Anyone who votes for AxD is part of it.

A Facebook post that clearly moves people. Both positively and negatively. It shows how wounded the East German, and perhaps even the German, soul is. But it's time to recognize that everything has consequences. Everything. Anyone who votes for AxD is part of it. Anyone who doesn't do anything against it brings them to power. This isn't about guilt, failure, and attack. It's about the question of when we finally take responsibility for ourselves. Instead of voting for extremes because we want them.

der Sonntagspost bei facebook...

Sunday morning. I was still in bed. We discussed the political situation. As we always do, often. Especially on weekends, when there's time. And again we came to the question of why this hatred is exploding, especially in the East. And it is. Unless you join in the swing to the right. Whether it's local politics, state politics, or just the normal people next door. The entire East has fled into populism. Finally, it's okay to think simple answers are good. Even if they aren't. No matter, because finally you can elevate yourself and convince yourself you're something special.

How often do I hear: "We here in the East. We see things more clearly than those over there. We've already overthrown a system once. Back in 1989."

But that's nonsense. Because, for one thing, most of those using that phrase were standing behind the curtain back then. At least until it became clear that taking to the streets was no longer dangerous. And those who came then had no political goals. They wanted prosperity. And freedom. Without knowing what that really meant. Yes. There were thousands. But not millions. Not at all.

That's the truth. Even if very few people like it. No. The 1989 revolution wasn't a glorious mass movement of a society yearning for spiritual freedom. Quite the opposite. It actually fell into most people's laps. Through no fault of their own. If you take away the grumbling in the safe space of your own home for a moment. It happened. Bravely, fists clenched in your pockets. Almost like how people anonymously lash out at others with their anger today. It was as it probably always is when systems collapse. For a long time in the beginning there were people who paved the way at great personal risk. They distributed leaflets about Ormig in the basement. They played secret concerts. There was ferment in the arts, the church and the environmental movement. They ended up in jail and were banned from practicing their professions.

In many places across the country. This took decades. It wasn't a moment. It was a long road. And those who walked it. Those who forged the first path into the socialist crust. Painstakingly and deliberately. Because every step could have been their last in freedom. Where are these people today? Are they the ones who speak out in politics? Are they the ones who are revered today? No. Only a few have even been given a chance to be politically active in the new era. Because it quickly became clear that free spirits are still rather unwelcome today. They had proven they could live and endure resilience. Were these people elected back then? For making such a significant commitment. That they, while they were in Stasi prison, will forever carry within them the idea that privacy and personal rights are nothing more than fantasy? That they will forever know that the inviolability of the individual depends on whether others out there stand together and are prepared to stand up for it. And they know this is an illusion? No. They weren't. And they only received support when the system was half-dead, hanging over the garden fence.

No. The real masses took to the streets when the Wall fell. For freedom? Democracy? Human rights? Well, for a few thousand, maybe even hundreds of thousands, these values really did matter. The rest wanted the Deutschmark, freedom of travel, and colorful, crowded shop windows. Those who promised exactly that were elected. Not those who dreamed of a truly new beginning and stood up for it. Nobody really wanted that. Mentally, the masses remained behind the curtain again. Only this time they came from the West. Those who truly had ideals mostly fell by the wayside.

Why does this have to be addressed today, 35 years later? Because it has a lot to do with the present. The hubris with which irresponsibility is placed above truth. The unscrupulousness with which history, reality, and science are ignored in order to invent one's own world with fabricated "arguments" or even outright, deliberate lies. This is often based on the narrative of the supposedly strong, only "seeing and defensive" East. Full of anger and 35 years late, it recognizes that it hasn't progressed any further than it did back then. And it defiantly documents this in old German script on the rears of trucks and cars: OSTDEUTSCHLAN D.

Look: Anyone who has done something like this knows what's going on. Even now. A brand of the supposedly unheard, disenfranchised, who are now "finally fighting back."

But what exactly are we against? Against the fact that almost everyone here is significantly better off than back then. That diligence and hard work produced results? That much was achieved and accomplished? In just three decades, a gray desert was transformed into beautiful landscapes? Against asphalt. Bricks. Paint. A world with beautiful facades. Funded by the whole of Germany? Or against the fact that today you can throw anything and everything in everyone's face? Without – as was the case back then – being dragged into an inconspicuous Barkas or Lada to disappear? Against what? Against the emptiness. And against the inability to work together. Because: Where is the content of this colorful shell? The soulful substance that generates pride and contentment in its peaceful, good form? In short: Where is the meaning that fulfills one and establishes self-confidence. That protects people from a lack of perspective. People who – laden with promises – instead of finding themselves, only see what they actually still need. More, instead of sustainable. "We here first" instead of "helping them." A war of prosperity instead of solidarity. And "finally, one can say that."

What happened to the values?

