“Clear text, Ms. Baerbock,” demanded a ZDF election broadcast. The Chancellor candidate of the Greens also had to ask questions from an AfD woman and made it plainly clear: “I have a completely different opinion.”
A tricky moment in the ZDF election program “Klartext, Frau Baerbock” for the Greens’ candidate for chancellor. A woman who identified herself as an AfD member asked questions about migration against the background of the evacuation flights from Afghanistan, which was taken over by the radical Islamist Taliban. The local politician introduced this with a reference to police statistics, according to which immigrants from Muslim countries are overrepresented as perpetrators, especially in violence against women. Then she asked two questions:
- “Since your party is categorically against deportation to Afghanistan, I would like to know from you how you, if you become Chancellor, would like to protect women in this country?”
- “For the reasons mentioned, do you not think it would make sense for the new federal government to limit immigration from Muslim countries in the future?”
Annalena Baerbock: Deportations should be stopped
Annalena Baerbock patiently listened to the AfD woman’s statements. Then she replied without further ado: “Very clearly. The deportations to Afghanistan must be stopped and suspended because there is an international law …” The Green politician earned applause from the majority of the studio audience for the sentence. A stop is already in place, but this situation must be permanently ensured, since families cannot live in constant fear of deportation “to a country where the Taliban are now in government”. As an example, Baerbock refers to a “family that I have known for a long time, with children in school” and states again: “Yes, I am there for a consistent ban on deportation!”
On the subject of the offenders addressed by the questioner, the Green leader refers to the rule of law, which makes no difference with regard to nationalities. “Anyone who is a criminal belongs in prison. And if these people are not deported, then they have to be in prison. And if they are a threat, then they have to be security cleared around the clock.” Baerbock argues that law is not selected on a case-by-case basis in Germany. International law makes it clear that people should not be deported to a country where those affected face the death penalty or death as soon as they stand up for democratic rights and women’s rights. There is applause for that too.
AfD woman: “I was hoping for a better answer”
The AfD local politician did not give up, also complained for her party that she stood up for women’s rights activists. A murmur from the audience took up the Green candidate. “In the Bundestag I hear very different words from the representatives of your party,” said Baerbock, and added her answer to the question of whether immigration from Muslim countries should be restricted. “We have human rights, they are indivisible, they apply to everyone in the world, and that is why it is of course absolutely unacceptable to say that because people come from certain countries, we deny them their human rights and their right to asylum.” The individual case always has to be examined and if someone does not have the right to asylum, then there has to be a return.
“Don’t you think it makes more sense to accommodate people close to their homes?” The questioner asked. She asked the question out of fear of a new 2015 [dem Jahr mit großem Flüchtlingszustrom, Anm. d. Red.], and she is certainly not the only woman who is afraid of “another mass immigration”. She then listed women who had become victims of male migrants in high-profile cases. “I was hoping that you would find a better answer to my question, but today you couldn’t take away the fear that I and many other women have.”
“I have a completely different opinion”
Baerbock remains clear: “Yes, I have a completely different opinion. That is obvious.” Politicians have to ensure that every woman in Germany is safe, continued the Green candidate and then countered the AfD questioner that mainly Muslim perpetrators used violence against women with a different statistic: “The greatest danger – unfortunately – in our country is that a woman is killed by her own partner or husband. ” Applause broke out again. “Every day a partner tries to kill his wife, every third day it succeeds, and I don’t care what origin, we have to prevent that.”
In the social media, the Greens candidate received praise for this attitude:
Of course, there were other voices on the same topic:
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