Last week’s attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is just the latest act of politically motivated violence currently rocking Europe.
Across the continent, attacks are on the rise year after year, and experts say the rhetoric used on social media is fuelling what ultimately becomes a threat to democracy, with seemingly no limits on speech against political opponents, making physical action more likely.
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When political spite stokes violence, how can societies defuse those tensions? That’s a question Europe is currently grappling with after a series of attacks on politicians, including the prime minister of Slovakia.
In Germany, parliamentary investigations have reported nearly 3,000 attacks on party members in 2023, including 1,219 attacks on the Green Party, 478 attacks on the far-right Alternative for Germany party, 420 attacks on the Social Democrats and 299 attacks on the Free Democrats. This year the number of attacks is likely to easily exceed these figures.
“Political debate is becoming very personal, aggressive, hateful and happening with impunity,” said Slovak political economist Sonja Mužikalová, “and when people see this and normalize it, it is reflected in society. Logically, it is only a matter of time when and how this will spill over into the physical space.”
Tim Wagner, a sitting German member of parliament, was attacked in the streets of Eisenberg while he was putting up election posters for his liberal colleagues.
“It was 12.15pm on a sunny Sunday afternoon and a guy came up to me and said, ‘You can’t put up posters here’ and I said, ‘Yes, you can’t put them up’ and he said, ‘We’re just going to have to fight this’,” said Wagner, a Liberal Democrat.
The man, a supporter of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, blocked Wagner’s path as he tried to leave and, when Wagner managed to get into his car, he and two others surrounded it and began kicking the door.
Why I wrote this
The story is
When political spite stokes violence, how can societies defuse those tensions? That’s a question Europe is currently grappling with after a series of attacks on politicians, including the prime minister of Slovakia.
“We’re being attacked from the right and the left,” said Wagner, who has been stalked and had strangers turn up at her home, “but this time, my 14-year-old daughter was sitting in the car and she was devastated.”
This is just the latest example of politically motivated violence, the incidence of which is increasing year by year not only in Germany but across Europe – an issue that was brought to public attention last week by the attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the worst such attempt in decades.
But attacks on politicians, fuelled by polarizing language used on social media, have been on the rise for some time and ultimately pose a threat to democracy, experts say. The lack of restrictions on what can be said about political opponents makes physical action more likely. Experts say the rise in violence could signal a new period of reckoning across Europe, especially with parliamentary elections across the continent next month.
“Political debate is very personal, aggressive, hateful and takes place with impunity,” said Sonja Mužikalová, a Slovak political economist at the Florence-based European University Institute. “And when people see this and it becomes normalized, it is reflected in society. Logically, it is only a matter of time when and how this will spill over into the physical space. It’s a kind of perpetual feedback loop.”
The escalating situation
Germany has seen a number of politically motivated attacks in recent months, including Social Democrat Matthias Ecke, who had to be hospitalized after being assaulted by a group of teenagers while putting up posters in Dresden. “As you are aware, he is not yet ready to resume full activity,” one of Ecke’s spokespeople wrote, declining an interview request.
Berlin state senator Franziska Giffey was assaulted during a routine visit to a library in early May, suffering head and neck injuries. Last year, the son of a Bavarian mayor found a pig’s head on his doorstep. The list goes on. In Germany in 2023, parliamentary investigations reported almost 3,000 attacks on parliamentarians and political parties, including 1,219 attacks on the Green Party, 478 attacks on the far-right Alternative for Germany, 420 attacks on the Social Democrats and 299 attacks on the Free Democrats. The number of attacks this year is likely to easily exceed these figures.
Wagner blames a violent environment exacerbated by online hatred. “Before 2006, nobody had an iPhone,” he says. “If I went to a market in Germany or in Thuringia and spoke to people face-to-face, the situation would not have been as heated as it is on social media.”
Similarly, when Prime Minister Fico was shot, Slovakia’s Interior Minister Matusz Štai Eštok blamed journalists, fellow politicians and ordinary citizens. “We are slowly on the brink of civil war because of the influx of hateful comments on social media,” he said at a press conference. “Please let this stop immediately.”
Other politicians have also said they want the rhetoric to calm down: The attacks on Fico have led several Slovakian parties to call for a suspension of election campaigns ahead of European elections in early June, and in Germany leaders of the parties on the right and left most under attack have called for calm.
“you [the assassination attempt] “It does invite a bit of introspection about how political debates take place when there are threats of violence and when there are highly partisan or deeply divided debates on a range of ideological issues,” said Jacob Kirkegaard, a political economist and research fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
But he feels the end result will probably be increased security measures: “Other European countries have had political assassinations and assassination attempts before, some successful, some not, and I think it’s hard to say that it would have changed anything.” [in the level of rhetoric]” says Dr. Kierkegaard.
In Slovakia, Dr Mužičarová expects the outcry to continue. “The signs I’ve seen so far are not favourable for me,” she said. “Far from being a wake-up call, this will be a weaponised development to further the policies of the current government.” [Mr. Fico’s party] After the attack, they were quick to condemn the journalist community and the opposition parties.”
Milan Nic, a Slovak political scientist at the German Council on Foreign Relations, said that despite signs of solidarity, “these signs and gestures are largely individual at the moment.” [rather than from the parties]”… We’re not out of the woods yet.”
“I need to calm down.”
Threats are nothing new for Wagner, a politician whose car was surrounded while putting up posters last month.
A few years ago, three members of a far-left anti-fascist extremist group turned up in Wagner’s front yard. The following year, he and his family moved to a new home, but their address was discovered again.
Wagner, a former martial artist and judo teacher, said he believes he can protect himself, but his family chose not to run for public office and his children are getting older and more aware, making politicians more of a threat.
“There have been many conflicts.[virus]”The war in Ukraine, the migration issue,” he said. “The conflicts are now surfacing in the country.”
Wagner and his Liberal Democrat colleagues instituted safety rules: They would only put up posters during the day, and they would only interact with the public in the company of three other colleagues, never alone. “We also told all party members that if anyone spoke harsh words, they should immediately call the police,” Wagner says.
Ultimately, in the long term, Wagner is hopeful because younger generations, including his own children, have grown up with social media. They should be better able to discern what’s true and what’s false than older generations. “My hope is that the new generation will learn how to debate civilly and respectfully, and how to distinguish fake news from Russia or bots from real human beings,” he says.
He also sees a silver lining in the calls from politicians of all parties for a rein in the political rhetoric that, he recalls, first escalated around a decade ago with the far right calling for Chancellor Angela Merkel to be jailed.
“It will take time,” Wagner said, noting that it’s a difficult time to calm the discourse with EU parliamentary and local elections looming. “But we know we have to calm things down. We have to start on social media and take the debate to a higher level.”