Thanks to The IPF for aksing me to comment the success of the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) on votes of Berlin state elections.

The edited comment can be read here:
http://the-ipf.com/2016/09/18/berlin-state-elections-afd/

Since a certain time we face a phomane called “AfD”. They call themselves the “Alternative for Germany” although they belong to the parties not having an alternative at all.

When the sum of conflicts in the east caused a wave of refugees flee their countries from war, europe faced a tough decision. Rejecting people would have caused a humanitarian disaster not seen for a long time. Accepting the refugees would prepare the ground for usual suspects promoting fear to meet demand of it. So, from this point of view it’s hardly surprising that a party as AfD rises.

Its also a known phenomenon that a lot of people are afraid of change whether they are personally affected or not. I guess the problem is much deeper and not only connected the so called refugees-crisis. The world gets complex, the European economy is unstable, the politicians fail to explain the interrelations, people lose overview and cling to the status quo because this is what they know.

Every change seems to be unpredictable so there seems to be a strong need to avoid every unknown influence. The AfD fills that gap. Its peoples wish to get offered simple solutions they can easily understand. And the AfD can deliver because in contrast to most of the other parties there is no need to develop realistic concepts. So I guess this is more or less a question of supply and demand.

But we also know how persistent people’s attention is those days. Every change is worrying people. Every time people get used to it. And then they will probably forget about the one trick pony called AfD. Smoke and mirrors are a proper options for short-term impact but never on the long run. In Berlin experts are expecting about 13% of votes for AfD. This also means that 87% of the people do not aggree. Considering the high proportion of different cultures and people from all over the world living in that city it shows that it can’t be only connected to that topic. An beside, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania where AfD received more than 20% of the votes has a percentage of foreigners about 2%.

So, I guess the task is to refute the assertions of the AfD wherever they appear. No accepting their propaganda wherever it appears. And watching them crash when the last person realizes that the world is changing as she always did. That the new situation will be less worse than expected.

And the AfD is unmasked for what it is. An Alternative without any proper alternatives.