Below is another electrifying speech by Björn Höcke, a rising star in the new AfD party in Germany. The eloquence of his words shines through even for those who don’t understand German. Anyone who lives in the formerly free (and now multicultural) West can identify with the national sentiment that Mr. Höcke evokes, and wish that the same sort of voice could be heard speaking out in his or her native tongue.

The love of one’s own people has long been cultural anathema in Germany. If Björn Höcke is any indication, that unofficial prohibition is now melting away as a result of the Great Refugee Crisis.

Many thanks to Rembrandt Clancy for the translation, introduction, and subtitling.

Wir sind Wir!

We are our own people! We must protect our country, we must protect our state and we must protect our Volk against the policies of the old-parties. And this task suits AfD considerably…. the AfD is the last peaceful chance which our country has, dear friends. Björn Höcke

18 November 2015

AfD Demonstration in Erfurt, Thuringia

Introduction

by Rembrandt Clancy

On 7 November, Gates of Vienna introduced a new personality in the German peoples’ resistance to her own abolition, as Thilo Sarrazin called it. He is Björn Höcke, parliamentary faction leader for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in the state legislature of Thuringia and spokesman for the AfD in that state. Since September, Mr. Höcke and the Thuringian AfD have been organising demonstrations against the German government’s asylum policy.

The video shows Björn Höcke’s speech of 18 November 2015, the last of the almost weekly AfD demonstrations to take place before Christmas in Erfurt. The usual environment for these events has been the darkness of Cathedral Square, where the neo-Catholic Bishop, Dr. Ulrich Neymeyr, turns out the Cathedral’s lights. This time, however, due to another event, the demonstration was displaced to the grounds of the Thuringian state legislature.

Previous demonstrations in Erfurt have thematised “asylum chaos” and betrayal by the elites; but for this one, the organisers changed the theme under the shadow of the co-ordinated Islamic attacks in Paris on the previous Friday; in this speech, Mr. Höcke draws a direct connection between the attacks in Paris and the uncontrolled influx of “asylum” seekers, precisely defying the “urgent plea” of the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière (NDTV English). Mr. Höcke also makes public a series of five basic principles, which he worked out jointly with Dr. Alexander Gauland, the faction chairman of the AfD for Brandenburg, who presented them at a simultaneous demonstration in Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt where 2,000 participants are reported to have attended. The first basic principle is “Germany is not negotiable”.

According to MDR-Thüringen, which presents a fairly objective report of the event, the police estimated the number of participants in the demonstration at 3,500 and the number of counter-demonstrators at between 350 to 500 people. An impression of the atmosphere at the event may be viewed in the video provided by MDR-Thüringen.

“Wir sind Wir” (lit. We are We”, but here translated as “We are our own people”) is an expression Mr. Höcke uses at the outset of his speech to express his emphasis on restoring Germans’ confidence in themselves as a people, whom he deliberately addresses using the word the politically incorrect term, “Volk”. MDR-Thüringen shows Mr Höcke singing along as the song is played over the speakers at the demonstration. Wir sind Wir was released by Paul van Dyk in 2004 and it is sung by Peter Heppner. Not without interest are the lyrics, which contain paradox and images of transformation and resurrection related to German post-war experience, but fixed in a materialistic setting. These are not fully expressible in English translation.

A few select lines from Mr. Höcke’s speech have been widely quoted in the German media, including a lampoon on them by the state broadcaster ZDF. The quote concerns Mr. Höcke’s remarks on the loss of German and European masculinity:

The big problem is that Germany, that Europe, have lost their masculinity. I say: we must rediscover our masculinity, for only when we rediscover our masculinity will we be resolute, and only when we are resolute, will we be able to mount a defence, dear friends.

Transcript

Original Source of Video: AfD-Landtags-TV

From being isolated to being together;

From ‘I’ to ‘we’;

Wir sind wir! [We are our own people] dear Friends.

Ich liebe mein Volk!

Dear friends, you know what the big problem is? The big problem is that Germany, that Europe, have lost their masculinity. I say: we must rediscover our masculinity, for only when we rediscover our masculinity will we be resolute, and only when we are resolute, will we be able to mount a defence. And we must be able to mount a defence, dear friends.

