In the coming days many farmers will follow the calls of their associations in order to express their massive protest against the announced cuts to agricultural subsidies. Although some of the cuts have meanwhile already been withdrawn by the government, the associations are nevertheless sticking to the “week of action” in order also to bring about the withdrawal of the remaining cuts. To demand this is entirely legitimate in a democracy. Above all on social media we are witnessing the attempt at an infiltration or an instrumentalisation of the farmers’ protests by right-wing actors: the relevant parties, members of the Reichsbürger scene, the Identitarian Movement, the so-called New Right, as well as networks that already made themselves loudly conspicuous as enemies of democracy during the coronavirus pandemic or over the energy crisis, are mobilising for participation in the protests. This is nothing new: at earlier farmers’ protests slogans popular among right-wing extremists, gallows symbols and the flag of the Landvolk movement already appeared. According to media reports, the confrontation between the farmers and Minister for Economic Affairs Habeck was organised by the “Freie Schleswig-Holsteiner”, who are modelled on the party “Freie Sachsen”, classified as right-wing extremist. In summary, the Jena democracy researcher Dr Axel Salheiser told ARD that these are völkisch-nationalist to right-wing extremist groups which were attempting to use the protests for their own purposes.
How are the farmers reacting to this problem?
It is a familiar feeling: it does one good when one’s own demands are loudly co-proclaimed by other actors. All the more so when they have an effect – as in the withdrawal of many subsidy cuts that has already taken place. There is, however, the danger that one then all too easily underestimates the true motives of some of the loud supporters and falls into the “populism trap”: in the search for support, parts of the farmers’ protests are apparently following actors who supposedly stand up for the “little citizens”, the “ordinary people”, the “normal ones”, and in doing so they overlook the fact that these völkisch to right-wing extremist actors are not only concerned with getting rid of the “traffic-light government” as the representative of allegedly everything bad, but straight away of the “entire system” of democracy.
The German Farmers’ Association did declare that right-wing extremist groupings, conspiracy theorists and other radicals had no place with them. At the same time, so far no organiser of the protests has intervened resolutely against right-wing slogans and symbols. Symbolically, at the demonstration of the Farmers’ Association on 18 December 2023 in Berlin one of the main speakers was able to direct a racist remark at Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens), while the president of the Farmers’ Association, Joachim Rukwied, stood beside him and did not intervene. The blockade action against Habeck was indeed condemned by the association, but it remains to be seen with what concrete measures it is to be prevented that right-wing extremists take part in the demonstrations and display their symbols as well as stoking up the “wrath of the people”.
It will not be enough to announce, in the context of the protests, that “one is against participants from the right-wing camp”. What will be decisive is whether and how effectively the organisers, their representatives (e.g. stewards) and every single farmer actually take action against the hijacking by right-wing actors and their symbols. Otherwise the situation would run the risk of serving as an example of “everyone knew about it, but nobody did anything about it”.
It will become apparent whether the line between legitimate protest and anti-democratic subversive efforts is drawn clearly or not. Precisely because democracy makes the protests possible, the protests must not damage democracy.
