Many citizens of Germany have been taking to the streets these days because of rising prices. But people are especially eager to protest in the east of the country. 32 years after reunification, the differences between east and west are large, and this is visible on the streets as well.

Hairdresser Petra Scholz warned those gathered at the protest in Plauen, Saxony, in advance: her speech would be “a little more critical.” She began her address by describing her current financial situation, which is far from brilliant. “The water has reached my throat, I’m on the verge of losing everything,” laments the single mother, describing a situation that is currently troubling many citizens of Germany, especially those with shallower pockets.

Revolt against the “western elites”

But she soon moves on to a somewhat different criticism. Suddenly she speaks out against mandatory vaccination, then against the “western elites” and media instructions on “how we are allowed to think.” In the end there was no more control: “We live in a dictatorship of the West. Let’s finally chase the government to hell!”

Something similar can be heard these days at many protests, above all in eastern Germany, in the area of the former German Democratic Republic.

Above all the far left and (especially) the right are using the people’s dissatisfaction and calling for revolt and a “hot autumn,” and above all against the government’s energy policy (which, incidentally, approved a new package of financial aid for citizens these days to overcome the financial crisis caused by rising energy prices, a total of 200 billion euros, the most in history).

Hot autumn

On German Unity Day (3.10.), protests are once again being organized throughout eastern Germany. In Plauen, Saxony, the gathering was called by the radical right-wing group The Third Way. The problem is that dissatisfaction with rising prices is mixing with a whole other spectrum that is moving in one particular direction.

Here, doubt in the democratic system appears, as does dissatisfaction with western sanctions against Russia. And here the opinions of the far-left and far-right spectrum suddenly coincide. What is happening is admittedly still far from what Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock feared when she spoke of “popular uprisings,” but there are enough people who will make an effort to ensure that autumn really is “hot.”

Among them is the chairman of the democratically elected Left party, Martin Schirdewan, who is trying to draw political capital from Russia’s attack (which still has a great many sympathizers among voters of the former regime DDR party). “A lot is brewing. In the coming weeks many will receive increased gas bills, which affects millions. And the Left party is there for them,” said Schirdewan.

A question of wealth?

The Offices for the Protection of the Constitutional Order are also ready, preparing for an increase in the activities of forces that do not like the current German democratic system.

What stands out 32 years after reunification is that especially the inhabitants of the former DDR are particularly susceptible to calls to overthrow the government.

Members of the ruling Green party are cautious in their assessment of this phenomenon. “Price increases of course affect citizens across the whole country. But in the east live people who as a rule have fewer resources and savings at their disposal than those in the West. In the West, citizens are simply wealthier and less affected by price increases,” says Paula Piechotta of the German Greens, who herself comes from the east of the country.

The dissatisfaction of “easterners” with democracy is also supported by official data. According to surveys commissioned by the government commissioner for the issue of former East Germany (or as it is called here in Germany, the “new federal states”) Carsten Schneider, only 39 percent of citizens in the east of the country are satisfied with democracy.

Piechotta explains it like this: “Many in the east believe that twice in history they drew the short straw: in 1945 and in the 1990s.” She says that the attitude of former East Germans toward Russia is also “complicated,” and distrust toward NATO is great.

Strengthening of the right

And that is something especially far-right groups know how to exploit for their anti-constitutional activities. This does not refer only to the relatively mild Alternative for Germany (AfD), but to much more radical forces that, especially during the pandemic, became entrenched in the East German provinces.

At the local level, the Left is trying to distance itself from right-wing extremists, but they do not always succeed. At the federal level, the leaders of the Left and the AfD have the same demands, for example when they ask the government to abolish the “economic war against Russia.”

But it seems that the right profits more from such demands after all. According to the latest public opinion surveys, in the east of the country the AfD would currently have the support of as much as 27 percent of voters. At the level of the whole country, support currently stands at 15 percent, which is significantly more than in the parliamentary elections a year ago. With 5.5 percent, the Left would be on the verge of dropping out of the Bundestag.

Green politician Piechotta hopes that all democratic forces at the local level (including the Left) will unite against the far right, and in doing so appealed to the Left to join the Greens, the Social Democrats, and the trade unions.

But among the “ordinary little man,” that message has so far borne no fruit. For hairdresser Petra from the beginning of the story, the Greens are the only extremists in the country.

Source: dw.com