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The son of a Yemeni diplomat leading a Green surge in central Germany

A rising star of Germany's Greens party, Tarek Al-Wazir hopes to score big in regional polls Sunday at the expense of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.

Published: 25 October 2018 10:37 CEST
The son of a Yemeni diplomat leading a Green surge in central Germany
Tarek Al-Wazir, top Green candidate in the Hesse state elections and Annalena Baerbock, chairwoman of the Greens. Photo: DPA

Already Hesse state's most popular politician in opinion surveys, the 47-year-old Yemeni-German could become kingmaker or possibly even state premier in the region home to Frankfurt, Germany's banking and air transport hub.

It would be a stunning rise for one of Germany's few politicians with an Arabic background, at a time when the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has made strong gains.

The left-leaning and ecologist Greens have been polling strongly nationwide this year, in part because they have opposed most consistently the AfD and propagated an open and multicultural society.

The party, who emerged out of the 1970s peace and anti-nuclear movements, have also been the leading voice warning of climate change and automotive air pollution, issues that increasingly concern voters.

This year the Greens have also benefited from growing turmoil within Merkel's loveless “grand coalition” which has alienated voters with infighting, mostly centred on immigration.

While Merkel's CDU and her partners the Social Democrats (SPD) have both slipped by 10 percent or more in polls since Hesse elections five years ago, the Greens have doubled support to around 20-22 percent now.

This would make them the second strongest party behind the CDU, which is now polling at 26 per cent, opening up a range of possible coalition scenarios.

 'Open to the world' 

In Hesse, the Greens have been the junior governing partners to the CDU's state premier Volker Bouffier, and Al-Wazir has served as his economy, energy and transport minister.

Al-Wazir attributes his party's new fortunes to their “clear stance” against the AfD, which has railed against Merkel's decision to keep open German borders to a mass influx of mostly Muslim migrants and refugees.

“All other parties have gone crazy about the AfD,” he told conservative daily the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“We defend a society that is open to the world and multifaceted.”

Al-Wazir himself was born to a German teacher, who would take her son to street demonstrations, and a Yemeni diplomat, Mohamed Al-Wazir.

The politician has recounted discrimination he faced in the 1970s in a society that, he recalls, labelled Italians “spaghetti eaters” and considered him a “foreigner”.

SEE ALSO: Hesse's Green party candidate Tarek Al-Wazir could become minister president

When he was born, a civil servant advised his parents to give him a German second name, suggesting Fritz — a proposal they declined.

Only after a legislative change in 1975 was Al-Wazir able to assume German as well as Yemeni citizenship.

'High time for change' 

He grew up in Offenbach, a medium-sized city which has the largest proportion of people with a migrant background in Germany, at over 62 percent.

At age 14, he left for Sanaa where his father lives and for two years attended an international school, a time he says allowed him to “discover the other half of (my) origins, to get to know my family and to learn Arabic”.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Al-Wazir, still in a German high school, joined the Greens in Hesse, the home state of party veteran Joschka Fischer who went on to serve as Germany's foreign minister from 1998 to 2005.

When he was 24, Al-Wazir joined the regional parliament and quickly rose to lead the party in the chamber.

Today, the father-of-two, who is married to a Yemeni woman, is regularly voted the most popular politician in Hesse state.

This week, amid growing international outrage over the Saudi killing of a dissident journalist, Al-Wazir made a strong plea for an end of German arms shipments that could worsen the war in Yemen.

Calling the bloody conflict in his father's country “the world's worst man-made humanitarian catastrophe”, Al-Wazir said that “now it is high time to change the policies of Germany” on defence exports.

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CRIME

Why are German politicians facing increasing attacks?

A series of attacks on politicians in recent weeks show that politics in Germany has become extremely polarised. With tensions running high ahead of EU elections, The Local takes a look at recent violent incidents, and why they are increasing.

Published: 10 May 2024 13:55 CEST
Why are German politicians facing increasing attacks?

Police in Stuttgart said two state lawmakers received minor injuries after being attacked Wednesday evening at an event for the 75th anniversary of Germany’s constitution.

The two politicians were members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and two women, 19 and 23, are under investigation for the incident.

