Political hatred in Germany materializes daily in violent acts of intimidation and even physical attacks against candidates and elected officials. “When a political leader is dehumanized, when a person is dehumanized, violent physical attack is another strategy that is considered legitimate by some of these groups,” says Steven Forti, professor of Contemporary History at the UAB and author of ‘Extreme Right 2.0’.

In this sense, Franco Delle Donne, Doctor in Communication from FU Berlin and director of the ‘Epidemia Ultra’ podcast, states that this “not only happens in Germany, but we can also see it in other countries, and it has to do with this need. to polarize, to bring politics into a discussion in which there is no competition, but there is a fight an enemy“.

Just in the last week, three politicians have been attacked in Germany, and in 2023 there were almost 3,000 verbal or physical attacks Against them. Behind the data is the rise of extremist parties. At the threshold of the European elections it does not seem that the violence of their most radicalized followers is going to take its toll on them: “If there is an effect, it may be more long-term, since the people who decided to vote for these parties at this point do not believe to retreat from this type of actions,” says Franco Delle Donne.

For his part, Steven Forti predicts that “the extreme right is going to rise “The two far-right formations at the community level can add between 22% and 25% of the votes,” adds the expert.

Even the president of the European Commission has been open to agreeing with these groups. However, the professor of Contemporary History at the UAB and author of ‘Extreme Right 2.0’ believes that “opening the doors of institutions to political forces that are fundamentally antidemocratic it is not a solution to regenerate our democracies or even save them.” And this would imply the same setback in rights that we have seen in countries where the extreme right already governs.