Threats and attacks against politicians are increasing: military expert Masala in Lanz

When an AfD representative is a guest in a political conversation, his speaking share seems to be much larger than that of the other guests. This became clear again late on Sunday evening in the program ‘Markus Lanz’, which was about the attack on SPD politician Matthias Ecke, the corruption and espionage accusations against the AfD and the change in the Western-dominated world order. This does not change if Rüdiger Lucassen, the AfD faction’s defense policy spokesman, is one of the party’s more moderate characters, as highlighted several times in the program. Nevertheless, he used the same avoidance strategies as others in his party before him.

He made a very clear statement about the attack on Ecke, saying that “attacks on people and politicians are not acceptable at all”, regardless of which party they belong to, and in this context he also emphasized that the AfD is the most common victim. of violence Later he saved himself from an attack by asking counter questions. When military expert Carlo Masala asked him how he could be a patriot in a party in which “many prominent figures are so close to Russian positions,” he replied bluntly: “Why is Mr. Schröder still in the SPD? is about Putin?” Good question, some might say, but there is no answer. When asked, he then referred succinctly to the ‘pluralism’ in his party.

Was the attack on Ecke a turning point?

Antonie Rietzschel, investigative journalist, dealt with the subject of attacks on politicians the “Leipziger Volkszeitung”.“, which investigates extremism and the AfD, among other things, gives a few classifications in the show – for example that the AfD is the most common victim of violent attacks, closely followed by the Greens. That when it comes to attacks in general, which also includes verbal attacks, the Greens have a big lead. When it came to the question of the authority to interpret how to classify the attack on Ecke and whether it actually marked a turning point, there were again different assessments.

While Rietzschel tended to say “that this is not a turning point, because we have clearly seen in recent years that politicians are exposed to more attacks,” i.e. saw the attacks as a development that had been going on for some time, the political scientist said Herfried Münkler, who was also present, noted: “The thinkable, the sayable and the feasible are connected.” AfD man Alexander Gauland’s 2017 quote was for him a “change in political language.” But he also sees a turning point in the attack on Ecke. “The ability to stand for election is increasingly limited to the point of physical threat,” he said. There are now “no more isolated cases. Behind this lies a development direction that fundamentally calls democracy into question.”

I am regularly threatened. I have also given lectures under police protection.

He made it clear that the threats and attacks not only affect active politicians, but also political experts like Masala: “I am regularly threatened. I have also given lectures under police protection,” he said. This was preceded by threats from the scene of the lateral thinkers. This goes “up to and including death threats”. Using the current program as an example, Masala made it very clear: “The program is broadcast relatively late. But as of 2 a.m., my email inbox is full of such threats.” AfD man Lucassen also made it clear during the broadcast that his and his wife’s house had been defaced with “Nazis out” slogans and that the couple had also moved.

The balance must be maintained

When it came to the spying accusations against the AfD, he again engaged in excuses (“There is no evidence in the Krah case”) or non-answers, for example when Lanz wanted to know whether in his opinion Krah should have resigned . Although Lucassen spoke a lot, especially in the second half of the program, the lecture revealed some interesting insights from those present, for example about the changes in the image of democracy or, at the end, about what arms deliveries to Ukraine actually mean have delivered. (Münkler: “It’s coming. “The goal is to increase Ukrainian endurance so that Putin comes to the conclusion that he will not achieve his goal.” But it could also be more.

And among broadcasters you have to ask yourself how – if you decide to do so – you can maintain the balance in the debate with an AfD guest, so that you do not have to sacrifice constructive discussions for an uninformative, confrontational conversation. Because Markus Lanz also bites his teeth into an AfD man like Lucassen, as I said, one of the more moderate ones, with his constant exhortations and occasional interjections.