Vantage | Why Germany is planning to ban its far-right party

A troubled past is something many of us deal with, but what happens if the troubled past comes back to haunt you? What if that troubled past tries to derail all your progress? It’s a question Germany is dealing with.

Since World War II, the country has had one goal — to rebuild its image. But over 70 years later, Germany is at a crossroads with the rise of the far-right spearheaded by a party called Alternative for Germany, or Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

Last week, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency raised an alarm. It took a dramatic step by classifying the party’s Saxony state branch as a threat to democracy.

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This is usually a first step; the next would be to ban it by calling it unconstitutional. Germany has done this before. But those were fringe neo-Nazi parties. This is the country’s second-most popular party. In eastern Germany, AfD now leads in polls at around 28 percent.

Nationally, the party is at 21 percent. Polling higher than most parties in the governing coalition. AFD was founded nearly a decade ago by a bunch of Euroskeptics. They were concerned about German-backed EU bailouts.

But it was the 2015 migrant crisis that gave them a boost. Then-Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed immigrants. Almost a million people were disgruntled, there was growing scepticism, and rising anti-immigration sentiment. The AfD seized that. In the elections that came in 2017 they polled third. Their campaign promise was an end to asylum. Which brings us to where they are winning. Even years after the Berlin Wall fell. Eastern Germany remains poorer and less developed than the west, which is why AfD’s initial rise was ignored by the German establishment. They considered its rise in the ‘East’. Today, AfD is the strongest party by far in east Germany, and while the government may want to ban it now, they may not do it. The Federal Constitutional Court has faced situations like this before. But they have never done it. So this time, it is unlikely too. But that doesn’t answer the question, why is the AfD so popular? This is a country that has had a far-right history. One that they are extremely wary of, so why is the AfD polling so high? The answer lies with the people. AfD’s rise did not happen in a vacuum, and a poll proves just that. Right-wing hostility towards democracy is growing in Germany. One in 12 Germans have a right-wing worldview. Five to Seven percent of them support a dictatorship. At the end of the day, it is a failure of the establishment. Failed policies, and poor leadership has gotten Germany here. A right-wing party is in the Bundestag for the first time since World War II. Germany can threaten to ban it but what will it do about its support? How will a ban solve that? In fact, it could have the opposite effect. It could further convince them that the far-right is a challenge to the establishment. It is a slippery slope. With a ban, AfD could gain more backers. Instead, Germany, the land from where Hitler began his rule, must convince its people that democracy is the only way to go. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.