This is just the latest in a spate of attacks suffered by politicians from various parties across Germany in recent weeks.

Among the more severe was an attack on Matthias Eck, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD) party, who was hanging up election posters around Dresden on May 3rd when four people accosted him. According to ZDF, eyewitnesses heard one of the attackers yell “f*cking Greens” before they began punching and kicking him. Ecke later required an operation in the hospital.

Just before the attack on Ecke, a Greens campaigner had been attacked on the same street. Based on matching descriptions of the perpetrators and spatial proximity of the crimes, police assume it was the same attackers in both cases.

READ ALSO: Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

Another notably violent attack was carried out in a Berlin library against the capital city’s senator for economic affairs and former mayor, Franziska Giffey (SDP). Police said that the attacker had come “from behind with a bag filled with hard contents and hit her on the head and neck”. A 74 year old man was suspected of carrying out the attack and he was later arrested.

A number of other attacks and threats against Green party and AfD politicians were reported within the week. Green party members Kai Gehring and Rolf Fliß were attacked in Essen after a party event.

Demonstrators in Brandenburg harassed Green politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt while she was in her car and prevented her from leaving. 

In Nordhorn, Lower Saxony, a man threw an egg at an AfD state parliament member and hit him in the face. 

A troublesome trend of violent responses to politics

Politically motivated extremist attacks are not new to Germany, but the increase in the number of attacks recently is cause for concern, especially for local political leaders.

Following the attack she experienced, Giffey posted on Instagram saying that she was fine, but added that she was “worried and shaken by the increasingly wild culture” observed in German politics.

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Franziska Giffey (@franziskagiffey)

Chancellor Olaf Scholz had responded to the attack on Matthias Ecke, calling the attack a threat to democracy.

A number of similar attacks and threats were also recorded in 2023, including an attack on Andreas Jurca (AfD) in Augsburg, and the blockade of a ferry with Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck on board.

According to preliminary figures released by the federal government, recorded crimes against politicians have risen since 2019 for all parties – from 2,267 in 2019 to 2,790 in 2023.

In 2019, AfD representatives were most often the targets of attacks, whereas in 2023 it was predominately the Greens.

These numbers also include cases of property damage and threats or insults.

anti-extremism demo in Dresden

Participants at a rally against extremism in response to the attack on Matthias Ecke in Dresden. A man holds a sign reading “Stop hate preachers”. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Sebastian Kahnert

What’s causing an increase in extremism in Germany?

Dr. Stefan Marschall, professor of political science at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, says there has been an increase in polarisation in politics in Germany.

Marschall told The Local that this polarisation means more and more often “people who think differently are perceived as enemies”. He added that, as opposed to the US where people are largely split between two more or less equally strong camps, in Germany radical groups take aim at their counterparts on the other side of the political spectrum and also at the more moderate majority.

“Vilifying political elites is part of the core strategy of right-wing populist parties,” Marschall said.

But understanding the issues contributing to political extremism and fixing them are two different things. Furthermore, Marschall notes that citizens’ attitudes and beliefs can be changed only to a limited extent by institutions.

That said, the political scientist suggests that communication is key for mitigating these radical acts: “Overall, there needs to be greater awareness that polarised and divisive language benefits populist parties in particular”.

Social media shares some responsibility here too, as communication and information sharing platforms have made it easier to mobilise protest as well as violence.

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

Can the tension be expected to ease after the EU elections?

Asked if the number of attacks might decrease following the EU elections in June, Marschall pointed out that elections always bring a higher rate of attacks on political figures: “Election campaigns are always heated times in which such incidents are more likely because politicians literally take to the streets.”

But there have also been a number of incidents observed outside of election cycles.

“We are now realising that democracy is vulnerable, after democracy has long been taken for granted,” Marschall said. “That is why people are now rightly talking and thinking about how to protect democracy institutionally and how to set an example for democratic culture. Ultimately, this strengthens democratic resilience.”

On Sunday thousands of protestors rallied in Dresden to stand against right-wing extremism following the attacks on Matthias Ecke. In Berlin too, around 1,000 people gathered in front of Brandenburg Gate.

But considering the number of political attacks already seen in 2024, for now it looks like political extremism can be expected to get worse before it gets better.

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