By Gunnar Schupelius
Who else wants to be a politician when it involves a risk to life and limb? The Weidel case should give us something to think about, says Gunnar Schupelius.
AfD federal chairwoman Alice Weidel canceled her appearance in the Bavarian state election campaign on Tuesday. Instead, she spoke to her followers via video message.
She canceled for safety reasons. Her partner and children had previously been seriously threatened. The police acted in a timely manner, evacuated the family and took them to a safe place, it was said. According to BZ information, it was a group of perpetrators who had planned an attack.
One can imagine the feeling of insecurity Ms. Weidel and her family must now live with and what this means for her children. And all because her mother works as a party leader and member of the Bundestag.
Alice Weidel is not the only politician whose life is literally in danger because of her job. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has its hands full protecting the people’s representatives, who are increasingly threatened by extremists.
The crime statistics reveal a truly frightening trend: the number of attacks on politicians from the parties represented in the Bundestag rose to 739 nationwide in the first half of 2023. For comparison: In the second half of 2022, party representatives were attacked a total of 392 times. The federal government announced this in response to a request from the AfD.
In the first half of 2023, the Greens were most often affected by an attack on their politicians (301 cases), followed by the SPD (153), the AfD (121) and the FDP (80). These figures only include the cases that have been reported and registered so far.
The federal government points out that the picture could change as a result of subsequent reports and investigations.
The numbers also do not provide any information about the severity of the attack. The sharp increase in crimes is worrying. Apparently the inhibition threshold against physically attacking a politician or even threatening them fatally is decreasing.
In Berlin, left-wing extremists have established a tradition of violence against politicians whose program does not suit them. In the last election campaigns, representatives of the AfD were particularly affected. Right-wing radicals have long since taken up this disgusting practice; they threaten green and left-wing politicians, especially in Neukölln.
If it gets to the point like now that the federal chairwoman of an elected party represented in the Bundestag has to break off the election campaign because she feels that her life is under threat, then that is more than just her own problem. Then this is a danger for democracy as a whole, which depends on people who make themselves available as representatives.
Who else wants to be a politician when it involves a risk to life and limb and, above all, to the family?
The threatening situation in which Ms. Weidel finds herself is not commented on publicly at all. Why? Doesn’t anyone recognize the danger that threatens us all here?
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