What makes you vote for a certain political party? In Germany in recent weeks, a social media video helped turn around the fortunes of an entire party. Not Germany’s much-discussed far-right party, the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, who are often described as modern-day Nazis. No, this was about Die Linke, or the Left party.
The video clip in question shows one of Die Linke’s leaders, Heidi Reichinnek, admonishing Friedrich Merz, a centrist Christian Democrat, now widely expected to be Germany’s next Chancellor.
The 36-year-old Reichinnek, with fiery red hair and lipstick, told the 69-year-old exactly what she thought of his attempt to pass potentially racist, likely illegal immigration laws, something he could do only by collaborating with the AfD.
Reichinnek’s passionate denunciation was a viral hit, gaining millions of views. In just a few weeks, the Left party gained another 18,000 members and several percentage points in the polls. In the German federal election on February 23, it went from inconsequential to almost 9%.
Back in the day, Greek philosopher Plato opined that when it came to political messaging, ordinary people were too easily controlled by their emotions. This made them more susceptible to tyrants, he said. Then again, he was also an aristocrat who argued only certain kinds of people should be allowed to vote. You can just imagine what Plato would have thought about what’s happening in the United States.
There, tyrant-in-waiting Donald Trump is playing Jenga with democracy, removing a puzzle piece here, a structural wall there, until eventually the whole edifice comes crashing down. American commentators keep talking about “red lines”, suggesting that once Trump does this or that, then the real constitutional crisis will begin.
But take it from the Germans, the beginning of an autocracy doesn’t go like that. Anyone familiar with how the Nazis came to power is well aware that it’s a cascade of smaller moves that eventually brings about autocracy: A dash to the right, a curtailment of aid to the left, the removal of a few military officers, the end of the transatlantic alliance and then the deportation of your “enemies”.
From over here, it seems bizarre that nobody is doing anything about it. An editorial in The New Yorker early in February asked exactly that: What happened to all the protesters wearing pink pussy hats and the “cultural resistance” that so enthusiastically marked the US President’s first term?
The magazine came up with a list of reasons, including a right-wing takeover of social media and previously unsuccessful attempts to play by the rules, as well as the hypocrisy of righteous politicians who said they were better than Trump but then got caught doing the opposite of what their constituents wanted anyway, behind the scenes.
Perhaps Germany isn’t there quite yet. But these last elections indicate a rightward, populist drift. Die Linke may have totted up a nice success story, but the far-right AfD is now the second-most popular political party in the land, capturing nearly 21% of the vote. Similar moves are happening elsewhere in Europe, the annual Authoritarian Populism Index survey indicates – in 2024, populist parties in Europe were at their most popular since 1946.
The good news is that, just like autocracy, resistance is also a process. So maybe that’s just beginning, too. Maybe that’s the real reason Reichinnek’s speech resonated with so many.
“To all the people out there, I say, don’t give up, mobilise, resist fascism in this country,” the Linke politician called out passionately, before adding one final appeal that brought a tear to every ageing left-winger’s eye. “To the barricades,” she said, slapped the rostrum and stalked off.