Dear friends, Paris has become the European capital of terrorism. And like me, you too are horrified. I know that. But at the same time, I also wonder whether the tears shed by the German and European old-party politicians could really be genuine tears. Genuine tears can only be shed, by the one who has done everything to prevent a misfortune. Dear friends, there was the murder of Theo van Gogh 2004 in the Netherlands; this year already dozens of hand grenades were detonated in Malmö in Sweden; and most recently, the terrible terrorist attacks in Paris. These are the consequences of a decades-long, failed immigration and asylum policy, dear friends. More than ever is our demand justified, — and the previous speakers also substantiated that in all clarity — the influx to Europe must come to an end immediately.

And precisely because of the background of the terror attacks in Paris; and because of the policies which might now be expected from the old-party politicians; more than ever, dear friends, I must warn: we Germans must not allow ourselves — through the actions of manipulated people incapable of independent and responsible decision — to be drawn into wars, which are not our wars.

Our Germany is facing a national emergency, for our Germany is already a failed state.

It is the small events, it is the everyday events of the past weeks which have happened everywhere and in every location of our republic. Small events, which the media hardly notices at all, but which are still a clear indication that we are in the middle of the failed-state phase.

I would like to remind you of two of these. The District Court Passau recently sentenced a people-smuggler to a scandalously meagre punishment: — two years on parole. The man — by the very nature of a suspended sentence — is in fact at large. But the reason, dear friends, the reason given by the judge of the District Court in Passau is a cry for help and at the same time an admission of the judiciary’s failure to fulfil its statutory obligation. The judge gave the following reason for his decision, I quote: “In view of the conditions at the borders, statutory law has been suspended by the German politicians…”

The judiciary, dear friends, has here capitulated to the inaction of the politicians, and the police WILL soon capitulate. And to prognosticate that, one truly does not have to be a prophet.

A further example, a quite small, everyday event, which perhaps you heard about: Last week fifty asylum seekers were supposed to have found a new home in a communal accommodation in the Erfurt Warsbergstraße. Twenty of them did not wish to move in, because they considered the accommodation — a former office building customised especially for them — as unsuitable.

Demonstrators:

Abschieben! Abschieben! Abschieben!

Deportation!

It took a few hours before our completely overextended police, who really have other things to do… — At this point, an enormous, heartfelt thank-you to our officers, who are today once again doing magnificent work. Thank you for affording us protection. — It took hours before the police were able to persuade most of them to move into their quarters anyway.

But five of them refused tenaciously. They spent the night in the entrance to the underground garage of the former office building. By the next morning, the five asylum seekers had disappeared; five, in addition to the three hundred thousand in this country, who are not registered; who, in some locales, present with highly contagious diseases; and, isolated cases perhaps too, but nevertheless highly active diseases. With disquieting intentions they are underway in Germany on this very day.

Dear friends, that is an unmistakable sign of a failed state. The AfD speaks as the only political force to publicly address this problem and fight for the preservation of our country. Dear friends, those who have spoken before me have already emphasised this, but I will say it once more in conclusion: Merkel, Federal Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel: you have forfeited your right to continue leading the German people. We need a new Federal Chancellor [female]. We need a new Federal Chancellor [male], and he can only come from the AfD, dear friends.

Demonstrators:

Höcke! Höcke! Höcke!

Dear friends, no person in authority knows how many immigrants are streaming daily into our country. No one knows where they submerge. On Friday of last week only a few, just some of them, in Paris, surfaced. And the people were left in the lurch by their political leadership. No Angela Merkel, no Heiko Maas…

Heiko Maas!!! [SPD: Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection]

It is beyond description, the fact that the formerly venerable Social Democratic Party of Germany is discussing in all seriousness making Heiko Maas a candidate for Chancellor. Kindly name me someone who is a bigger political flea than Heiko Maas, dear friends! That poor little man!

No Angela Merkel, no Heiko Maas, that poor little man, no Bodo Ramelow sits in one of these cafés that was fired upon in Paris. These rulers do not sit there. Defenceless, dear friends, sit there only the Volk; sit there only the ordinary citizens, sits there only the little man; it is only we who sit there as a rule. We are expected to lie in the bed, which the old-parties have made for us. I call out to the old-party politicians — and a few of them may also be listening in right now from our venerable parliamentary building, and I have even heard that today we have a livestream broadcast of the demonstration — to you old-party politicians now sitting at the television listening to my speech live, — I call out to you undistinguished Ladies and Gentlemen: we will not listen to the slop which you serve up for us; we have not ordered it and we are now sending it back.

Demonstrators:

Wir sind das Volk!

We are the people!

With slogans of appeasement, those in authority cover up their inaction; but words are words, dear friends, and deeds are deeds. But there are deeds. Indeed, there are in fact the deeds on the part of those who govern, but these deeds, dear friends, these deeds cause the alarm clock in me to ring, and perhaps also in you.

