AfD | Alternative for Germany

2015 and the Syrian influx

Five years on: how has Germany's refugee policy fared?

Five years ago, as hundreds of thousands of refugees came to Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel maintained: "We can do it." How has Germany – and those who sought asylum – managed since then? Christoph Hasselbach explains
The death of George Floyd and endemic discrimination

It's time to replace "race" in the German constitution

At a time of widespread international protests against racism, triggered by the killing of George Floyd in the United States, there are calls to remove the term race from the German constitution. But not everyone agrees. By Volker Witting
Racist terror in Germany

ʺNever againʺ? Let’s hope so!

Nine victims of the right-wing extremist murderer of Hanau had a migration background. The motive for the crime is clear and unambiguous: racism. Sheila Mysorekar from the "Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen" comments
Anti-Muslim racism

Merkel and "the danger of self-Islamisation"

Anti-Muslim racism means more than just discriminating against Muslims. It is an ideological worldview that pleads for the restructuring of society and more control in the view of the "Islamic threat". Those who do not bow to right-wing demands are deemed guilty of Islamisation. By Ozan Zakariya Keskinkilic
Right-wing extremism

Halle, Christchurch… a network of "lone wolves"

Ongoing investigations into the Halle attack have so far concluded that the right-wing extremist attacker acted alone. But "lone wolves" are anything but isolated. By Sandra Petersmann and Naomi Conrad
Non-fiction: "War in Syria. Resolving a global conflict"

Refuting the populist mantra "Syrians go home"

Middle East expert Kristin Helberg has published an authoritative book on Syria. In it, she explains why the conflict there is by no means over. In her home country of Germany, however, the Syrian debate is short on hard facts and more often than not clouded by populist repatriation fantasies. By Rene Wildangel
Art and the AfD

Peddling high-brow Islamophobia

Consolidating its major party status in recent European elections, the AfD succeeded in part through the use of the arts in its campaigning. Critics fear that it is part of an ongoing push for "cultural hegemony". By Stuart Braun
Balkan DJs initiate anti-racism parties

Berlin's Arab Beats

The creator of Berlin's legendary Balkan Beats nights, Robert Soko, has now launched Arab Beats, an event that invites Syrian refugees and German party-goers to come together – and snub the country's racist movements. By Robert Rigney
Germanyʹs integration debate

"Your homeland is our nightmare"

A recently published anthology – "Eure Heimat ist unser Albtraum" – edited by Fatma Aydemir and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah is both accusatory and motivational. Ceyda Nurtsch read the declaration and attended the launch
Interview with the UKʹs Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism Sara Khan

"Weʹre living through an era of extremism"

In a bid for more dialogue, Sara Khan, UKʹs Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism, calls on individuals to challenge extremism and on countries to ensure they defend and promote equality, human rights, pluralism and diversity. Interview by Ismail Nermin
Germany’s right-wing populists found Jewish group

Jews – the AfDʹs means to an end

The AfD, more known for its anti-Semitism, is looking to attract Jews. In his commentary, Armin Langer writes that Jews in Germany should distance themselves from right-wing populists and instead strive to ally themselves with other threatened minorities
More humanity post-Chemnitz

#WirSindMehr: "Hostility is the failure of identity"

Insults, violence, attacks on refugee centres. Is this the answer of an enlightened, democratic society, shaped by human and humane values? Fereshta Ludin, high school teacher and former refugee, calls us all to account