It appeared to be spontaneous when a large crowd broke through the barriers in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin, the home to Germany's parliament, and stormed up the steps to push towards the glass entrance doors on Saturday. People waved banners and yelled slogans associated with various nationalist causes.
The "storm" was over quickly, the protesters kept in check by a few policemen. Other officers cleared the area. Though Saturday's events did not turn out as bad as they could have, nationalist groups in Germany are playing the long game.
In recent years, nationalists have employed an important political tool: patience. They did not need to occupy the Reichstag no matter the cost. The broadcasting and online sharing of footage of the attempt and the nationalists' fluttering banners will suffice.
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Though the consumers of more mainstream media might remember Saturday as a day when little of consequence ultimately happened, the footage of the incident will be playing like a recruiting reel for nationalists on social media. This shows how dangerous the nationalists' plans are. They are being careful to avoid in the types of actions that have discredited their efforts over the past several decades.
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The pinprick onslaught
On Saturday, the nationalists had no real plan to occupy the Reichstag: Their goal was to generate a great wave of indignation — and it worked. Their charge was condemned by the government, Bundestag lawmakers and the president.
German officials are, of course, right to frown upon such actions. The problem is that their responses do not take into account the fact that calculated indignation is integral to the nationalists' strategy: In recent years, the movement has increasingly engaged in such pinprick tactics. As a result, the public has become accustomed to these incidents, and the criticism that follows from politicians has become mere ritual.
The nationalists have camouflaged themselves to blend into the motley coalition protesting pandemic restrictions in Germany — and they have been more or less widely accepted. Though many of the demonstrators claim to not support the nationalists' message, the group has become one of the more vocal factions at the protests.
What's the plan?
The goal is a white supremacist society governed by Nazi ideology. According to the threats made visible on various placards brandished at the protests over the weekend — showing, for example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel in prisoner garb — current political leaders and journalists would be targeted, and people who are not white would be especially vulnerable.
In recent years, authoritarian governments have solidified their hold on power in Poland and Hungary. Groups that seek a more restrictive society have come a long way in Germany, too. On Saturday, police officers stopped a pack of them at the entrance to the Reichstag, but the most vocal and powerful nationalists already hold seats in the parliament. Since 2017, the euroskeptic Alternative for Germany has been the largest opposition party in the Bundestag — and has used its platform to constantly rant against Muslims, immigrants and their descendants, political opponents, churches and social institutions while its lawmakers increasingly undermine the country's liberal constitution.
The real danger inherent in incidents such as Saturday's is that people who are otherwise unengaged might underestimate the threat that the nationalists pose to democracy.