Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, Alternative for Germany) the German far-right party won its first German election in the former East German state of Sachsen-Anhalt. With the region being only 150 kilometers to the West of the capital, Germany this result has widespread ramifications for the future of Germany, its holocaust memory culture and most importantly the future of its growing immigrant and refugee populations. With over 44% of votes the AfD came first in the elections, with the traditional Center-Right and Center-Left parties CDU and SPD getting a sound trashing from the electorate, a mandate that's probable to repeat in other state elections and set the tone for the federal election in 2029.

The CDU coalition which is in power at the federal level however would prefer to keep its head in the sand and whine about the Left party winning in the State elections in Berlin, a threat which it sees as being more existential than the one brewing at a much higher temperature in almost all the states in the country. The anti-immigrant platform on which the AfD campaigns on finds a perfect bogeyman for the German far-right to pin the ailing problems of the economy, the failure of reunification and the effect of austerity politics on anyone except themselves. Plus the Trumpian USA and their oligarchs pining for an alliance of far-right states across the world find a corrupt and worthy partner in the AfD, whose popularity is improving every election thanks to the support of the American political climate.

This iteration of the AfD might not build concentration camps like their families did in the past but are salivating at the ICE raids happening all over the US. They dream of remigration a bonkers racist idea that has been mainstreamed in the past decade. Germany without its immigrants, Germany as a white, blond, blue-eyed nation as it was intended to be. Germany with a second tier citizenship model with Whites above the others. A country where the hatred for the Jews is replaced with one for the Muslims. In all their fascination, they want Deutschland to be more like Dubai, where the workers who build the nation get to be there in forced labor conditions while the White Sheikhs get to enjoy their wealth. A world of inequality, dreams of colonialism and where justice happens only through oppression.

The might is about to get it right, it's time for all sane headed Germans and stomp this menace out with their votes at the ballot booth. But with economic uncertainity and the looming AI and Iran war fuelled recessions in the air, it looks like there's going to be a repeat of history after all.

#Germany #AfD #elections

Last Saturday I witnessed an animated group of German twenty-somethings talk about privatkrankenversicherung, a conversation that deeply amused and frustrated me. Years ago I met a Indian journalist who said he would be opposed to be insured, because he saw that as a violation of his body's natural right to be sick and removing the element of drama from having a sickness. It was a radical approach towards possessing an insurance, one that can be termed reckless or even stupid. But in India it is not mandatory to be insured and considering the low healthcare costs such a gamble with healthcare can be flirted with.

The case is different in Germany where everyone is supposed to be insured with a choice between public and private insurers. Private insurance is more expensive and out of reach of the average German and public insurance is good until economic sophistication invokes its presence. Economic sophistication (or creep) is a problem we all face with when our spending hits a particular threshold and the boredom associated with those choices becomes apparent. A person spending 85€ on a monthly train ticket would prefer to budget for a car EMI, because that signals sophistication to whichever class he's a member of. Insurance seems like that unchanging monthly expense but to make it more sexy, one has to add more frills and more expense which a private insurance does very well.

The interesting thing in the group dynamic in these twenty-somethings is that they are all being weaned off the parental support, the Kindergeld, which is a monthly allowance until the age of 25 including the expenses of the insurance. The 25th birthday is emblematic of this dependence, the age where the child finally becomes the adult and the relative opulence of the early twenties give way to economic realism.

This economic realism is what I would say is the gateway to the middle-class they wish to embody. Dreams become enshrouded in jobs and the paycheck becomes the final master. The desire for stability in a society geared around stability means that everyone gets a degree and then they work where the degree permits them to be. In comes the conversation about privatkrankenversicherung, whether it should be allowed the by the State or not and if so, where can the free market insurance firms can operate?

The amusing part is that none of the people at that gathering would've been eligible for having private health insurance, considering that no-one was self-employed or making over 62,550€. The whole conversation itself was about coming-of-age, where one finally has the adult conversations that could not have been had before. I find this equating with the idea of powerlessness we embody, but the conversation becomes about the numbers and signaling. This is sad to witness because the apparent power that the people around me were programmed to possess was being impeded by the highly structured society they lived in. Coupled with the necessity to belong, they would soon be induced into the pleasures of rearing a family and keeping up with appearances. This talk about privatkrankenversicherung will not be their last, the more mundane aspects of middle-age will take over, talking about kindergartens and kitchen tops.

During this conversation, the raw power of the Indian journalist along with the freedom he had became more apparent. He would not fit into any mold in the regular society and when he's sick, the disease will not discriminate him at all. He would find a way to live or die but his rejection of insurance was also his rejection of this middle-class stability to life. The cookie cutter nature to existing, the drab monotony of work and living, the search for a meaning between the monthly payments of insurance and phone bills. I wonder how boring it would get over in time at these parties. An entire generation replacing the one before without having anything new to offer. Maybe this is a limitation of existence itself, to succumb to little packets of life and not think of anything grander.

#germany #society #youth #power