AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: Science could fight back against AfD attacks

If the AfD takes power in Saxony-Anhalt, it will launch a frontal attack on the state’s scientific system, the authors argue. They point to the party’s election platform and to the tactics used by far-right movements internationally.

The fields likely to come under pressure include gender studies, postcolonial studies and Islamic studies, which the authors say challenge the AfD’s idea of a German “national body.” They also identify climate research, migration research, virology and German studies as targets, along with research into the far right and racism.

The authors, economist Andrea Binder of Berlin’s Free University and conflict researcher Hanna Pfeifer of the University of Hamburg, say science is not powerless. Their first recommendation is networking, so institutions can learn from one another and act together. They warn that universities in the United States focused too much on individual institutions and were played against one another.

In Germany, they point to existing academic networks, including the Democratic Science initiative and a recent position paper from the German Research Foundation. University leaders in Saxony-Anhalt, they write, should insist forcefully on academic freedom and reject state intervention, regardless of the research field or administrative position involved. Concessions, they say, did not work in Turkey or the United States.

The authors expect funding to become the first major route for reshaping universities. They call for the federal government and foundations to establish special funding programs for fields targeted by the AfD, allowing researchers to remain at universities in Saxony-Anhalt. They also cite solidarity shown during university protests in Serbia and suggest that a university strike could answer attempts to remove student participation. The excerpt ends while discussing cooperation across sectors.