The Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia is hearing this week Lawsuits by the AfD against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. These are not the first and will not be the last complaints. It is expected that the official classification of the party as a “suspected case” will be confirmed. The Federal Office is already leaking that the next classification as “certain extremist” is in preparation. Anything else would also be a surprise.
Those who vote for AfD feel self-efficacy
Since the Civil uprising against AfD and right-wing extremism has ebbed somewhat, public attention is once again focused on the Role of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. It’s a questionable concentration. When the Cologne authority was under the then new management of Thomas Haldenwang of the populist party, it was hoped that an early stigmatization of the AfD as anti-democratic would scare away its voters. It seems the opposite has happened.
Now this fatal development could be explained by the fact that the Germans are becoming more and more right-wing and the Lessons from Weimar forgotten more and more every year. There may be something to that. What may be underestimated in this consideration is how the AfD also gains popularity: as an anti-project, which draws a large part of its strength anti-elitist conspiracy myths and how those in power, the media and institutions are frightened by it; Those who vote for AfD feel self-efficacy.
Thomas Haldenwang is the part of this problem because he has positioned his authority politically. It started with the careless trumpeting of an AfD “test case” that the law did not provide for. Haldenwang commented on the candidate selection at a party conference or called for the party’s poll numbers to be lowered. In any case, he talks a lot about wanting to “mobilize” or “wake people up”.
This all sounds like activism that has no place in office; The only thing missing is that the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is taking part in the demos. The reference to the official task, essential early warning system Being here doesn’t work. There are constant warnings about the AfD – from everyone.
It is therefore possible that the AfD has also become stronger because Haldenwang acts the way he does – and thus provides material for the narrative here used a state authority to suppress a rising opposition party. This is negligent, but has so far had no consequences. Apparently you believe you are on the right path.
Source: Tagesspiegel
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