Professor Borstel: "Dream of a great cross-front"

In right-wing extremism, the dream of a great cross-front has existed for a very long time. This refers to a huge social movement that turns against liberal society and the democratic constitutional state and is supposed to sweep it away in a revolutionary act. The narrative for this is currently "resistance" - against corona, the measures, the restrictions, etc. This "resistance" currently brings together very different groups that often have nothing more in common than this "being against" and doubts about all those who stand for our society and the state.

The right-wing extremists take a very pragmatic view: today we are up against this state and this society, and once victory has been achieved, many of those who are still standing next to each other today will be in trouble - so much for the right-wing extremist dreams.

There are very different reasons for this. Some simply lack distance in terms of content. Others don't even realize who they are running with and think that this is just a lie by the "system media". For still others, it is also convenient. The far-right side then takes over the organization, the bureaucracy, contact with the police and everything else that goes with it. This support is then welcome. Others are simply happy about everyone who shares this idea of resistance and underestimate the fact that they are being instrumentalized. Still others are so preoccupied with themselves, are under so much pressure and tension that it is simply not a relevant question for them at the moment who they are marching with.

Many are also united by a long-standing hatred of liberal society, our form of democracy and the rule of law. They are happy to see anyone who is also against it. This list is certainly not exhaustive. However, it is important to understand that it is often also about emotions and that some of these movements, beyond the open right-wing extremists, are less about sophisticated political ideas.

It is about the targeted disparagement of the democratic constitutional state and its representatives and is of course oblivious to history and mocks every dictatorship in the world. The many Nazi references in particular are unbearable and, for me, the image of the "lethal injection", for example, also relativizes historical National Socialism and, to some extent, the Holocaust. The right-wing extremists are happy about this.

It is therefore also important to draw clear boundaries at such points. At no time, for example, was the Basic Law out of force, nor were human or civil rights. There were and are temporary restrictions due to a pandemic emergency. At no time, however, were the basic rules of democracy or the rule of law suspended. On the contrary: the demonstrations, expressions of opinion, court rulings, elections, etc. show precisely how these rules and structures functioned in an unprecedented crisis situation.

I can really only advise all those who are talking about a dictatorship here to study the nature of dictatorships, either in a history book or in conversation with refugees, for example, and then leave this dangerous nonsense alone in future.