The federal government, to be exact, has created 500 new positions in the secret services. A representative of the Great Coalition told Bild am Sonntag last weekend, I quote:

“It is absolutely necessary, that in the face of the danger of terrorism from Islamists — and — right-wing radicals, that we strengthen our secret service personnel”.

Dear friends, since anyone who still utters the term “Volk” — and I do it unflinchingly and with self-conscious deliberation and with much delight — is stigmatised as a right-wing radical — we must assume that the dissatisfied Volk themselves are to be the object of monitoring: GDR 2.0 — I know which way the wind is blowing; that is all I have to say to that.

Greetings to our friends from Berlin who are also here.

Were the borders perhaps opened; perhaps opened, deliberately opened, or were they deliberately kept open, in order to bring about chaos? And is our ossified representational party democracy perhaps to be translated into an authoritarian order? No, we do not wish to strengthen any conspiracy theories here.

Only to those governing, you undistinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, you old-party politicians, I call out to you: in case you harbour such thoughts, forget that right now! Here stands das Volk, here stands the vigilant Volk; and if you do not hold a referendum at the federal level, then we will do that.

Wir sind das Volk!

We are the people!

We citizens no longer have confidence in the politicians. We are dis-illusioned with the government. But that means also that we will no longer allow ourselves to be given illusions.

Dear Friends, there is no other course: we must protect our country, we must protect our state and we must protect our Volk against the policies of the old parties. And this task suits AfD considerably. And I say it here yet again, and I have already said it often, but I must continually put this credo into the public sphere: for me, the AfD is the last peaceful chance which our country has, dear friends.

Demonstrators:

Höcke! Höcke! Höcke!

AfD! AfD! AfD!

Indeed it is for this reason as well, that I built up this party with such great hope, and with so many idealistic people who have stood beside me. And because for me, the party is the last evolutionary opportunity, the last peaceful chance for our country, I would like right now to give to our party’s five basic principles to take with them. These basic principles are the joint work of my colleague and AfD faction leader in the Brandenburg Landtag, Dr. Alexander Gauland, and me.

Alexander Gauland will be reading aloud at this moment these five basic requirements, these five principles, simultaneously, at the large AfD demo in Magdeburg, dear friends.

The first basic principle:

Germany is not negotiable.

Out state, our nation, is not a product of chance. It is the work of so many generations. With pride, with pride we look upon a rich culture, civil and political freedoms and prosperity. We are willing to help many countries in this world. But one thing we will not do: hand over our land and our nation. Germany is our country, dear Friends!

Demonstrators:

Deutschland! Deutschland! Deutschland!

The second basic principle:

Germany is not a laboratory for social experiments.

We reject irresponsible experiments with and on our Volk. Only ideologues believe that a society without a family can function, or that everyone becomes a German as soon as he has crossed the frontier. To the dangerous ideologies which aim to create a multicultural society and abolish the classical family, we issue a clear refusal.

The third basic principle:

Germany must act along the lines of self-determination.

Germany, in the estimation of the highest ranking security officials, is no longer in a position to guarantee her domestic and external security. The situation is spinning out of control. And what is the Bundeswehr doing? They are serving foreign interests throughout the world, while the soldiers who remain here evacuate their barracks for asylum seekers and repair toilets in reception centres.

We require, finally, a political leadership willing to make independent decisions in the national interest.

The fourth basic principle:

Germany must win back her domestic freedom.

Not infrequently, the so-called “Lügenpresse” [lying press] as many call it, have earned their name honestly. In the place of objective reporting, they propagate a fatal welcoming culture. The state television, financed by the TV-licence fee, brand us as adversaries, because we say what is not supposed to be said.

Political correctness lies like blight on our country. The AfD is the guarantor of free speech and of the unsparing analysis of our situation. Because we have gathered here today, the domestic freedom in Germany is still alive.

Demonstrators:

Lügenpresse! Lügenpresse! Lügenpresse!

[Lying press!]

The fifth and last, and perhaps the most important basic principle:

Germans must become capable of responsible self-determination [mündig werden].

And Erfurt, the capital of courageous citizens, is the place to speak out once and for all with the utmost clarity: Germany, dear friends, Germany was the homeland of our forefathers. Germany must remain the homeland of our children. Germany is our homeland — our land — and our nation!

Thank you very much.

Demonstrators:

Höcke! Höcke! Höcke!