2024-05-09 07:21:53
The attack on SPD politician Matthias Ecke has caused a stir throughout Germany, and he is not the only one. An extremism researcher warns of long-term threats to democracy.
The reports of attacks on politicians are almost overwhelming: on Tuesday evening, the Dresden local politician Yvonne Mosler from the Greens and the Berlin SPD economics senator Franziska Giffey were hit; Last weekend, SPD leading candidate Matthias Ecke was also beaten so badly in Dresden that he had to undergo surgery, and there have also been attacks on officials and campaign workers in Essen, Leipzig, Nordhorn and Zwickau in the past few days.
According to extremism researcher Steffen Kailitz from the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism in Dresden, the current increase in acts is also due to the campaign period for the European elections. He is nevertheless concerned that attacks have been increasing overall for years. “This also deters people from taking on political office at all, and that is of course a fundamentally problematic development for a democracy.”
The federal government’s response to a small question from the AfD parliamentary group in January 2024 shows that the number of attacks on politicians is increasing overall. While there were a total of 1,420 attacks on representatives of all parties in 2019, the number rose to 2,840 by 2021, and After a collapse in the numbers in 2022, the preliminary numbers for 2023 are also at a similarly high level.
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Political opponent as enemy
Kailitz sees, among other things, the polarization of society and the strong emotionalization of political disputes as a reason for the attacks. “The perpetrators do not simply perceive the other political programs as competing,” he explains, “but rather they see the political opponent as an enemy whom they want to harm.” That could certainly be a motive of the perpetrators.
In the case of Matthias Ecke, who was beaten up in Dresden, there is currently increasing evidence that the perpetrators belong to the right-wing extremist spectrum. According to reports from “Welt” and “Bild”, at least one of the four suspects is said to be a member of the right-wing extremist group “Elblandrevolte”. Here you can read more about it.
To person
Dr. Steffen Kailitz is a research associate at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism in Dresden. He studied political science and is now working, among other things, in extremism and totalitarianism research.
Greens particularly affected
Politicians from the SPD and the Greens seem to be particularly affected at the moment, and the preliminary figures from 2023 also show that at least the Greens are disproportionately affected by attacks on their party representatives. The numbers also show: from 2019 to 2023, attacks on Green Party politicians increased sevenfold.
The Greens are a main enemy in the right-wing extremist spectrum, explains Kailitz. The AfD is doing the rest: “In the AfD spectrum there is always talk of ‘left-green sleaze’. Words are also weapons, and the use of such insults is not a trivial offense,” he emphasizes. “Such expressions heat up the social mood, massively disparage supporters of other political opinions and reinforce the enemy narrative.” At the same time, the expert also emphasizes that AfD politicians are also falling victim to attacks in the course of the polarized political debate – then predominantly from left-wing extremist anti-fascist circles.
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Conference of Interior Ministers wants harsher punishments – experts skeptical
In order to better protect politicians and volunteer campaigners against attacks, the federal and state interior ministers are currently examining stricter criminal law alongside the police. This was the result of an extraordinarily scheduled video conference of the interior ministers’ conference of the federal states on Tuesday evening.
“We decided today at the Conference of Interior Ministers that there should be stricter penalties,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on ARD’s “Tagesthemen”. She will advocate this with Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). At the same time, Faeser said that the tightening of criminal law was only one measure. Among other things, faster judicial procedures are needed to quickly show perpetrators the limits. It is also important that all crimes are reported and consistently prosecuted.