexistence. Day after day. But the financing of this important work from public funds is increasingly on the brink or has already been canceled. The fund steps in," it says on the website. In concrete terms, this means that committed people can continue their work even if funds are lost.

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.

Or you can donate to the “Society for Freedom Rights” (GFF), which became known for its carefully researched report on the possible AfD ban. Now she is collecting for a “solidarity protective shield”. "The AfD is already calling for projects that violate fundamental rights. Join us in ensuring that lawsuit and complaint strategies are in place before it matters - ready for immediate use in an emergency," it says on its website. The money will be used to build a legal team in Magdeburg and strengthen the existing one in Berlin. The teams should respond immediately with strategic lawsuits if an AfD-led government implements unconstitutional projects.

Such strategic lawsuits aim to generally clarify a question of fundamental rights that goes beyond the individual case. For example, the GFF successfully sued the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees for a blanket evaluation of refugees' cell phones. The Federal Administrative Court banned this practice at the beginning of 2023.

One should remember the successful model of thousands of city and community partnerships since the beginning of the 20th century: between German communities and those in Switzerland, France or even in Sandinista Nicaragua, between cities in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Democratic Republic, between schools, small towns and large cities.

Official community partnerships are initiated by local political committees. This is impossible in AfD-dominated places. That's why we need unofficial solidarity networks that, at best, will eventually extend across the entire republic. A migrant or sports club in Freiburg could visit Bernburg, organize events, exchange experiences. A school or parish in Flensburg could invite inclusion classes from Saxony-Anhalt.

There are hundreds of thousands of choirs and music groups in Germany. You could raise “voices for diversity and democracy” on a central day of action for the entire republic or decentrally every week in front of local town halls and in public squares. With relevant songs such as Beethoven's “Ode to Joy”, which became the European anthem, or with any content in any style. The main thing is loud.

Certain US platforms and Russian bots operate fascistation almost fully automatically. Astrid Deilmann from Campact, who is also a supervisory board member of the taz cooperative, made it clear how this works in her brilliant speech at the last taz cooperative meeting. On platforms and social media, right-wing radical content is systematically pushed up by algorithms, while the content of reputable media is increasingly marginalized. The strategic goal is to create fear and uncertainty. When no one knows what is fact and what is fake news, self-proclaimed leaders have an easy time of it.

Anyone who thinks they can't do without Google services, Microsoft, ChatGPT, Facebook, Paypal, Amazon, WhatsApp & Co should be told: They know (almost) everything about you because they can combine (almost) all of your data. Any individual who discloses personal data can become the target of “microtargeting”, i.e. election-influencing content tailored precisely to their secret preferences. The “Cambridge Analytica” scandal showed how this works: strategic microtargeting via Facebook is said to have influenced the US election of Trump, the British Brexit and election results in other countries from 2016 onwards.

The Chaos Computer Club and Marc-Uwe Kling have already formulated a good answer to these extremely dangerous manipulators at the beginning of 2026: Di-Day. Just as the historic D-Day ushered in liberation from Nazism, so we can liberate ourselves from the emerging fascism of the three empires of Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping. The initiative's website uses simple recipes to show which better EU alternatives already exist. You don't have to log out everywhere, you can also switch to other European services little by little. Anyone can take part. Better yet: entire groups and institutions.

None of these proposals will completely defeat the threat of fascism. But everything together can very well make a difference.