Cohesion? Living democracy. Charity and compassion. Yes, even solidarity? No. And here, too, it should be said: Of course, there are many people for whom this is an important purpose and content in life. I know many of them. And they are also the ones who—much like the true pioneers of the change—are ridiculed, labeled as strange, and even as enemies. The masses tick differently here, too. The masses delegate personal responsibility by voting. This, usually wrapped up in a complaint and clever reprimand, then mutates into an expectation, only to ultimately be stranded in the anger of the guest disappointed by the service. Because those to whom one tries to hand over all this promise to "take care of everything" and "take care of it," but don't actually deliver. And can't deliver. Because society—and certainly not politics—is not a delivery service. Because you can't simply solve the problems of millions of people just because you've been given a mandate. You shouldn't "take" people's problems, store them somewhere, and mostly forget them. Rather, politics must create opportunities. So that people can have an impact on themselves. So that they can be problem-solvers themselves. Instead of driving around the country with untenable promises of solutions and bringing enablement. In other words: to create policies that enable people to solve their problems independently and autonomously. We haven't done this for three decades. Because we don't trust those out there. How are citizens supposed to know what's good for them and how to do it right? And for just as long, a furious emptiness has been growing for all these reasons. And, as the old saviors slowly wear out, it calls for new ones. For an alternative, for example. Even if it isn't one.

The East is thus becoming more and more of a vale of tears. And at the same time a dangerous precedent for politics in this country. With a small but well-organized mob at the helm. Loudly, brazenly, and ready for anything, they seek to bring about the end of this country. They incite hatred, lie, and play the weak against the weaker. They constantly sow discord because they have no interest in knowing and maintaining the strong parts of a society. And a political majority that adopts their slogans because they themselves no longer have the answers. And that knows that its days are numbered, through their own fault. Because they have nursed the country to death. A bit like the band on the Titanic. Playing the music they want. For good Google reviews. Shortly before sinking. This is a broad, perhaps the greatest failure of political elites in the post-reunification era.

And those who elected them.

Because what may sound like a great justification for the angry people isn't. Quite the opposite. None of this happened in secret. No secret conspiracy. No tricks. No. Promises, broken promises, lies, distortions, and falsifications have always been openly made. Printed in large newspaper letters. On large posters. What we don't like today, we made possible. We citizens, who are more angry about the colon in the first part of this sentence than about a district administrator who lets himself be photographed with neo-Nazis. Or ministers who cause billions in damages while simultaneously trying to deny the country's poorest the already meager aid they receive. Which only works because we allow ourselves to be incited to believe this is right. And it's certainly no excuse for all those who turn their anger into a vote for the AxD party. No. It's a clear statement that all those who vote for right-wing extremists are also among them. Yes, you read that right. You are part of it if you help a party like this come to power. Clear and unmistakable. How could it be otherwise? After all, they are also the same voters who, vehemently and shoutingly but rightly, demand accountability from politicians too. How can you demand something that doesn't apply to you? How can you constantly demand to be treated as an adult and taken seriously when you yourself are not prepared to take responsibility for your own actions? No. Anyone who votes for this party knows why they are doing this. Or should be aware of it. Both lead to the same conclusion: anyone who votes for AxD wants AxD and knows what they are doing. And they are not a victim of any dark forces either. They are extremists who are suffering maximally from having previously made up the causes of all the infuriating grievances themselves.

Whoever votes for AxD is voting for extremism

So it was in 1933 and the following years. Anger wanted promises. Promises filled emptiness, turned ordinary people into perpetrators. It produced master races who killed whatever didn't fit the national body politic. Bakers, shoemakers, and workers became murderers. Because they were told to. And because they believed they were actually better. The others were enemies and animals. In the end, the world lay in ruins. Millions were dead. Six million Jews brutally wiped out. Before the eyes of millions who made this possible. Because they looked the other way. Because they approved of it or somehow didn't care. Yes, also because they were afraid. To whom they sacrificed other lives. That, too, is a bitter truth. And the perpetrators? They weren't them! They weren't responsible. An order was an order. What could you do? But Hitler wasn't the only one who dragged the world into the abyss. It was the voters in uniform who gave him and his crazy henchmen the power to do so. And then they carried out what they demanded of them. Anyone who votes for AxD today is voting for a party that seeks proximity to a war-mongering Russia. A country that invades its neighbors. That kills civilians and now sends once-kidnapped Ukrainian youths to the front to fight against their fellow countrymen. Or rather: to force them to do so. A country that is currently arming itself conventionally like never before and that is threatening us and the entire West with nuclear strikes. Openly and without hesitation. Because we are supporting an invaded country. As it should be. Estonia, Sweden, Lithuania. There is pure fear in the Baltics. Far away? Poland is expecting an invasion in 2027, we read yesterday. What this means is clear to everyone, because Poland is a member of NATO.

If we want something to change in this country, then we must stop abdicating responsibility. We must stop pushing problems away and instead follow those who promise us simple solutions when there are only complex paths. Who absolve us of personal responsibility because it feels so good. There is no action without consequences. That is the truth. Voting has consequences. Just like looking the other way. Especially in a democracy. Because democracy is dying. Not because of those who seek to tear it down.

She dies because of those who watch.