The crackdown on the AfD is an assault on democracy

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), has officially classified the right-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a ‘proven right-wing extremist organisation’. Although the BfV has no powers of its own to take further action against the AfD, the classification alone marks a shocking escalation in the establishment’s crackdown on this insurgent party.

It is perhaps no surprise that the German elites are panicked. The AfD secured a record 20 per cent of the vote in February’s federal elections. According to some polls, it has since become Germany’s most popular party. The fear that the AfD might win an absolute majority and form a government in four years’ time has been dominating the political debate in recent weeks.

For Berlin’s mayor, Kai Wegner, the new classification confirms that the AfD is ‘a threat to our democracy and social cohesion’. He has said he will carefully examine ‘the political and legal consequences’ of the new designation. In practice, this means that AfD sympathisers working in the public sector might face job losses. The classification also paves the way for an outright ban of the party.

There has been some pushback. Oliver Maksan, writing for the Swiss-German newspaper, NZZ, rightly warns that these attacks on the AfD will only lower the already low levels of trust in the German political establishment. It’s also an affront to democracy. Regardless of how you feel about the obnoxious AfD, you cannot deprive voters of choice at the ballot box.

The talk of an outright ban is particularly chilling. The AfD’s opponents point to its leaders’ undoubtedly inflammatory rhetoric as a reason to exclude it from the political process. In this year’s election, one of the AfD’s campaign slogans was ‘Alice für Deutschland’ (‘Alice for Germany’), a reference to leader Alice Weidel that echoes an old SS slogan, ‘Alles für Deutschland’ (‘Everything for Germany’). Björn Höcke, Thuringia’s AfD leader, was even convicted and fined for using the original Nazi version at a rally in 2021. Incredibly, Höcke still managed to lead the AfD to victory in Thuringia’s state elections. Whether or not the AfD is trolling or engaging in something more sinister is the subject of much debate. But this rhetoric should be challenged through open debate and contestation, not banned from the top down.

One thing is for certain: classifying the AfD as a ‘right-wing extremist’ party is unlikely to dent its support. Not because its voters are actually extremists, but because they are already used to being called far-right extremists anyway. Germans are turning towards the AfD because they feel betrayed by the mainstream parties on immigration, terrorism and Net Zero. It’s certainly not because they are enamoured with the party’s more extreme leaders, who remain personally unpopular. The fact that the new classification was announced by deeply unpopular interior minister Nancy Faeser, just days before she leaves office, will only increase voters’ cynicism towards the elites.

The BfV classification has certainly put the incoming Christian Democrat-led government on the spot. Only a few days earlier, one of its most prominent politicians, Jens Spahn, caused a stir when he suggested that the AfD should be treated more like any other opposition party in parliament (though he has since walked this back somewhat). The new government now has to decide whether it will ignore the BfV’s findings or act on them. Acting on them would almost certainly mean further restrictions on the AfD and perhaps even a full ban.

If nothing else, the BfV’s move confirms just how much the German establishment mistrusts the voters. But this is nothing new. The BfV was founded after the Second World War under Allied occupation, ostensibly to look for signs of a potential Nazi resurgence. Yet it quickly morphed into an instrument for targeting political dissidents of all stripes. During the height of the Cold War, Communists fell under its watchful eye. In the 1980s, members of the newly emerging Green Party became targets. In the 2010s, it spied on leading politicians of the Left Party.

As a result, until recently, left-wingers were among the loudest critics of the BfV, branding it authoritarian and anti-democratic. Tellingly, those same voices now cheer on its targeting of the AfD. The leaders of the Left Party have even positioned themselves as the leading proponents of a ban. Apparently, the BfV was bad when it was going after their own party, but is good now that it is going after those they oppose.

In a statement justifying the ‘right-wing extremist’ classification, the BfV cites the words of Dennis Hohloch, a leading AfD politician in the Brandenburg state parliament. ‘Diversity means multiculturalism’, Hohloch said. ‘And what does multiculturalism mean? Multiculturalism means a loss of tradition, a loss of identity, a loss of homeland, murder, manslaughter, robbery and gang rape.’

Such statements are certainly hysterical and deserve to be pushed back against. It is possible to have deep concerns about mass migration and multiculturalism without giving in to such alarmism. The problem is, the political class does not see any dissent on migration or multiculturalism as legitimate, leaving the AfD as the only game in town for those who want these issues to be addressed. It would prefer to shut down debate than engage with voters’ concerns.

Surely the greater threat to German democracy comes not from the AfD, but from the fact that an unelected intelligence agency has appointed itself as the arbiter of ‘acceptable’ political positions. If the new government indulges the BfV’s authoritarian demands, and cracks down further on the AfD, it won’t be saving democracy – it will be destroying it.

Sabine Beppler-Spahl is spiked’s Germany correspondent.