Before Olaf Scholz’s ‘traffic light coalition’ fell and the German elections became imminent, Alice Weidel and Sahra Wagenknecht already starred in a television duel in October that ended up being the most watched program of the night. The confrontation between these two women, who from the extreme margins of German politics arrive ready to punish the male ranks of the established parties, had a fascinating effect on the audience fueled by their common contempt for propriety. In the autumn regional elections in eastern Germany, their two parties together took more than 40% of the votes. The polls anticipate that together they will obtain one in four votes in the early elections on February 23, with two antithetical speeches but that respond to a Euclidean geometry in which the extremes, for the moment, touch. Their personal profiles do not fit in the stereotypes of the ideological spheres in which their parties operate. Weidel, a former Goldman Sachs analyst and head of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, is openly lesbian and married to Sarah Bossard, a Sri Lankan film and television producer with whom she has two children. He dedicates himself to his German homeland, but has settled in Überlingen (Switzerland), which is much more tax-friendly. His opponent, the leader of a far-left party to which he has given his own name, Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), in a gesture of cult of the leader unprecedented in German politics since the Second World War, has always been, until now, both in her private life and in politics, ‘lady of’. After a first divorce, she began dating Oskar Lafontaine, 26 years older than her and number two in the Schröder government. Due to the liberal reforms of Agenda 2010 and the influence of Wagenknecht, Lafontaine slammed the door and led a split from which the German Social Democrats have still not recovered, while divorcing his wife. Less than a year later, they had married and together they had founded a new party to the left of the SPD in which, with his retirement, she lost all relevance. So Wagenknecht led a new split and inaugurated BSW just a few months ago, even further to the left, to remain in charge. Distant starting pointsIt claims an extinct identity of the left, which it understands to be frontally opposed to the social democracy and eco-pacifism of the Greens, to “identity politics” and to the ‘woke’. So much so, that the German right-wing media frequently requires their interventions to support their theses in the cultural war. From such seemingly distant starting points, Weidel and Wagenknecht share an aggressive criticism of the ‘old parties’ and spread a sentiment of doom, which awakens equal fear and anger. They describe a Germany ruled by stupid people and about to go down the drain, which only they can rescue. However, they emphasize different points. Weidel, like his idol Trump, preaches a capitalism freed from all chains while Wagenknecht, an ex-communist and ex-leftist, promotes socialism with a slight touch of state capitalism, more Chinese style. Both openly address the German worker and the peasant, figures that have practically disappeared from 21st century German society but with whom a mass of voters seem to identify, and they dedicate their struggle to them, given that they understand politics as a combat. In economic matters and for practical purposes, the main difference is that AfD defends the “debt brake”, anchored in the Basic Law and which prevents German governments from indebting the country more than 0.35% of GDP in each edition of general budgets. BSW, however, would without duel tear that principle from the Constitution. Weidel describes herself as a “conservative-liberal” politician against “any state intervention and any element of planned economy” and Wagenknecht accuses her of “planning a generalized social cutback.” Regarding the relationship with other formations policies, the aggressive tone of their speeches could suggest that they do not contemplate associations with any of the “established parties.” Weidel has gone so far as to say that the “real extremists” are former Chancellor Merkel and the current Interior Minister, the social democrat Nancy Faeser. But the truth is that she is openly pushing for a post-electoral pact with the conservatives of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led today by Friedrich Merz, and feels very comfortable with the idea of collaborating with the liberals (FDP) of Christian Lindner, while Wagenknecht maintains a staged ability to join coalitions with the CDU and SPD, and strives to be loyal to the Constitution. He has even flirted with Weidel, whom he considers “a conservative with whom I agree on many things.” He has suggested, in fact, that she distance herself from her party colleague Björn Höcke, head of the hard line and friend of neo-Nazis, “and then we can govern together.” Wagenknecht has no qualms about identifying a common objective: dividing the CDU around the war in Ukraine and the figure of Putin. Friends of RussiaBoth reject Western arms deliveries to Ukraine. Weidel cites NATO’s eastward expansion as the “cause” of the Russian invasion and describes the conflict as a “proxy war between the United States and the Russians.” Wagenknecht calls for Russian gas as an energy supplier for Germany and criticizes European sanctions, to which Weidel nods in agreement. They also share their hatred for the European Union, the source of all evil in their respective worldviews. Weidel wants to create a hard core that excludes peripheral countries or, failing that, remove Germany from the euro. Wagenknecht directly prefers to dismantle the European “digital dictatorship” and calls for insubordination: “Germany should not adhere to EU rules at the national level if they go against economic reason, social justice, peace, democracy and freedom of expression. The communion between these two women reaches its climax in matters of immigration. Both adopt a hard line based on asylum procedures at external borders or in third countries, rapid and massive repatriations of rejected asylum seekers and the banishment of human rights in migration management. They differ, however, with respect to Israel. Weidel recognizes, using terminology that Wagenknecht does not accept, his “right to defend himself” and condemns the Muslim anti-Semitism of anti-Israel protesters, whom he refers to disparagingly as “riot brothers,” who “would no longer be in this country if the AfD were in power”. Wagenknecht talks about “genocide” in Gaza and flirts with anti-Semitic messages. With 18% and 6% respectively in the polls, Weidel and Wagencknecht are in second and fifth place among the most voted, heading into February 23. Together they outline the centrifugal force that pushes German politics towards extremes and call into question both the know-how of public life and the lines that separate political activity from anti-system activism.
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