The recognition of ADG with an extremist party does not contradict democracy, this is part of the system created due to Hitler's coming to power-a political scientist

The recognition of the Alternative to Germany party officially right -winged and extremist caused a negative reaction of a number of politicians who called such actions of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BFV) by a violation of democratic principles and the intervention of special services in political processes in the country.

Especially violently BFV actions were criticized in the USA. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the decision “hidden tyranny” and stated that it was aimed at suppressing the legitimate opposition. Vice President Jay Di Wence compared the BFV solution with the suppression of the opposition during the Cold War. Ilon Musk described the classification of ADG as an “extreme attack on democracy”.

However, this is a fundamentally incorrect reading of what is happening, the political scientist, a member of the free democratic party Anastasia Vishnevskaya-Mann, explained to The Insider. Firstly, the special services act within the framework of very strict rules and requirements, and secondly, in a very long temporary lag. Observations of ADG began back in 2019, in 2022 they were strengthened, and only now, after the election, the department makes a decision and will soon publish a report.

But the most important thing is that the political system of Germany itself is built in such a way as to prevent another dictator from coming to power, the political scientist notes.

“Germany is Streitbare Demokratie, which can be translated as“ democracy that can stand up for itself ”or“ democracy with fists ”. So, the idea is that since in Germany the dictator has once come to power democratically, all the institutions of Germany, including the special services, including the internal special services, yes, in fact, which are the department for the protection of the Constitution, must ensure that the political forces or public forces calling for the overthrow of the constitutional system did not have the opportunity to come to power.

“Alternative for Germany”, in fact, is just calling for the overthrow of the constitutional system. For example, disputing the article by the first German constitution, which states that human dignity is inviolable. The fact that the representatives of this party have long been not only at closed meetings, but also quite openly talk about people, for example, with migration background, about dark -skinned people, about homosexuals, this is all a frank insult to human dignity. This is from the point of view of such a neutral, state assessment of what is happening. ”

Streitbare Demokratie

Streitbare Demokratie - a German term denotes a model of a democratic state that has the right and is obliged to protect itself from internal enemies, even if for this it is necessary to limit some democratic freedoms of those who are trying to use them to undermine the democracy itself.

Streitbare Demokratie suggests that democracy is not obliged to be defenseless against its opponents. If any forces-parties, organizations or individuals-use democratic mechanisms to destroy democracy itself, the state can respond with restriction measures.

The idea arose after the Second World War and the fall of the Weimar Republic, which the Nazis destroyed, having come to power democratically. This has become a lesson for German lawyers and politicians: democracy should be able to protect itself, otherwise it is vulnerable to totalitarianism.

It was in fulfillment of this principle that BFV in 2021 classified ADG as a “suspicious object” (Verdachtsfall) - the first step under Streitbare Demokratie. This made it possible to collect information and monitor her actions and statements.