Opinion
Right-wing extremism
A ban would be the perfect gift for the AfD
AfD leader Alice Weidel
© Bernd Elmenthaler / Imago Images
The AfD is a ethnic party, it cultivates a politics of hatred and division. But a ban would be dangerous.
In this respect, it is understandable that there are now calls for a ban procedure again. But relying on being able to get them out of the way legally would be wrong for three reasons.
Firstly, there could hardly be better campaign help for the extreme right. A ban procedure would be a gift for the AfD because it would have to be prepared by the federal government, the Bundestag or the Bundesrat. If the very forces that hardly anyone trusts anymore prepare to revoke the operating license of a popular opponent, one should not be surprised to see further waves of solidarity for the AfD.
A high-risk legal operation
Secondly, a ban procedure would be a high-risk legal operation. Without question: There is no shortage of disgusting positions in the AfD, and there is also plenty of evidence of attitudes that seem incompatible with the basic order. However, they are generally found less in official programs than in pamphlets from members of parliament, in videos from helpers, and in slogans from officials.
It is highly uncertain whether this mosaic of horror can reveal a coherent party ideology. The AfD could interpret the failure of a procedure as a state approval. And the party would normalize faster than we can see.
Thirdly, there is the time factor. Anyone calling for a ban now gives the impression that the party could soon disappear from the scene. As a reminder: the last NPD ban process lasted around four years. Even if proceedings against the AfD were to go faster, the application for the ban alone would take months of work. By the time the first negotiation is scheduled, the next federal election will probably be over – and the AfD will have one more mobilization topic.
The established parties should think about it
No, the AfD must be monitored; individuals, including groups, must feel the full force of the rule of law, preferably even more strongly than before. But the party as a whole must be fought politically.
Your program is harming the country. Their plans would corrode society internally and cause us great social and economic difficulties. The center of society has the task of finally shedding light on how the AfD, which preaches a return to the nation, would actually destroy it. And the established parties themselves have to slowly work on becoming more attractive again. Programmatically, personally, stylistically.
It is not a law of nature that the future belongs to the populists. You could only just see this: at the election results in Poland.