Conservation of the Constitution: Right-wing extremism endorses AfD party activities
Headline: The BfV Deems AfD a Confirmed Right-Wing Extremist: A Breakdown of Germany's Controversial Party
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party now finds itself labeled as a confirmed right-wing extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) at the federal level. This classification was announced in Cologne on Friday, as reported by Reuters.
The BfV's rationale for this decision stems from what they perceive as the party's disregard for human dignity and its overall migrant- and Muslim-hostile attitude. The Federal Office has been keeping an eye on the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case since March 2021. Following this, they were granted authorization to use intelligence means such as informants, observations, and analyzing public and non-public sources.
Before this classification, the AfD had already been designated as a confirmed right-wing extremist in Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt at the state level. It's worth noting that noteworthy gains were made by the AfD in the federal election on February 23, where they secured 20.8 percent of the votes, making them the second-largest faction in parliament after the Union.
With this reclassification, the BfV considers unconstitutional endeavors to be established within the federal party. The AfD's stance, according to the BfV, is incompatible with the liberal democratic basic order, as it aims to exclude certain population groups from equal societal participation, subjecting them to unconstitutional unequal treatment, and thus assigning them a legally devalued status.
The ethnically-based understanding of the people that prevails within the AfD disregards the equal status of citizens with a migration background from Muslim-majority countries, perceiving them as unequal members of the party's ethnically defined German people.
The AfD has expressed opposition to "mass immigration," prioritizing skilled labor while advocating for stricter immigration controls and increased deportations. They have also demonstrated anti-Muslim rhetoric, arguing that Islam is incompatible with German identity and that Muslim immigration poses a threat to Germany’s cultural fabric. The party criticizes policies accommodating immigrants and refugees, deeming them destructive to national identity.
- The BfV's classification of the AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist is not limited to the federal level; the party has also been designated as such in Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt at the state level.
- The designation of the AfD as a right-wing extremist by the BfV means that unconstitutional endeavors are considered established within the federal party.
- The AfD's stance on certain population groups, particularly those with a migration background from Muslim-majority countries, is seen as incompatible with the liberal democratic basic order, as it aims to exclude these groups from equal societal participation.
- The BfV's decision to classify the AfD as a right-wing extremist was influenced by the party's disregard for human dignity, migrant- and Muslim-hostile attitude, and policies that are deemed destructive to national identity.
- The AfD's policies on war-and-conflicts, crime-and-justice, policy-and-legislation, general-news, and economic affairs (as represented by their stance on the DAX, a German stock market index) remain a matter of ongoing political debate.
