First the punch against a party friend, now the failed urgent motion against the party expulsion: politically, Andreas Kalbitz has been sidelined for the time being. But others in the AfD also have a problem.
A comment by Kai Küstner, ARD capital studio
With a – probably unintentional – punch on the spleen, Andreas Kalbitz had promoted a party friend to the hospital a few days ago. And thus – from a political point of view – staggered yourself. So now the decision of the Berlin regional court, which could mean nothing less than the political knockout for the AfD southpaw.
Kalbitz has had a rather unusual experience for him in the past few days: Hardly anyone dared to really help the former head of the AfD in Brandenburg. The matter of the punch that Kalbitz gave a fellow activist, allegedly intended as a welcome button, got too hot even for supporters: parliamentary group colleagues moved away from him.
“Please go!” were the nicest words
Foster father Alexander Gauland called the process “unforgivable”. “Wing” friend Björn Höcke was also silent – almost deafeningly. So there have been noticeably few in the last few days who would have fanned the front man of the party right, who was already hanging on the ropes. Instead, opponents took advantage of the hour to settle accounts: “Please go!” are still the nicest two words that AfD state parliament employee Kai Laubach addresses in a much quoted Facebook entry to Kalbitz’s address. He accuses him of further violent outbursts and lets his verbal blow lead to the sentence: “You are party cancer, boy.”
If Kalbitz experts have not ruled out the possibility that the ex-Bundeswehr soldier would have fought his way back to the political stage in spite of everything, this will be as good as impossible with the current court decision. Kalbitz cannot return to the party for the time being. And therefore not hold positions that guarantee him public attention. Without any external physical influence, the AfD man threatens to go politically knocked out.
A problem for party rights
What was a catastrophe week for Kalbitz is also a problem for party superfather Alexander Gauland, who always kept his protective hand over Kalbitz. And it is a problem for the – officially dissolved – right-wing extremist “wing” anyway: Thuringia’s AfD boss Höcke always liked to travel with Kalbitz in a political tandem. The division of labor – here Höcke, who always whispers about the fall of Germany, there Kalbitz, who forges networks behind the scenes – had so far worked from the perspective of party rights.
The Kalbitz case has clearly damaged all those who want to turn the AfD into a better NPD. Which in no way means that they are lying defeated on the boards.
There will be no peace in the AfD
We should beware of two fallacies: On the one hand, the right-wing extremist ideas can be easily removed from the AfD, like a kind of exorcistic exorcism, by picking out Andreas Kalbitz as the supposedly personified evil and declaring his party membership null and void.
On the other hand, nobody should believe that the AfD will soon calm down. How violently, how bitterly, how hateful the two camps within the AfD fight for the party spirit and how they verbally deal with each other, the Kalbitz case has made it clear. In order to cause unrest and chaos, a careless punch would not have been necessary.
