Worry about anger winter because of AfD, left and conspiratorial circles
Created: 08/25/2022, 08:46
By: Marcus Mäckler
Right-wing extremists try to use the energy frustration of the citizens.
Here Jürgen Elsässer, editor-in-chief of the right-wing “Compact” magazine.
© SZ Photo
Will there be a popular uprising?
Left and AfD want to use the energy crisis and rising prices for themselves and mobilize protests.
They rely on the gas frustration of the broad middle.
Munich – Actually he had good news with him.
At the citizens' dialogue in Neuruppin, Olaf Scholz promised the audience further relief.
More had to happen, said the Chancellor - and hardly understood what he was saying.
About 300 demonstrators yelled over Scholz' sentences, a few leftists, most AfD supporters.
They roared “liars”, “traitors of the people”.
Energy crisis: Apparently the first Monday demos are planned
The little moment of anger - a few days ago - was not a shocking event.
But a hint of what autumn and winter may bring: The political fringe wants to take advantage of inflation and rising energy prices to mobilize against traffic-light energy policies.
Extreme splinter groups and conspiratorial groups are lurking.
Left Party and AfD announce a "Hot Autumn".
The first Monday demos are already planned for September.
The AfD in particular dreams of a mobilization potential like that of the refugee crisis.
Party leader Tino Chrupalla recently said that the aim was to bring "popular anger" onto the streets - to do this, they want to reach into the middle of society.
Surveys indicate that there is a certain lack of understanding for government action.
In an
RTL/ntv
survey, 39 percent of respondents said the government should put the highly controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline into operation to avoid gas bottlenecks.
In the Germany trend, one in five said the sanctions against Russia went too far.
That was at the beginning of August, nobody had to freeze then.
Reason enough to fear the “popular uprisings” that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned about?
Experts: Potential for escalation, particularly in the East
Experts foresee at least a violent wave of protests.
The Chemnitz social researcher Piotr Kocyba said that he did not see any unrest in the sense of barricades or burning cars, but a further radicalization of demonstrators, especially in the east.
Political scientist Hans Vorländer also told
Der Spiegel
that there was great potential for escalation in the East.
Left and right try to get people onto the streets with different strategies.
The left sees a problem of social justice in the energy issue and is trying to mobilize together with trade unions and social organizations, says Simon Teune, who sits on the board of the Institute for Protest and Movement Research.
The right is different: "They don't explain the energy crisis as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine, but as the malice of sinister elites." Their protest is therefore also an attack on the democratic system.
The left does not want to ally themselves with the right in protests
At least one side is struck by the fact that right and left could march side by side through the rage winter.
Thuringia's left-wing Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow called for people to keep their distance from "people who reject a free society".
Party leader Janine Wissler emphasized: "These are not our allies." But she is sticking to the protests themselves.
In right-wing circles, dreams of a new transverse front against evil Berlin can flourish.
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The protest researcher Teune does not want to make any predictions about how violent it could get.
However, he expects that the scene that formed around the lateral thinking protests will take to the streets again in winter.
“There are established communication channels and an easily activated protest reservoir from the time of the Corona demos.” At that time, the extreme right managed to win over parts of mainstream society.
It's possible they'll do it again.
Energy crisis: Moscow wants to stir up fear
The deeper the social gap becomes, the happier the Kremlin is.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution recently warned that Moscow would ramp up propaganda and try to fuel fears of an energy shortage that would threaten its existence.
Moscow is hoping for a double profit: it wants to stir up unrest in the West and break solidarity with Ukraine.
Despite all the concerns, it is important to distinguish between anti-democratic rowdies and people with legitimate concerns, said SPD General Kevin Kühnert.
He considers unrest to be politically avoidable.
"If we make the right decisions, we'll get through this together."
