September 2015: Angela Merkel (CDU) welcomes Nurhan Soykan, Coordinating Council of Muslims, to a meeting with representatives of associations and groups helping arriving refugees at the federal chancellery in Berlin. Michael Kappeler/Press Association. All rights reserved.AfD is headline news again. The far-right party that was only formed in 2013 but has been growing in strength in the past few years, has taken 94 seats and entering the 709-member Bundestag for the first time. Having taken nearly 13% of the vote, it is now the third largest party in Germany. “One million people, foreigners, being brought into this country are taking away a piece of this country and we as AfD don't want that," Gauland of AfD said, who sees Muslims and Islam as clashing with European culture and society and pledges to “fight against foreign invasion”.
In the past two years, the number of racist attacks on refugees and asylum shelters have risen across Germany, particularly in the East. Last autumn I visited several towns in Saxony that have seen the increase in such attacks, most of them encouraged by the AfD and involving its supporters. The situation is so severe that many asylum seekers live in fear and several shelters require the increase of police patrols for protection. The threat of racial violence is making life hell for refugees and asylum seekers in Germany. The threat of racial violence is making life hell for refugees and asylum seekers in Germany.
An anti-refugee, anti-migrant racism are part and parcel of the anti-Muslim, counter-jihadist movements across Europe and the US. Such racism isn’t only found in the margins of society but has long been practiced in immigration and asylum policies all over Europe. AfD’s demands to close EU borders and set up holding camps abroad to prevent migrants from leaving for Germany, have little conflict with the EU’s current asylum policy – especially if you look at the EU’s recent deals with Libya.
