Wulff warns at the Kirchentag: AfD is an emergency for our democracy!

Wulff warns at the Kirchentag: AfD is an emergency for our democracy!

Hannover, Deutschland - At the Evangelical Church Day in Hanover, ex-Federal President Christian Wulff urged a trivialization of the AfD. He described the strengthening of this party as "an emergency for our country" and called for a clear handling of the AfD, which was classified by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as right -wing extremist. Wulff emphasized that the AfD and certain currents in the United States "have to be fought".

Wulff called for a comprehensive control of the AfD "to water, to land, air" and at an argumentative level. In this context, he warned that extremists could get into office using society in order to undermine democracy. These statements come at a time when the topic of radicalization and the role of social media are increasingly becoming the focus of the public.

radicalization by social media

A publication of the final report "Mainstreaming and radicalization on social media" from November 2022 addresses the phenomenon of online radicalization. This report explains that strategic mainstreaming serves to postpone the public discourse in favor of radical positions without creating direct association with specific ideologies. This mainstreaming can reduce the reactance compared to extremist ideologies and promote their anchoring in the middle of society.

Wulff also criticized politicians who represent migration as the “mother of all problems” and called for a regulation of social networks. This regulation would be necessary in order not to shift the power to tech billionaires and to ensure that extremist ideas can not be spread without further.

responsibility for democracy

Wulff's demands are in line with the results of the research at the LMU Munich, which offer approaches to theoretical conceptualization and empirical operationalization of strategic mainstreaming. In particular, the protest events around Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated how important social media are in the communication strategies of extremist actors.

The central task that Wulff and the researchers address is to actively act against extremism and the associated risk to democracy. Only through clear positioning and measures can the strong extremist currents - as in the case of the AfD - be stopped.

For more information see also ZVW and Constitutional protection .