On Friday, 9 May, our chairwoman, Erika Steinbach, accepted an invitation from the Hamburg AfD parliamentary group and gave a lecture in the venerable ballroom of Hamburg City Hall. Around 200 guests had come to learn about „Germany's deficient democracy“ – the theme of the lecture. Protected by a strong police presence, Ms Steinbach spoke about the latest moves by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to defame Alternative for Germany, apparently orchestrated by outgoing Minister Nancy Faeser. Ms Steinbach showed the visitors the means by which freedom of expression in Germany is increasingly being restricted, for example through the establishment of so-called reporting centres where fellow citizens can be denounced. A relic from the dark days of the GDR? The election of Friedrich Merz as Federal Chancellor, which, due to a lack of his own majority, could only succeed with the help of the Left Party MPs in the second round of voting, was also discussed.

After the lecture, guests had ample opportunity to ask their many questions. It became clear how stunned people with a migrant background are by the latest developments in Germany. The views of foreign politicians and journalists were also discussed, who commented with incomprehension and concern on the extremism charade of the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Friedrich Merz's unconditional will to power. Numerous former members of the CDU expressed their dismay that the new chancellor was completely indifferent to the incompatibility decision he himself had initiated against the Left Party in order to get into office as quickly as possible. In the end, everyone agreed: when politicians act in this way to secure their power and when state institutions are exploited to harass the largest opposition party, democracy in Germany is in acute danger. The government is doing exactly what it accuses the opposition of doing – who is the arsonist here, and who is the fire brigade? Isn't this something we usually only see in republics that live off the export of certain curved tropical fruits?

You can find further events that you can still participate in here: https://erasmus-stiftung.de/angebote/