Every year the AfD invites you to a New Year’s reception in Münster. Every year, parts of Münster’s population oppose it. But this year they want to be even more. Mayors in the surrounding area have also mobilized for this.
Already in January there were 20,000 people who gathered at the Principal Market in the middle of downtown Münster. Directly in front of the town hall where the Peace of Westphalia was concluded. Many feel provoked by the AfD, which wants to hold its New Year’s reception there.
Today, however, they want to take to the streets exactly there – and be even more so than ever before. So that there are more of them, around 30 mayors from the surrounding area are also calling on people to come to the university town. From Coesfeld, Olfen, Oelde, Warendorf and also from Havixbeck.
“The tone is getting rougher,” warns Jörn Möltgen. He is the mayor of Havixbeck, a small town in Münsterland with around 11,000 inhabitants. “We therefore want to start early and say: Something is starting to shake here.”
Möltgen therefore didn’t hesitate for long. He contacted all his colleagues in Münsterland: more than 60 mayors. You all should join in. Many people didn’t think twice.
Swastikas on Wind turbines
Of the mayors who have agreed, a good half of them, the majority are non-party, but they are still proud of pulling together across all parties. They will meet today before the demo in downtown Münster and will have a banner with them with which they deliberately want to be very present at the front.
“Our democracy is in acute danger”, Ostbevern’s mayor Karl Piochowiak sums it up. Ostbevern is another place in Münsterland that is taking part. Piochowiak reports not only about a harsher tone that is spreading, but also about visible signs: swastikas on wind turbines. “There was nothing like this before,” says Havixbeck’s mayor Möltgen.
The Münsterland is a region in which the AfD does not celebrate any major successes. In Münster, the party does not get over the five percent hurdle in elections. There are clear reasons for this: “One reason for the AfD’s weak status is the average level of education,” explains Oliver Treib, political scientist at the University of Münster. “Münster is of course a central place as a university city with all the students and also as an employer.”
Solid in values
Another reason that also counts for the surrounding area is faith and what Münsterlanders associate with tradition. “The church as a binding element. If the church also calls for protest, it reaches more people than in other regions where the church no longer plays a major role“says Treib.
A region that is solid in its values is also a region that is considered economically prosperous or secure. “The majority of people are doing well here. Münster is characterized more by immigration than by emigration.” In many regions where the AfD is strong, migration movements can be seen, making locations unattractive and ultimately economically weak.
The AfD is also gaining traction in Münsterland
Nevertheless, the AfD is also gaining traction in Münsterland. Despite these reasons, despite the ongoing protests throughout Germany. The AfD currently has 1,050 members in the Münster administrative district, the party reports WDR. Almost 50 percent more than a year before.
This also motivates Jörn Möltgen to take to the streets. But the mayor of Havixbeck also knows that protest alone doesn’t help. “Of course, I’m also thinking about how I can get citizens more involved,” he explains. So that politics doesn’t hang over the heads of the population.
One of his ideas is more participation in participatory budgeting and thus in the small town’s income and expenditure plans. “This way we can get closer to people again,” says Möltgen.