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Actor Volker Bruch: Apparently wants to join the party »Die Basis«
Photo: via www.imago-images.de / imago images / SKATA
On Sunday it became known that the actor Volker Bruch, star of the ARD series »Babylon Berlin«, wants to join the »Die Basis« party.
The party has now confirmed to SPIEGEL that Bruch has made an application.
But what kind of party is it that Bruch has apparently chosen as its political home?
At first glance, the Basic Democratic Party of Germany, or “Die Basis” for short, appears likeable: It says of itself that it is “burning for a fairer, freer world in which people can be human again”.
She wants to introduce grassroots democracy, limit the "power of individuals and organizations."
In its supporting program it says that the party stands up for the freedom of the individual, equality, mindfulness and sustainability in dealing with nature, among other things.
A second look reveals what the party really is: A reservoir of activists who are involved in the "lateral thinking" movement and who use dubious arguments to raise the mood against the measures to contain the pandemic.
One percent of the vote in Baden-Württemberg
In the state elections in Baden-Württemberg in March, the party won one percent of the vote, a little less than the satirical party "The Party".
According to its own information, the "base" has 15,000 members and is represented in all federal states.
According to a study by sociologists at the University of Basel in December 2020, it is particularly popular with supporters of the “lateral thinking” movement: 18 percent of them would vote for the “base” in the next general election.
In terms of content, the party on its website is only really specific on one question: the corona pandemic - and the vaccination against Covid-19.
Immunizations against the coronavirus are "genetic manipulation" and the current vaccination campaign is "the biggest experiment on humans".
The party also rejects the mandatory vaccination against measles, which was decided in March.
If Bruch should actually join, he would be in the company of some of Germany's best-known "lateral thinkers".
One of the “base” chairmen is called Andreas Baum, 57. Baum is an engineer from Wutlöschingen in Baden-Württemberg and a former member of the Resistance 2020 movement.
This movement, around which right-wing extremists and conspiracy ideologues rallied, disintegrated in May 2020 when it emerged that it had apparently massively reduced its membership: Instead of supposedly 100,000, it probably only had between 30 and 50 members.
An AfD politician is said to have even registered his rooster as a member of the party.
The party leadership denied the charge of actively falsifying the numbers.
According to his own statements, Andreas Baum should actually write the statutes for the Baden-Württemberg regional association of Resistance 2020.
Instead he founded "Die Basis" on July 4th with a few others.
A candidate wants to sue Christian Drosten and Lothar Wieler for damages
Another member of the party is the lawyer Markus Haintz, who belongs to the "lateral thinking" movement in Ulm, which is now being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
One of the top candidates for the federal election is Dirk Sattelmaier, a lawyer from Cologne.
He also appears at "lateral thinking" events.
In September 2020, he compared an announcement by the Cologne transport company that asked people to wear masks on buses and trains with the discrimination against Jews during the Nazi dictatorship.
The biochemist Karina Reiss and her husband, the epidemiologist Sucharit Bhakdi, are also running for the party. Bhakdi played down the pandemic in YouTube videos and gave interviews to right-wing conspiracy theorist Ken Jebsen. The pulmonologist Wolfgang Wodarg is also running for the party. Wodarg played down the coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic and criticized the containment measures taken as scaremongering.
Party member and Bundestag candidate Reiner Fuellmich has announced that he will sue the virologist Christian Drosten and the President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, for damages.
At least that's what he has been promising for months - and, according to media reports, he has collected money for it via e-mail: In the e-mails, he apparently asked readers for 800 euros plus VAT.
To date, he has not successfully filed a lawsuit.
Accidentally all member names available to the public
Just like the Resistance 2020 movement, from which the »Basis« emerged, the party also recently ran into IT problems: the list of all 15,000 members was completely online with a few tricks. In addition to the names, contact details, dates of birth and other party affiliations of the members were apparently visible. According to media reports, some of the bank details and the amount of membership fees were also noted.