Reportage
Against the ultra -right, a ‘sea of lights’ floods the German squares
The signal from Saturday’s massive protests is unequivocal; the ultra-right must not be able to be considered an institutional interlocutor, no matter the outcome of the February 23 vote.
On Saturday, there was a “sea of lights” in the streets against the rise of the ultra-right that is already undermining the foundations of democracy in Germany and beyond. A year after the massive demonstrations to denounce the Nazi-populist drift (and a month before the upcoming federal elections), the militant anti-fascism of the NGOs, organizations, unions, religious communities has returned to the streets, united to shore up the shaky “institutional wall” against the black threat. A total of 80,000 people, not counting the parallel protests that have sprung up spontaneously all over the country.
Right on cue, Elon Musk showed up once again, appearing on Saturday via video link at the AfD's first campaign rally in Halle to stress that the party led by Alice Weidel is “the best hope for Germany.” No incidents with his arm spontaneously shooting up this time, but Mr. Tesla insisted on “the pride of being German” and suggested forgetting all historical guilt over Nazism: “It’s not right for grandchildren to pay for the sins of their grandparents.”
It was perfect timing for yet another heavy-handed political interference while “the political class stands by or limits itself to Sunday speeches, while adopting the exact same narrative as the ultra-right,” as the organizers of the protest at the Brandenburg Gate put it. This was the first in the series of initiatives united under the banner of the “sea of lights,” which has illuminated Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Kassel, Duisburg and dozens of other German cities, including Aschaffenburg, where there was a double murder committed by an ethnic Afghan, which has already become the new electoral go-to for the right wing.
“This is not only a protest against the ideas of Alice Weidel, Elon Musk and Donald Trump; it is also, and more importantly, the last call for the democratic parties to stop the right-wing drift before it’s really too late.”
These were the twin goals of the demonstration promoted in Berlin by German Fridays For Future leader Luisa Neubauer, philosopher and writer Caroline Emcke, and Milky Chance, the iconic German folk-rock band.
Fifteen thousand people led the way, with the focus always on what was happening in Halle, where on Saturday the AfD chose to start its campaign and was faced with the march of another 10,000 anti-fascists. Here, too, all were present at the roll call: from the die-hard “Grandmothers against the Right” to the no less radical “Parents against the Right,” while representatives of the Christian, Islamic and Jewish communities took the opportunity to sound yet another joint alarm about the risks of unleashing “xenophobic and racist ideologies that affect everyone indiscriminately.” They all stood united without reserve, ready to reject any form of “realpolitik” or appeasement towards the Nazi-populists.
That message was clearly directed at the leader of the CDU, Friedrich Merz: this week in the Bundestag, he will present his motion to ban the entry of new migrants and take away the citizenship of those guilty of serious crimes, and has said he was ready to accept “votes from anyone.” On Saturday, he backtracked (not entirely convincingly), saying “Never with Afd,” while Weidel in Halle was celebrating yet another personal and international success: at the AfD election rally, in addition to Musk, Herbert Kickl, leader of the Austrian Fpö, also showed up by video link (unsurprisingly), styling himself “Austria's next chancellor,” and calling Weidel “a real fighter on the side of the people.”
The protesters must not let up and continue to “hold the parties responsible for our protest,” insisted Christoph Bautz, administrator of the Campact election platform. “The political forces have the task to act here and now. The future government must ban unconstitutional entities and provide broader support for democratic initiatives.”
The signal from Saturday’s massive protests is unequivocal; the ultra-right must not be able to be considered an institutional interlocutor, no matter the outcome of the February 23 vote. Even if the AfD's new guise “is adorned with pseudo-Jewish voices,” as Bild notes, recalling the presence in Halle of Laila Mirzo, editor-in-chief of the tiny Jüdische Rundschau, which has nothing to do with the Jüdische Allgemeine, the Jewish community's daily newspaper, which has always sided against the AfD.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/contro-lultradestra-un-mare-di-luci-inonda-le-piazze-tedesche on 2025-01-26