Germany has witnessed the unprecedented rise of far-right party AfD during this month’s regional elections – but will this momentum remain localised, or could it be indicative of an international shift towards extremist leaderships?
It’s a worrying time for democracy in Europe, with many nations veering towards electing far-right governments.
This is especially evident when it comes to the situation in Germany, in which the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) could secure yet another electoral win in next week’s Brandenburg state election.
It’s not just blind hope, either, as the AfD dramatically secured an overwhelming victory in the Thuringia state election at the beginning of the month.
What’s more worrying, however, is the stark trend following such far-right victories: the substantial number of Gen Z voters aligning with these parties.
Gen Z’s Role In The Rise Of The AfD
The Thuringia election results were certainly a political shock, with the AfD win signalling the first time that a far-right party had been victorious in a state election since 1945, at the end of World War II.
Most of the time, many Zoomers – including myself – attribute right-wing political affiliations to elderly people.
We like to blame these older generations for ‘messing up’ our future in terms of environmental, social, and economic prosperity.
Now, it’s certainly true that older age groups have leaned more heavily towards conservative parties.
But recent events indicate that this trend seems to be inverting!
The Thuringia state election saw the AfD win a substantial 32.8% of the overall vote, forming an impressive lead against second-place rival Christian Democrats, which won 23.6%.
Yet when we dissect this unprecedented win demographically, it becomes apparent that young people largely permitted the electoral victory.
Over a third of young people voted for the AfD, while a mere 1 in 5 voters over the age of 70 cast their vote for the party.
But what sparked a movement of almost 40% of 18- to 29-year-olds to put their faith into such a divisive and ultra conservative party?
To understand this phenomenon, we must look not only at the recent AfD victory, but also towards the mechanisms of far-right political strategies across the globe.
Why Are Far-Right Parties Winning Over Gen Z?
While nothing is yet certain, next week’s Brandenburg state election is being perceived by the AfD as another big win for the far-right party, with young voters being key to their proposed victory.
There are many factors, however, that illustrate just why so many young people are becoming accustomed to far-right politics.
The most important has to be the profound – and often detrimental – influence of social media.
Moving away from the topic of Germany, we must focus instead on France’s far-right rise and the crucial role that social media has played in drawing in Gen Z voters.
Back in June, during the European elections, France’s far-right National Rally was subsequently declared as the most popular party among 18- to 34-year-olds.
This significantly younger demographic voted in much greater numbers for National Rally than over-65s did.
It’s thus no coincidence that National Rally’s youthful 29-year-old president, Jordan Bardella, has amassed a whopping 2 million followers on TikTok.
The platform’s relevance among Gen Z doesn’t need to be explained at this point, and National Rally certainly jumped on the bandwagon with haste.
Bardella began to expertly edit and post moments from the party’s campaign trail, which were simultaneously shocking, captivating, and meme-worthy.
As such, the traditional, moderate, establishment-based parties become less enticing for young voters than the party which was – thanks to rather dubious algorithmic patterns – constantly appearing on people’s ‘For You Page’ and timelines.
These methods make far-right parties current, fresh, and trendy. So it’s no wonder that so many youngsters are becoming attached to these parties.
But that’s where the worrying aspects of this political shift become starkly apparent.
Learning From America: A Teetering Democracy
With these seemingly humorous and quick-witted TikTok clips of far-right politicians comes a new generation of prejudice and extremism.
This is already becoming apparent in Spain, with a quarter of 18- to 26-year-old male Spaniards believing that authoritarianism can be more appealing than democracy in certain circumstances.
This alarming figure contrasts very vividly with baby-boomers – with less than 10% of Spanish people aged 59 and over believing the statement to be true.
Interestingly, this study found that female voters in Spain were much less likely to defend authoritarianism.
Far-right alignments are certainly an overwhelmingly male-dominated trend – and it makes sense why this is the case.
When you have misogynistic macho figures such as Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Andrew Tate bombarding young men with falsified yet discriminatory remarks about women and minorities, they will eventually have a detrimental impact on these men’s mindsets.
Not to mention, Musk’s takeover of Twitter resulted in a more politically biased and more far-right environment on the platform.
While it’s true that the far-right scares in the east of Germany are unlikely to permeate the nation’s entire political sphere, it’s the gradual acceptance among young people of such fascist parties that is truly worrying.
Germany And Beyond: A Stark Warning
We need to encourage fair media representation, and less extreme political bias, on social media platforms and even in everyday conversations with young people.
If not, many countries around the world could become undemocratic and unequal nations, led into disarray by the likes of Trump’s ‘Project 2025’ plans.
The goal of these far-right parties is simple: to shift today’s societal alignments. No longer will fascist nations accept migrants and the numerous benefits that migrant workers bring to a nation.
Nor will women’s reproductive rights be legally protected. When it comes to public healthcare, LGBTQ rights, and even government funding for less affluent people – all of these will be at risk should far-right figures be successful in their deviant pursuits.
We must face this worrying trend directly. If we don’t, then the following decades of undemocratic fascism will be partly this generation’s fault.
