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PROTESTS

German far right seeks to exploit farmer protests

Brandishing suspect flags and even posters calling for opponents to be sent to the gallows, the conspicuous presence of  far-right protesters at week-long tractor blockades by farmers have sparked fears that extremists are seeking to exploit the protest movement.

Published: 13 January 2024 11:42 CET
Farmers demonstrate against government plans to scrap diesel tax subsidies for agriculture vehicles in Frankfurt
Farmers demonstrate against government plans to scrap diesel tax subsidies for agriculture vehicles in Frankfurt, western Germany, on January 11, 2024.  (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

During a rally this week by German farmers angry at cuts in subsidies, police separated several dozen far-right supporters from the main demonstration.

The extremists from the “Freie Sachsen” group were brandishing royalist flags and mocked-up pictures of German politicians dressed as prisoners during the Dresden protest.

They are among radical groups that German authorities increasingly fear are seeking to co-opt the demonstrations, which began in December and have spread nationwide.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz issued a warning on Saturday against the “extremists”.

“When the protests, legitimate by themselves, turn into anger and contempt for democratic procedures and institutions, we all lose,” Scholz said in a statement and a video.

“Disagreement is a part of democracy,” he said, adding however that “anger is stirred up in a targeted way”.

“The extremists… show contempt for any compromise and poison democratic debate.

“It’s a toxic mix which should concern us and which also concerns me greatly,” Scholz said.

READ ALSO: ANALYSIS: Why are German farmers so angry?

The protests escalated last week, when tractors blockaded roads and caused widespread disruption. Another major rally is planned for Monday in Berlin.

The farmers and some of their supporters have sought to distance themselves from the far-right groups. But the extremists seem determined to latch on to the protest movement.

Farmers demonstrate against government plans to scrap diesel tax subsidies for agriculture vehicles in Frankfurt, western Germany,

Farmers demonstrate against government plans to scrap diesel tax subsidies for agriculture vehicles in Frankfurt, western Germany, on January 11, 2024. The sign reads ‘if farmers die, the country dies’ (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

The “Freie Sachsen” group, which brings together monarchists, conspiracy theorists and the far right, has posted messages of support for the farmers online.

Other groups, like neo-Nazi outfit “Third Voice” and nationalist movement “Ein Prozent” (One Percent), have called for strikes and riots, according to the interior ministry.

They are accused of being behind controversial stunts during the protests, such as setting up gallows on the side of motorways and stopping Economy Minister Robert Habeck from disembarking from a ferry.

LISTEN: Strikes, protests and the far-right: The challenges facing Germany in 2024

Habeck, from the Green party, has been a favourite target of the protests.

‘Subverting legitimate protests’

Stephan Kramer, intelligence service head in the eastern state of Thuringia, accused the far-right groups of “constantly and systematically seeking to subvert any form of legitimate public protest”.

Since the start of the protests, farmers’ federation leader Joachim Rukwied has repeatedly insisted: “We don’t want right-wing and radical movements in our demonstrations.”

The farmers’ anger stems from a government decision to cut subsidies and tax breaks on diesel and agricultural vehicles.

The move was part of efforts by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition to find savings after Germany’s top court ruled in November that the government had broken debt rules.

READ ALSO: How Germany’s farmers’ protests echo a bloody history

The ruling blew a huge hole in the government’s spending plans.

As well as fringe groups, the country’s main far-right force, the AfD (Alternative for Germany), has sought to capitalise on the protests, which have won widespread public sympathy.

The party says it intends to make the defence of rural areas a central plank of its campaign for key elections this year in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg.

According to a recent opinion poll commissioned by broadcasters RTL and NTV, the AfD currently enjoys over 30 percent support in the three eastern states.

Created in 2013 as an anti-euro outfit before morphing into an anti-immigration party, the AfD is enjoying a resurgence as Germany struggles with an upsurge in illegal migration, as well as a weak economy.

READ ALSO: Number of right-wing extremists in Germany ‘triples’

Despite the presence of extremists at the Dresden protest, many taking part vehemently rejected any links to the far-right supporters, insisting their sole aim was to support the farmers.

“Don’t film them. They don’t represent us,” a woman holding a sign in support of the farmers and who asked not to be named told AFP.

Luisa Hochstein, 26, who runs a small dairy farm in the region, added: “These rallies are about our future. This has nothing to do with right-wing extremists. That’s not why we’re here.”

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CLIMATE CRISIS

INTERVIEW: ‘Failed climate policies are fuelling far-right politics in Germany’

Alt-right political parties tend to oppose environmental protections, but is there a connection between their political success and climate policy failures? Author and thought-leader Sandrine Dixson-Declève explains why Germany may be having a ‘1930s moment’, and why the next elections are gravely important.

Published: 17 May 2024 15:24 CEST
INTERVIEW: 'Failed climate policies are fuelling far-right politics in Germany'

It’s understood that far-right and populist political parties tend to either downplay the realities of climate change, or block progressive policies that would try to mitigate its impacts. But the link between failed climate policies and the recent rise of populist parties is rarely addressed.

Speaking as a panellist at the Green Tech Festival in Berlin on Thursday, climate policy thought-leader Sandrine Dixson-Declève voiced concern that poor climate and economic policies are fuelling the popularity of far-right politics in Germany and across Europe. 

