A Berlin area branch of the right-wing anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has faced backlash after posting and then deleting a photoshopped map calling the west and the south of the country a “German Caliphate.”
The graphic, posted by AfD’s Berlin-Lichtenberg Facebook page a day after the European Parliament vote ended, featured the flag of Germany over the country’s eastern states, where AfD won the most support. The five federal states and Berlin were painted blue and titled the Federal Republic of Germany.
In contrast, the west and the south of the country were painted green and emblazoned with a black flag featuring the shahadah, or Islamic declaration of faith. The states were branded the “German Caliphate,” while a caption to the post read: “Pictures speak louder than words.”
While the account that posted the image removed it within hours of uploading, it still managed to stir some controversy on social media.
For some reason, many felt less than enthusiastic to live in the blue “Federal Republic,” preferring the green Islamic state instead.
“If I had to live under the label “Federal Republic of Germany” under the AfD, I’d better please take the green caliphate. There is sun and delicious food there!” tweeted Christina Fischer.
“As a Berliner, I want to be assigned to the German Caliphate. I don’t want to be part of this blue Germany,” Osman Li commented on Facebook.
Other took their chance to lambaste the AfD, accusing the party of inciting hatred.
“For me both are the same, the AfD and the caliphate. Both are stupid people destroying humanity,” Afshin tweeted. While the SPD party’s parliamentary left group took their chance to quote a disgruntled ex-AfD politician who said that the party is “run by idiots.”
However, some comments also generalized and slammed the eastern German voters, with Diema from Frankfurt asking if they “wanted a wall again” and Peter Paker from Witten wondering “why he wanted the 1989 borders back” – both referring to the Berlin Wall and the past East-West Germany divide.
The AfD received 11% of the German vote for the European parliament, putting it in fourth place overall. In two eastern states, the party received more votes than any other party, beating Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the party formerly led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, which tallied the highest numbers country-wide.
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