"Green dung": Green abuse campaign across Germany - where does the money come from?

There is currently a poster campaign against the Greens.

Nationwide, posters are intended to "unmask" the party's politics.

The initiator has connections to the AfD.

Munich - "Rent increase, fuel price crisis, electricity price explosion" - these catchphrases are on a poster in the Munich district of Au-Haidhausen - and on many others throughout Germany.

The color scheme is reminiscent of an election poster for the Greens, but the poster is by no means an action by the party.

The anti-advertising was initiated by the group “Grüner Mist” - according to its own website, in order to “unmask the Greens a few weeks before the federal election in order to keep them away from government power in the federal government.”

(Stay in the The final spurt towards the federal election is always up to date.)

"Green dung" campaign: Initiators are close to the AfD

But who is behind the poster campaign? The client is Conservare Communication GmbH. She is named in the imprint of the website "Grüner Mist" as a donor. David Bendels is the managing director of Conservare Communication GmbH. He also acts as the campaign spokesman for “Green Mist”. Born in Duisburg, he was a member of the CSU for several years, but left the party in 2016 because the Christian Democrats had banned him from appearing at an AfD event. Bendels is also chairman of the AfD-affiliated “Association for the Preservation of the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties”.

In addition, the 36-year-old is editor-in-chief of

Deutschland-Kurier

.

The news page repeatedly serves as a mouthpiece for the AfD.

Guest authors include AfD politicians such as the Bundestag member Markus Frohnmaier (press spokesman for top candidate Alice Weidel) or Katrin Ebner-Steiner (chairwoman of the AfD Bavarian parliamentary group).

On

Wednesday lunchtime (August 11th)

on the homepage of the

Deutschlandkurier

there is an article with the headline "Bump in the election campaign: Nationwide poster campaign against" green dung "causes a huge stir!"

Poster campaign against the Greens: Bendels emphasizes - no participation by Goal AG and AfD

However, it is largely unclear what financial resources the campaign will draw from. A “donation against greenery” is advertised on the website. No bank details are stored, interested parties should contact the initiators by email. In an interview with

Merkur.de

, Bendels does not want to comment on financial matters and emphasizes that Conservare is the implementing agency. The website also mentions an independent citizens' initiative. It remains unclear which people belong to it.

In the past, Bendel's club had worked with the Swiss PR agency Goal AG.

Its managing director is Alexander Segert, a politician of the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party.

Goal AG is very close to the AfD and has advised AfD federal spokesman Jörg Meuthen.

The support is now considered an illegal donation.

Penalties were ordered against the AfD.

The donation affair continues.

There are now indications that Goal AG has covertly made illegal party donations to AfD politicians.

Bendels emphasizes to our editorial team that Goal AG has nothing to do with the campaign - and neither does the AfD.

The party should still like the poster campaign.

Bundestag election campaign: poster campaign against the Greens - a form of negative campaigning

According to the initiators, several thousand posters with various motifs are hanging in more than 50 large cities.

The approach is always the same.

Three scenarios are always mentioned that allegedly threaten Green government participation: “Mass immigration.

Unemployment.

Climate Socialism ”or“ Prohibitions.

Paternalism.

Tax increase ", it is said about.

In the lower right corner there is also the hashtag “Green manure”.

The poster campaign can be clearly assigned to negative campaigning.

By this one understands a form of advertising in which one's own strengths are not emphasized, but (political) opponents are deliberately put in a bad light.

This strategy is particularly known from the USA.

Former President Donald Trump is considered a prominent representative of negative campaigning.

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