As Germany’s national election concludes, exit polls indicate that the right-wing political party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), has received an unprecedented amount of support from the German people.
Unfortunately, in spite of the unbridled popular support that has recently been heaped upon the AfD, left-wing pundits and politicians have consistently attempted to misconstrue the AfD as an enemy to democracy and an illegitimate party of fascists, racists, and far-right extremists. It is clear that the AfD has been wrongly condemned.
What is Populism?
Firstly, the AfD has been condemned as a party of far-right extremists and the most urgent enemy of democracy in Germany largely because it is unabashedly populist.
Despite the fact that populism and democracy have been misconstrued as utterly dissimilar and diametrically opposed since the advent of Trump in 2016, it is evident that populism and democracy are not mutually exclusive or inherently antagonistic. Rather, if populism is earnestly compared and contrasted with democracy, then it becomes readily apparent that populism and democracy are remarkably similar. How?
- Populism and democracy both confirm that individual people are, unequivocally, the most important aspect of any state and that, within any nation, the populace must necessarily govern itself.
- Both agree that, if a state does not pursue the needs and the will of its populace, then it has become corrupt and must be immediately reformed.
- Both agree that the individual human rights of every person are of paramount import and utterly inviolable. In truth, populism and democracy both vigorously reaffirm that even a state’s most urgent needs and political objectives cannot supersede or circumvent the rights and freedoms of its people.
- Finally, both contend that a free-market economy is the ideal economic mode, as well as the only ethical economic system. In fact, populism and democracy both argue that any socialist state or communist economy is not merely grossly inefficient and utterly unproductive, but also quintessentially immoral and constantly in conflict with the fundamental human rights of its populace.
Are AfD Extremists?
Secondly, due to their consistent reiteration that the EU’s ‘open borders’ and hyper-liberal migration policies have ruthlessly undermined the German state’s national security, the AfD has been condemned as a party of far-right extremists and the most urgent enemy of democracy in Germany.
It is clear that, throughout the modern era, the German state has become fraught with insecurity and fundamentally destabilised due to hyper-liberal migration policies which have permitted countless extremists from the Middle East and North Africa to migrate to Germany, some under pretense that they are ‘seeking asylum’.
Sadly, they have committed a disturbing amount of violent crime, including brutal sexual assaults against German men, women, and children alike. They have also perpetrated various grotesque acts of Islamic terrorism against the German state and have openly endeavoured to destabilize and undermine German society. As recently as February 13th 2025, an Afghan migrant attacked a crowd of innocent Germans in Munich, seriously injuring dozens of people and killing a two year-old girl, as well as her mother.
No One Else to Blame
Germany’s current government and leaders, many of whom previously campaigned in favour of the EU’s ‘open borders’ and the unfettered migration of people throughout the German state, have been forced to concede that hyper-liberal migration policies have been a disaster. Even Germany’s Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who himself was largely responsible for the German state’s hyper-liberal migration policies, has admitted:
“It outrages me when [a migrant] who has found protection here commits the most serious of crimes,” and that violent MENA migrants “[have] no business in Germany [and must] be deported, even if they come from Syria or Afghanistan.”
The German Way
Finally, the AfD has been relentlessly condemned as a party of far-right extremists and the most urgent enemy of democracy in Germany due to the fact that, throughout the modern era, the AfD has steadfastly maintained that orthodox Islamic ideology is inherently incompatible with the norms of German society.
Since Germany is a democratic nation, the German state and all of its laws are inevitably predicated upon a liberal-democratic ideology and enlightened values such as free speech, personal liberty, pluralism and separation of church from the state. In fact, Germany’s Constitution, the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, explicitly reiterates numerous historic liberal tenets, such as “Freedom of the person shall be inviolable” and “Men and women shall have equal rights.”
Orthodox Islamic ideology, in contrast, overwhelmingly rejects the premise that every person has been afforded with an inalienable ‘right to free speech’ and proactively seeks to execute anyone who criticises the religion of Islam or Muhammad. Furthermore, orthodox Islamic ideology eschews ‘personal equality’ and rejects that people must be allocated with identical human rights, regardless of any superficial differences, such as personal ideology, race, religion, or gender.
A Misguided Condemnation
Unfortunately, it is readily apparent that the AfD has been falsely condemned as party of fascists, racists, and far-right extremists simply because it is a populist party and it has dared to contend that the EU’s hyper-liberal migration policies have undermined the German state by forcing it to accommodate a torrent of Islamic extremism and illegal migrants within its society.
Moreover, it is clear that political actors and politicians have consistently attempted to misconstrue the AfD as ‘nazis’ and an enemy to any democracy, in order to shame the German people away from the right-wing of the political spectrum and ignore the bedrock of Germany’s democracy: Its people.
William Barclay
Political Theorist | Private Consultant
