No other party is more affected by violence than the Greens. This can end in blood, as one affected person explains. An expert has a frightening explanation for the phenomenon.
Munich – “Hang the Greens before the trees are no longer there”. This message was addressed to a Green MP and is just one example of many – and not even the most blatant. No other party faces as much headwind for its policies as the Greens. Why is that?
Greens most affected by violence
Politically motivated violence against members of parliament has been increasing for years. In the first half of 2023, there were a total of 637 attacks on political representatives in Germany. 301 of them were aimed at Green politicians. This emerges from a response from the federal government to a request from the AfD. There were 121 attacks on AfD representatives, third behind the SPD (153). The Greens are also the most affected when it comes to attacks on party buildings, with 129 of a total of 279 political crimes (SPD 58, AfD 38). In most cases it involves damage to property, insults or death threats. The list also includes physical injuries, which in turn affect the AfD the most.
There are reports of physical attacks among the Greens, especially in the second half of the year – there is no official data yet. At a campaign event for the Bavarian election, a stone flew towards the Green Party’s leading duo Katharina Schulze and Ludwig Hartmann. Lower Saxony state parliament member Christian Schroeder suffered bruises after an attack at a village festival. Berlin MP Jian Omar was threatened with a hammer.
Green local politicians in particular are affected – “a lot of things have shifted to more extremes”
Many of the party’s top politicians only travel through the country with personal protection and are accompanied by officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office, such as Robert Habeck and Ricarda Lang, who found a cartridge in her mailbox at the beginning of the year. However, local politicians are particularly affected by attacks, “who, in contrast to top politicians, have fewer options to protect themselves,” as the Green Party’s press office wrote upon request.
One of these local politicians is Berliner Fabio Scharfenberg. In 2021, a beer bottle hit him in the head while he was hanging posters for the federal election. “A quick escalation,” as he says in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIA. The doctor’s letter, which is available to the editorial team, states the diagnosis: “A small laceration on the lower lip. Wound about three millimeters long and a maximum of two millimeters deep.” It has long since healed, but “I was very lucky,” as the 42-year-old says. According to Scharfenberg, aggression has recently increased. “In the last twelve months, a lot has shifted to extremes.” He himself was no longer attacked.
Extremism researcher Lotta Rahlf also observes that the Greens are “increasingly becoming the target of digital and real-world hostility.” The reasons for this are complex. They go beyond disappointment with the traffic light policy and are also related to the strong polarization of social groups. “From the perspective of radicalization research, however, identity political narratives, such as those recently used in the Bavarian election campaign, are particularly problematic,” says Rahlf, who researches the topic at the Leibniz Institute for Peace and Conflict Research. The Bavarian election campaign was characterized by the clear demarcation from green. “The Greens do not belong to Bavaria,” said Markus Söder, stylizing them as a ban party.
“As a result, violence can be seen as legitimate, even necessary.”
Now the CSU leader is certainly not responsible for people throwing stones at political events. However, Scharfenberg sees a share of responsibility: “The conservative camp has strongly targeted the Greens and that of course has an impact.” The stone-throwing probably came from the corona deniers or Reichsbürger scene, where the Greens are being fought even more strongly. “Such enemy images can lead to violence being viewed as legitimate, if not even necessary,” says Rahlf.
All democratic parties must counteract these enemy images. If that doesn’t happen, local politicians in particular would withdraw due to hostility or concern. Like Barbara Domke, local Green Party politician in Cottbus. She resigned from her position as city councilor in the summer. She had previously been repeatedly insulted, threatened by neo-Nazis and had her car window smashed.
Such withdrawals from politics would have “consequences that endanger democracy,” says Rahlf. “This strengthens parties in the right-wing extremist political spectrum, such as the AfD Success especially at the local level is increasingly making headlines.” Local politician Scharfenberg has also withdrawn from active politics. But not because of the violence, as he emphasizes. He now rents out mobile homes. This is another way to say goodbye to aggression. (as)
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