The Thuringian AfD chairman Björn Höcke has indicated what the citizens of the country must expect if his party should gain government power after the state elections in Erfurt. The schools will be freed from the “ideology” of inclusion and the gender mainstreaming approach, Höcke said in an interview with MDR on Wednesday.
The model of inclusion envisages teaching pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities together with the other pupils in joint classes. This is intended to promote their equal participation in society. Gender mainstreaming is a comprehensive strategy to promote gender equality.
Höcke’s statements therefore met with sharp criticism from trade unions and associations for the disabled. She was horrified, said Ulla Schmidt from the federal association “Lebenshilfe”. She sees questioning the right to inclusion as a “breaking of a taboo and simply as a scandal,” the former Federal Minister of Health (SPD) told the Mirror. Christina Marx from “Aktion Mensch” tells the news magazine that inclusion is not an ideological project: “Inclusion is a human right. Abolishing it is an attack on human dignity”.
Polls see the party as currently the strongest force in Thuringia
The AfD state and parliamentary group leader Höcke is considered an influential string puller in the federal AfD. He and the Thuringian AfD are classified as right-wing extremists by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The declared goal of the party is to become so strong in the upcoming state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg that they gain government power despite the negative attitude of the other parties. According to a survey, the AfD in Thuringia is currently at around 34 percent, making it by far the strongest force in the state parliament.
The MDR interview largely revolved around educational policy. Schools and universities are considered to be one of the few areas in which state governments have even more room for manoeuvre. Despite several inquiries, Höcke did not specifically explain what the AfD would change in education policy.
He said the Conference of Ministers of Education would try to bring the “countries into line in a certain way”. The term is historically charged and describes the actions of the National Socialists, who after the seizure of power in 1933 – also through brutal street terror – eliminated the organizations that could have resisted their claim to totality. Höcke referred to what he believed to be the wrong family and immigration policy, which was responsible for the misery in the schools.
The AfD state chairman made it clear that he is aiming for the office of prime minister. If his party chooses him as the top candidate and the AfD can expand the poll results, “then of course I would like to move into the state chancellery,” said Höcke. The AfD is completely isolated in the state parliament, and all other factions reject alliances with it. Government participation is therefore currently considered unrealistic.