How 33 murders began: When anti-fascists hunt journalists and call it democracy

The movement's figurehead was once a journalist. Ulrike Meinhof wrote columns, appeared on television talk shows, and lectured an entire country about who the real fascists were—before she took up arms and turned anti-fascism into a license to kill. Fifty-five years later, the same breed of ideological arbiter is chasing reporters across the asphalt in Erfurt, kicking a man lying on the ground in the back of the head, and then declaring in front of rolling cameras that this wasn't violence against journalists, but against fascists. The circle is complete. And no one in the room realizes that they are delivering the eulogy for their own democracy.

That's how it started once before.
Anyone under thirty today will, at best, know the Red Army Faction (RAF) from a streaming trilogy with a good soundtrack. So, as a refresher: Founded 1970, the established journalist Meinhof right in the middle, the self-image anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and – hold on to your hats – explicitly anti-fascistThese people considered the Federal Republic a fascist system, and every public official a legitimate target because they allegedly perpetuated the unaddressed Nazi past. Ultimately, this led to... 33 murders Politicians, prosecutors, their drivers, and a few random victims who just happened to be in the way were killed. It didn't start with explosives. It started with exactly the kind of rhetoric you hear on repeat these days: We decide who is a fascist, and against fascists, any means are justified.

The Erfurt exhibit
Last Saturday, the AfD held a meeting in Erfurt. People gathered outside. approximately 30,000 peopleThey had mobilized twice as many people. The party conference nevertheless started on time, which so enraged the hard core that they quickly sought an alternative target: three reporters who wanted to film a group of demonstrators conspiring to do something. A shout of "Camera!" was enough to start them. Afterwards, the three were chased through the city center, with Bottles, stones and paint bags They were pelted with objects, and one of them was kicked in the head while lying on the ground. The police are investigating for aggravated assault. These are the kinds of images that send a chill down your spine. ZDF calls this kind of thing a "Festival of Democracy«.

Things get truly ugly when the kick becomes a deliberate tactic. At the closing press conference, the "Resistance" alliance refused even to condemn the attacks . A spokesperson summed up their ideology in a sentence that could serve as a tombstone: Fascists with press credentials are still fascists and not welcome at their events. In other words: Anyone labeled with the wrong label is fair game. Beatings are then no longer a crime, but a form of enforcement.

Who distributes fundamental rights
The Center for Political Beauty, that state-funded performance art group that styled itself as the "only terrorist organization recognized by Björn Höcke." Their verdict: The media outlets in question... "Certainly not under press freedom"A fundamental right as a bonus program, awarded after passing an ideological test. Anyone who thinks like this hasn't misunderstood freedom of the press – they've abolished it and merely kept the nice name. Meanwhile, on their own homepage, the same group publicly asks when... "To overthrow an AfD government" He calls the situation "the prelude to a civil war." To their credit, at least they're revealing what they're planning.

The fact that Reporters Without Borders of all organizations has to remind us that freedom of the press is not a privilege of opinion and also applies to media outlets whose stance one doesn't like speaks volumes about the state of these self-proclaimed "good guys." It's the same reflex I already identified in that SPD chairwoman who preaches freedom of speech while simultaneously calling around to the marketing departments: The Antifa of yesteryear fought against professional bans; the Antifa of today organizes them.

The index finger pointing in the wrong direction
Part of being honest is taking a jab at your own point: The vast majority of the 30,000 simply stood there, held up signs, and didn't hit anyone. The police expected around 2500 allegedly violent individualsIn the end, 65 offenses were recorded. That's a minority. Just one minority, setting the tone, and no one within its own ranks dares to challenge it. And where a distancing would have been appropriate, there was a complete reversal: An ARD stock market presenter accused the group on television of... not to criticize the thugs, but the AfD, which has not distanced itself – even though its chairwoman had long since publicly condemned the attacks. What remains is the ironclad rule of this milieu: if something bad happens, the AfD must be to blame. Even the public broadcaster's fact check ultimately concludes that Neither "Apollo News" nor "Junge Freiheit" are classified as extremist. The accusations of "fascism" are simply unfounded. But that interests the mob as little as an alibi interests the judge.

The speakers on that stage consider themselves the bulwark against fascism and fail to realize that they have long since learned its craft – the "Never Again" generation , practicing the very mechanisms against which "Never Again" was once directed. The Red Army Faction (RAF) began with words like these and ended with coffins. Those who decide today which journalist is a human being and which is fair game have already taken the first step down the same path. Those who distribute fundamental rights based on ideology are not democrats, but judges without a court – and call this "anti-fascism"! And the next time they tell you they are defending democracy, ask them whose press credentials they will invalidate next!