Did the CDU just work with the AfD?

An anti-AfD demo in Thuringia. Photo by Tobias on Unsplash

The Story

Something pretty fascinating happened in a remote corner of Germany last week that went almost unnoticed by the outside world.

In the state parliament in Thuringia, the CDU worked with the far-right AfD to pass a motion ‘banning’ gender sensitive language in public institutions. As far as I can gather it is the first time that the CDU have cooperated with the AfD in a German parliament.

The vote itself was pretty inconsequential. The CDU are not part of the state government in Thuringia meaning the motion, titled “Gendering: no thanks!” doesn’t have the force of law.

But it shows what the parties right of the centre can do when they team up. That’s because the CDU and AfD (plus a small right-wing splinter party called the Citizens of Thuringia) actually have more seats in the Thuring…