Arif Haidary, an Afghan refugee who arrived in Germany 10 years ago as an unaccompanied minor, has trouble understanding the historic change that took place during the vote on Sunday.
“The elections were very, very bad,” he said.
When Haidary arrived in Germany in 2015, Angela Merkel was Chancellor and the country was cited as a model to welcome refugees. While a large part of the rest of Europe has closed its borders, Germany has opened the door to more than a million refugees in 2015.
But times have changed.
The Christian Christian Democratic Alliance of Center-Direct (CDU / CSU), which has taken a difficult position on migration by promising a “Fundamental” revision asylum rules and border controlscored about 29% of the votes in the last weekend elections.
The alternative for Germany (AFD), which made repeat Call for remigration (The deportation of people with migrant history), has obtained 20.8%, the highest score for the far right since the end of the Second World War.
Germany elected Christian Christian Christian Union (CDU) of Friedrich Merz in the SNAP elections on Sunday, but the extreme right alternative for Germany (AFD) celebrates a record result. Andrew Chang breaks down the composition of the new coalition government that the CDU will have to train and the importance of AFD gains. Images provided by Reuters, Getty Images and the Canadian Press.
The election took place after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote with confidence last year following the collapse of his coalition government.
Immigration was the absolute priority of voters, especially after a series of attacks, as when a Afghan refugees led a car in the crowd during a demonstration in Munich Two weeks ago, killing a mother and her child.
On the night of the Munich attack, “I received so many racist messages, saying that we, Afghans, kill many people,” said Haidary, who is also vice-president of the Munich Migration Advisory Council.
“Unfortunately, a large part of this is the fault of politicians – they often try to generalize this problem and make all Afghans look like this. I think it will get worse. Each refugee is afraid.”
Fear of deportations
Friedrich Merz, who looks Becoming the German chancellor after his party was victorious, must now try to form a coalition to govern.
Even if Merz excludes an alliance with the extreme right, many remember that he accepted AFD support a few weeks ago when he filed an anti-immigration request in Parliament. It was a first in the country, which was used to maintain a “firewall” against the extreme right.
This alliance led to massive demonstrations across the country.
The term “remigration” was part of rhetoric during the electoral campaign.
AFD, whose leader, Alice Weidel, is related to a woman born in Sri Lankais, has even done Electoral campaign thieves in the style of one -way plane tickets To return migrants to the house.
“I am very worried,” said Cameron Kakande, a Uganda refugee who fled the persecution in his country four years ago for Munich. “They say that everyone with migrant history may have to leave the country. I am one of those people. But Uganda is not a safe place for me.”
Uganda is considered One of the most dangerous countries for 2SLGBTQ +which risks the death penalty.
“Coming to Germany was not my first choice because of the language and everything. I would have loved going to the United States or Canada. But when your life is in danger, you are going to go the fastest,” said Kakande.
He was able to obtain a visa for Germany in 2021 to fly. Since then, Kakande has been working as HIV activist in NGOs, the language has learned and feels integrated. But he also fears more discrimination now.
“You can see that there are people who have no problem with refugees, but once they start to hear all of this [political] stories, their state of mind changes. “”
Shortage of labor
Germany imposed temporary restrictions on land borders in recent months and started to return people to Afghanistan, A first since the Taliban’s return to power.
“The next four years will be very difficult for refugees and people with migration training. These people will no longer feel comfortable, and there will also be more deportations,” said Haidary.
At the same time, the German economy is in crisis after two years of recession and needs more work with an aging population.
“We have, like 400,000 vacant jobs each year. We need these people who want to work in sectors where there are shortages, as in health care,” said Britta Coy, founder of Juno, an NGO who helps women refugee in Munich.
For example, around 10,000 Syrians work in German hospitalsAccording to the Syrian society for doctors and pharmacists in Germany.
Juno, who relies on public subsidies, is trying to find new donors, because he fears a change of funding.
“I guess [the incoming government] Will reduce social assistance for refugees, and there will be less money available for integration projects and NGOs, which is so important, “said Coy.” If you reduce this, people don’t really have the chance to start a new life here. “”
The 2SLGBTQ +rights watershed?
The 2SLGBTQ + community is also worried about a drop in their rights.
For example, the Merz and AFD party promised to revoke the self -determination lawThis allowed people to more easily change their sex in official archives.
“Merz’s sentences on the sexes, saying that he can support the idea of [U.S. President Donald] Trump that there are only two sexes, and AFD, who is really against LGBTQ + even if his chef is in a couple with a girl, are not a good sign at all, “said Tobias Oliveira Weismantel, Managing Director of Munich Aids-Hilfe. It is an NGO who provides services to the 2SLGBTQ + community and to people living with HIV.
He says that the current speech could lead to the stigma of the community, at a time when Germany is already experiencing an increase in violence against people 2SLGBTQ +, according to Weismantel.
“My biggest concern is for trans people. We know they are already dealing with depression, psychological problems and a high suicide rate,” he said. “Populism is never good for suicide. I am really worried.”
The AFD manifesto for the last elections defines the family as a “Father, mother and children“He calls minors to protect from what he describes as” trans and early sexualization and gender ideology “.
Vicky Voyage, a Drag Queen from Munich, says that she has already seen a change.
“Now, each time I do an hour of dragsters for children, people of the far right come to protest in front of the library and say that we are pedophiles and sexualize young people. The children must go through a secret door so that they do not know about the demonstration,” said Voyage.
The demonstrators “do not understand that we are only creating a safe space for queer children”.
In recent months, Weidel has courted allies known for their strong position against 2SLGBTQ +rights. This includes Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and currently force majeure in the US government under President Donald Trump. Musk blame “The Woke Mind Virus” for the transition of her transgender daughter.
“I thought we will never have a situation as in the United States, but America’s populism has now arrived in Europe, and with Trump, it even worse,” said Voyage. She considers recent results of the German elections as a final warning.
“If the next government fails over the next four years, AFD will increase even more. And there is a real risk that it will come to power.”
