a A sweet smile that melts your heart, a serious handshake that makes you want to buy him a beer, a look in his eyes so deep that it makes you tremble at the thought of your child's future: Dominique Arndt's graceful movements and scary things are knocking on the gates of power all over Europe. Looks typical of right-wing politicians. Specifically, Fabian Heinrichs, the lanky, youthful actor who plays Arndt, is considered by many to be the boss of Germany's dominant political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD). He resembles the Thuringian politician Björn Höcke.
But what makes Arndt so unsettling, and the play The People's Citizen is one of the most interesting theatrical contributions to our current political moment, is that he doesn't speak like a right-winger at all. .
On the eve of a landslide victory in an unnamed German federal state, political leaders vowed not to ridicule their opponents but to “focus on what we share, not what divides us.” Ta. The three pillars of his movement are “education, infrastructure and digitalisation” rather than wedge issues such as immigration, LGBT+ issues and anti-wokeness. His party is not the AfD but the fictitious Democratic Alliance, which pegs the far right to 10% of the vote. If he wasn't there, he reminded the audience at one point: I'm here instead. ”
Still, the threat Arndt poses to liberal democracy is real and all the more dangerous because it is so insidious. By the end of Citizen of the People, the Democratic Alliance had staged a coup without firing a shot.
“Of course, someone like Björn Höcke is a right-wing extremist and very dangerous,” says legal journalist Maximilian Steinbeis, who wrote the play. “But I don't think radical rhetoric is a key factor in forming authoritarian populists. The constitution can be subverted not only from the political fringes, but also through the center.”
Under the direction of Nicola Humpel, The People's Citizen tells the story of Arndt's rise through a series of press conferences. Held at the end of September at the Berlin Media Center, the real German government meets with the media three times a week. it's now stream for free With subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Polish on the Franco-German cultural channel Arte.
The play's strength lies precisely in its careful observation of what populists in power are actually doing, rather than relying on familiar tropes about the rise of fascism. Since 2009, Steinbeis has been editing. verfassungsblog.de ('constitution blog'), a forum for discussion of the legal framework of democracies, written mostly in English.
“From the beginning, we focused on authoritarian populism, especially the type of populism that we saw developing in Hungary,” he recalls. “Leaders like Viktor Orbán claim that there is a true and authentic people, separate from political elites and their 'system'. And they are successfully pursuing a strategy that makes every major political decision support their claims and make them appear more realistic. ”
In Hungary's case, he said, Mr. Orbán was able to bend a particularly weak constitution to his will, which can be amended with a two-thirds majority in parliament. “But we were interested in whether the same political strategy would work in countries with supposedly stronger constitutions, like Germany.”
In 2019, Steinbeis published the following essay in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung: people's prime ministerUnder the plan, the populist German leader would enlarge the Constitutional Court by creating a third upper house with eight additional politically loyal judges, and then limit the government's power to rein in the executive branch. The scenario was carried out.
“Until then, there was a view in Germany that the Basic Law had given us this great democracy for 75 years and that the Constitutional Court would protect it,” Steinbeis said. “But we said: Look, the Constitutional Court is actually very easy to break through.”
essay and a play of the same namecaused an uproar and launched a political campaign to close the loopholes it identified. a new law A scenario aimed at preventing “court-packing” is expected to pass the German parliament by the end of the year, despite the recent collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition government.
A Citizen of the People is an updated version of the same thought experiment, based on a scenario that now seems more likely. In Thuringia's state elections held in September, Hokke's AfD won a historic 32% of the vote. When the new state legislature convened three weeks later, they used their new powers to systematically block the proceedings. “The AfD created its own theatrical spectacle, all aimed at reinforcing the impression of a “people's will'' frustrated by the “establishment.''
In the film, the Democratic Alliance also makes cunning moves. Mr. Arndt has directed state immigration authorities not to process asylum applications, while shifting responsibility to the central government. Migrants will no longer receive benefits and will end up homeless on the streets. When the city of Berlin sends a special commissioner to enforce compliance with federal regulations, the rebellious state government is denied access to its offices. “The people elected me not for a poodle,” Arndt exclaimed at a press conference.
“A Citizen of the People” is even more troubling than “A People's Chancellor.” This is because it is different from Steinbeis' previous “what if?” questions. This scenario does not suggest a quick fix.
“We didn't want to point out another loophole, we wanted to show a dynamic process and shake the audience out of their complacency,” Steinbeis says. “It is an illusion to think that we can construct a constitution so strict that it cannot be abused. The constitution does not protect society. It is society that must protect the constitution.”
