A New Kind of Hope Emerges from German Street Protests
Early Morning Resistance in Erfurt
Through the teargas I saw something – Before dawn on Saturday, I was running across open fields alongside hundreds of unfamiliar faces, heading toward a highway blockade. We had gathered just beyond Erfurt, an eastern German city where multiple groups were positioning themselves to prevent delegates from reaching the Alternative für Deutschland party’s annual conference. Our group faced a line of police officers equipped with helmets and batons, their cameras mounted on monopods capturing every moment. Only a few years prior, I would have been documenting this scene as a journalist positioned behind the police barriers. My journalism education emphasized objectivity, yet I found myself unable to remain neutral regarding the AfD. Rather than observing from the sidelines, I joined the demonstrators—many of whom were decades my junior—as we chanted together:
“Siamo tutti antifascisti (We are all antifascists)!”
Having lived in Germany for almost three decades as a foreigner, and raising two daughters here, I have personal investment in what happens to this country. The AfD fills me with genuine dread. The party promotes what it terms “remigration”—a policy that critics caution could expand well beyond removing undocumented migrants and asylum seekers into a comprehensive vision determining who truly belongs in Germany. This anxiety extends beyond immigrants and non-citizens. Several prominent AfD figures have even suggested removing ethnic Germans with migrant backgrounds whom they consider insufficiently German. The Bavarian AfD parliamentary faction has proposed creating a German deportation police force patterned after America’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Political Landscape and Electoral Threats
Current polling indicates the AfD has become Germany’s most favored party, with support nearing thirty percent. This autumn brings critical elections in two eastern German states where the AfD might secure victories in both. In Saxony-Anhalt specifically, polling suggests the party is close to achieving an absolute majority, potentially making it the first far-right party to govern a German state since the conclusion of Nazi rule.
I traveled to Erfurt alongside thousands of Germans from across the nation, not with expectations of halting the AfD conference entirely, but because something new had emerged. For the first time in years, a grassroots movement offered ordinary citizens what the political establishment has failed to deliver: a meaningful path toward resistance.
The Widersetzen Movement
These blockades were coordinated by Widersetzen, a flexible coalition uniting trade unionists, climate activists, anti-racist organizations, queer groups, and local networks dedicated to civil disobedience. The name carries dual meaning—it can signify both “sit down” and “resist.” While conservative German media frequently characterizes Widersetzen as dangerous, potentially violent far-left extremists, my experience felt more like a community celebration or school field trip. The young woman beside me wore a vivid pink T-shirt featuring a unicorn, rainbow, and the humorous caption “Alpha Male.” A medical student had brought her urology textbook to review during waiting periods.
The sole instance of violence I witnessed came from law enforcement. Several protesters darted through an opening in the police cordon and encountered swinging batons and pepper spray. A few demonstrators sustained injuries, though thankfully none were severe.
Hope Replaces Inevitability
Standing among the protesters, I experienced something long absent from German political life: hope. The AfD’s ascent had previously seemed unavoidable and unstoppable, with mainstream parties largely responding by pursuing the same voters. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has shifted rightward on immigration and social matters, employing coded language when referencing racial and gender minorities. Simultaneously, he has reduced social funding while increasing military expenditure, advancing a clear neoliberal economic program. Throughout this period, the AfD has only strengthened.
What impressed me most in Erfurt was the organizational strength of Widersetzen. For months preceding the AfD conference, activists conducted door-to-door visits, conversing with local residents and forming alliances with community organizations. This represented precisely the kind of grassroots politics that Germany’s mainstream parties have neglected in eastern regions, allowing the far right to claim territory.
These efforts yielded visible results. After my blockade dispersed, I walked through Erfurt with hundreds of fellow protesters. Along our entire route, residents waved from windows and offered encouragement. An elderly woman leaning on her garden fence stood with tears in her eyes, moved by what she was witnessing.
