Strange Bedfellows: Far-right AfD, Musk’s complex relationship

•  BEN KNIGHT

UNITED NATIONS: Billionaire Elon Musk’s plans to expand his colossal Tesla Gigafactory in Grunheide on the outskirts of Berlin have attracted opposition from a remarkably eclectic range of protesters — and they don’t always get along. The factory has already caused concerns because of its water usage, and the threat of pollution it brings with it. Around 100 protesters have occupied the forest that the electric car company wants to buy from the state of Brandenburg, suspending treehouses between the pines and setting up a mini-community in just two weeks.

This disparate collective of environmental activists, united under the banner “Tesla stoppen” (“Stop Tesla”), have largely found support from the people of Grunheide, who donate food to the camp, and even offer their homes to protesters so they can shower and do their laundry. Less welcome is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), even though the party is the only one in the Brandenburg state parliament that opposes the expansion of the Tesla factory. Steffen Schorcht, spokesperson for the Grunheide Burgerinitiative (“Grunheide Citizens’ Initiative”), which represents the local opposition to Tesla’s plans, is annoyed that the organisation he represents is sometimes publicly associated with the AfD.

“We’re a very broad alliance of environmental protection organisations, climate activists, local politicians, scientists at the Technical University in Berlin and businesses, but from the start we’ve been confronted with the accusation that we were at least close to the AfD,” he said. “Of course that’s total nonsense. We distanced ourselves from the start — the people who work with us come predominantly from the green and left movements.”

Schorcht also accused the AfD of cynically exploiting the political situation in Brandenburg. The state government — a centrist coalition of the Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and Greens — has welcomed the potential economic boost from the Tesla factory, but is also worried about the project’s unpopularity among locals. “The AfD is always jumping on issues,” Schorcht added.

“We’ve noticed this from talking to other initiatives, that the AfD always tries to take a position on local problems that corresponds with the majority and which brings votes. We put our own issues out there, and if the AfD tries to take some of them over then so be it. We can’t change that.”

Max, an activist in the protest camp who didn’t want to give her last name, bristled at the idea that they might be considered on the “same side” as the AfD. “We’re not on the same side as the AfD in any capacity,” she said. “The AfD is a very right-wing party, they’re extremely transphobic, homophobic, sexist, racist. We’re not aligned with them in any capacity.”

The antipathy is mutual. For her part, Kathi Muxel, an AfD representative in the Brandenburg state parliament and a Grunheide local, dismisses the forest occupiers as “wandering demonstrators” — in other words, not locals. “I’m not sure I like to see the Antifa flag flying there, and ‘capitalism out’ or whatever,” she told DW. “That’s not our line. We don’t a radical situation here.” Antifa, short for anti-fascists, is a decentralised left-wing movement.