Angela Merkel criticizes AfD as “inhumane”

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel sharply criticized the AfD and called a “inhuman party”. After its foundation in the euro crisis, the AfD initially disappeared from the public, but was linked to the Pegida movement in autumn 2014, the CDU politician said in a ZDF interview. At that time envy, hatred and racism were spread. Although there is dissatisfaction and the feeling of being able to develop further, it was sometimes lost in rural areas. “And yet I have to say again and again that it is no reason to choose a inhuman party when you have something to criticize.”

The AfD divide people into the elites and the people and define who is still part of the people, said Merkel. “This is simply against the Basic Law. It says: All power is going from the people and the people are all German citizens.”

Populistic movements are not only seen in the new federal states. “We also see them in the old federal states, where there are also social problems,” said Merkel. They also exist in France and many other European countries, in America in completely different phenomena.

On social media, those often get most clicks and attention that spread the most radical messages. “And that’s why I think it’s so important that we talk about the fact that truths and facts can also be distinguished from feelings and that digital media are also regulated.”

As Chancellor, Merkel enabled hundreds of thousands of refugees in Germany in 2015. In view of the refugee movements from Hungary via Austria to Germany, she decided not to close the open German borders. Her sentence became famous: “We can do it.” In the past, the former Chancellor admitted that her decision contributed to the upswing of the AfD.