Co-president of the Club of Rome, Dixson-Declève works to promote policies that she believes would help secure a sustainable future for humanity. Such policies are laid out in the book Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity, that she co-authored.

The Local spoke with Sandrine Dixson-Declève about Germany’s climate policy failures, and why she thinks the upcoming European elections are of the utmost importance.

The shortcomings of Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ had serious political consequences

Having been a contributor and advisor to Germany’s Energiewende (energy transition), Dixson-Declève has followed German politics and environmental policy for years.

“I believe that one of the biggest mistakes was that we politicised energy policy in Germany from the outset,” she told The Local, adding, “Merkel actually accepted the big green push to pull out of nuclear, which actually created a big mess.”

Germany’s anti-nuclear energy movement dates back to the 19070s, and led to the foundation of the Green party. Under Merkel’s leadership, a plan was adopted to phase out nuclear power with the last three nuclear power plants taken offline in 2023.

But losing nuclear power as an energy source came with some serious consequences.

“The first big mess was the continued burning of coal,” Dixson-Declève explained. “The second big mess was Nord Stream 2, and that led to the invasion of Ukraine…because it gave Putin power.”

Still, she wouldn’t suggest that Germany try to revive its nuclear power now: “I believe that Germany needs to really think through the next steps.”

READ ALSO: ‘Nuclear power is a dead horse in Germany’: Scholz rejects reopening plants 

Protestors run past riot police

A wave of protestors break through police lines at Lützerath. Open pit coal mining in west Germany destroyed most of the Hambach Forest, as well as dozens of villages such as Lützerath. At both sites massive citizen protests were met with brutal police evictions. Photo by Paul Krantz.

Energy efficiency is the missing piece to Germany’s climate plans

How to build up renewable energy infrastructure is at the centre of most discourse around curbing fossil fuel use, but using the energy we have more efficiently arguably deserves more immediate attention.

“The other missing link, which no one talks about, is energy efficiency,” Dixson-Declève said. “Actually the best energy is the energy you don’t use. That is unsexy, and that is why energy efficiency hasn’t been taken up the way it should have been since 2010.”

While working on climate and energy plans in 2010, she says she came across a study that said Europe could wean itself off of Russian gas just by putting energy efficiency requirements in place for buildings.

In 2022 the European Commission finally began to take this idea seriously when Germany and Europe suddenly needed to replace Russian gas imports, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Another massive energy saver that has been politicised for all the wrong reasons in Germany is heat pumps.

According to Eurostat data, about half of all energy consumed in the EU is used for heating and cooling, and most of that energy comes from fossil fuels. Heat pumps are significantly more efficient than boilers and allow for greater use of renewable energy sources.

But when Economy Minister Robert Habeck led an effort to promote heat pumps by banning new fossil-powered heating systems, conservative and far-right parties jumped on the issue as if it were an attack on personal freedoms. 

“As environmentalists, we need to get better at translating the environmental narrative into something that resonates with people,” said Dixson-Declève. 

READ ALSO: Reader question – How do I install a heat pump in my German property?

A unified coalition government that is serious about climate protections might have better communicated to people that heat pumps would ultimately save them money: “They should have been enabled in a way that truly assisted people in getting the heat that they needed in an affordable way at the right time.”

‘I am very scared we are in a 1930s moment’

Whereas the coalition government has largely failed to communicate to voters how environmental policies will improve their lives and save them money, conservative and far-right parties have done extremely well at hijacking the narrative. 

The European People’s Party (EPP – the EU’s largest conservative party), for example, is particularly adept at using citizens’ economic concerns to block environmental policies.

Having analysed the EPP’s manifestos, Dixson-Declève notes that they acknowledge the need to mitigate climate change, but say that protections cannot cost. 

“I think the EPP has done a very good job both of putting in fear of the greens, [as if] they’re only going to think about green climate policies and not about social policies [whereas] we’re here to think about you.”

Sandrine Dixson-Declève with Earth for All

Sandrine Dixson-Declève holds up a copy of the book ‘Earth for All’ alongside two of the book’s co-authors. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Wolfgang Kumm

Germany’s far-right parties tend to use similar messaging to try and convince voters that they will better improve the lives of citizens than the current coalition parties have. 

READ ALSO: Why are the far-right AfD doing so well in German polls?

Nearly 100 years ago, the National Socialist (Nazi) party succeeded in drumming up major support along similar lines.

Speaking as a panellist at Berlin’s Green Tech Festival, when asked how she thought European politicians were doing on climate issues, Dixson-Declève described them as deer in the headlights, adding, “I am very scared we are in a 1930s moment”.

“I think that in the 1930s we didn’t see Hitler coming, we didn’t read the tea leaves,” she told The Local, adding that in the present moment, “people are suffering. When people suffer, they look to anything, any message that’s going to make them feel like that next leader is going to help them.” 

She also suggests that we can’t count on the youth vote to save us, citing Argentina and Portugal as two places where young voters have actually pushed politics to the right recently.

READ ALSO: A fight for the youth vote: Are German politicians social media savvy enough?

“This is a tipping moment politically, and if we’re not careful, it could explode in our faces,” said Dixson-Declève. “We need to get as many people to vote this year [as possible]. It’s an absolutely fundamental vote, alongside the United States, in order to make sure that we don’t slide to the right across Europe.”

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