Enlarge image

Martin Luther University in Halle (on the Saale, photo from 2007)

Photo: ddp

More than 50 academics from the Martin Luther University in Halle (an der Saale) are calling for a broad discussion on how to deal with the AfD. The corresponding appeal with the headline "Take defensive democracy seriously – think about banning the AfD" is available to SPIEGEL. Among them are the law professor Lucia M. Sommerer, the political science professor Johannes Varwick, the ethnologist Olaf Zenker and the ethicist Mario Brandhorst.

Democracy is challenged as it has not been for a long time and is not a "fair-weather event", the scientists write in their appeal. Disputes are constitutive in a democracy and at the same time must always be carried out on the basis of the values of our free constitutional order. "As lecturers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, we feel a special responsibility to stand up for the free and democratic basic order." The AfD endangers them to an unacceptable extent.

"Apparently, the chairman of the AfD parliamentary group in Saxony-Anhalt recently took part in a round on the ›Remigration Master Plan‹, and this is reminiscent of the darkest hours of German history," the appeal reads. Every knowledgeable observer knows: "The AfD is certainly right-wing extremist."

Last week, a secret meeting of right-wing networkers in November 2023 in Potsdam, which was also attended by the AfD parliamentary group chairman in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, Ulrich Siegmund, became known. Among them were protagonists of the right-wing extremist »Identitarian Movement«, which had a house project in Halle until 2019. Cultural evenings were held there, for example, and the central figure of the project was Mario Müller, who was now also present in Potsdam. In Halle, there was massive resistance from civil society to the House of the Identitarian Movement. The project eventually failed.

In their appeal, the researchers discuss several ways to counter the AfD. "In addition to a ban on the activities of proven right-wing extremists or the withdrawal of the funding basis of a right-wing extremist party, a party ban is also possible as a last resort."

A ban has high hurdles and is only possible if "a party actively and systematically aims to impair or eliminate the free democratic basic order." It is becoming increasingly visible that this is exactly what the AfD is doing," say the professors.