AfD appearance at Kika: A nationalist shower for children

If the AfD wins the state elections this Sunday, which is to be expected, and if the majority they win is “stable” enough for Ulrich Siegmund to think there is enough for a government, then the children and young people in this state, the students, will already know what to expect. Shortly before the election, Siegmund announced on the children's channel Kika what the AfD wanted to do with education and schools.

Siegmund explained this in exactly the way in which it is not allowed - through overpowering and indoctrination. What the Sachesbach Consensus, formulated in 1976, excludes for political education in schools (and what the AfD keeps harping on in order to kujon teachers) is, of course, the modus operandi for Siegmund and his party. This was clearly visible on public children's television.

Why Kika came up with the idea before the state election of Siegmund and the incumbent Prime Minister and top candidate of the CDU, Sven Schulze, for the children's news “logo!” to interview is obvious: one of the two is likely to lead the state government soon. A few questions, asked by the former state student representative Lucienne Balke, may be appropriate.

You can think that if you don't think the matter through to the end. What starts harmlessly for both Siegmund and Schulze – what were your favorite subjects? (Geography for both, and sport for Siegmund) Have you ever copied? (Has happened to both of them before) - turns into a half-hour ideological seminar for the AfD's top candidate, presented as a sales show for a better, more beautiful life.

He talks like a waterfall, at a high pace, and says everything three times. His interviewer doesn't dare ask questions; she checks off her list of cards. And so it starts: class cancellation? This exists because many teachers call in sick. They call in sick because they have lost joy in their job. The AfD wants to give this back to them by relieving teachers of tasks for which they are actually not responsible. Which one remains unclear. The replacement of compulsory schooling and home schooling is happening under an AfD government, especially because children who are extremely bullied are afraid of school. According to Siegmund, we want to enable them to “take part in life”. There should be separate classes with German and non-German students - refugees - because not everyone speaks the language well enough to achieve learning success together.

The refugees also have to go back “home” – “we don’t want to be taken advantage of,” says Siegmund – especially the Ukrainians, after all there is not a war going on throughout Ukraine. History lessons should be more about Bismarck than about the “very dark” era of German history – keywords such as National Socialism and the extermination of the Jews are not on Siegmund’s lips – positive aspects should be in the foreground so that we can be “proud of our country” again.

Unity, peace and cohesion, that's what it's all about, we hear Siegmund say unchallenged on public children's television. There were times when everyone stuck together, people supported each other. At the moment the country is not holding together, but we need the pride in our country back.

You first have to shake off such a nationalistic all-out shower, including subcutaneous remigration suada and Ukraine bashing. The former state student representative cannot be blamed, but those responsible for the station can. Such an interview should not be conducted so naively, without any questions, especially not in a program aimed at eight to twelve year olds. The moderator's statement that the AfD is controversial and is classified by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as "certainly right-wing extremist" doesn't help much.

Even before the short summary of the interviews with Schulze and Siegmund - which does not contain the problematic parts - was broadcast last Thursday, the head of the "logo!" news, Constanze Knuckles, wrote on Linkedin: "In the end, we are not guided by the question of what shitstorm is threatening, but by our mission: Children need reliable information in order to be able to form their own opinions. Even when it becomes uncomfortable."

“Uncomfortable” in the end? This is a convenient excuse for editorial failure. What does Kika do with its children's news when the AfD comes to power in Saxony-Anhalt?