Hesse’s Minister-President Boris Rhein (CDU) is advocating for a revised approach to dealing with the AfD. In a guest article for the publication “Die Welt”, he criticized the strategy of establishing “firewalls,” arguing instead for “delineation” rather than outright exclusion.
Rhein asserts that problems do not disappear simply by being suppressed, denied, veiled behind protective barriers, or by banning political parties. He warns that when the political center fails to openly address issues-because the supposed “wrong” parties have already mentioned them, or because mainstream politics avoids solutions that those same “wrong” parties might endorse-it only strengthens the fringes of politics.
Furthermore, Rhein objects to the stigmatization of other political positions in the name of combating the far-right. Regarding the AfD and its voters, he proposes focusing on argumentative engagement. He believes that everything that concerns people, causes them worry, or instills fear must be addressed within the framework of mainstream political discourse.
Rhein writes that the CDU is the only party that enforces clear distinctions both toward the far left and the far right. When clear distinctions based on arguments are replaced merely by exclusion out of aversion, he contends that this ultimately takes voters, their assessments, and their concerns out of open discussion and fair political debate. Such actions, he concludes, only bolster the AfD rather than weakening it.
