AfueraFest 2026 in Gemany: chainsaw, minery and patriarchy

The setting was idyllic: a campsite in Gerlebogk, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, on the shore of a small lake, surrounded by nature. Its sandy beach, lined with reeds, invited people to go for a swim. On the last weekend of July, the meadow on the grounds was filled with information tables, merchandise and book stalls, as well as barbecue and beer stands. Yellow and black bunting fluttered in the wind; a little further on, a tent with a stage had been set up. Deck chairs and fire barrels bore the symbol of a chainsaw: the event's logo. Next to it, in bold letters, was the Spanish word "afuera."

Here, in the interior of Saxony-Anhalt, between Konnern and Kothen, AfueraFest took place. According to the small organizing party, Die Libertaren, around 500 "people with a libertarian mindset, bitcoin enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, families, and numerous interesting speakers" gathered there. Right-wing media such as Compact and streamers such as Utopia TV, which broadcast parts of the event live, were also present.

Second AfueraFest in Germany

After the first edition of AfueraFest last year at Pürkelgut Castle near Regensburg in Bavaria, this was the second time this right-libertarian festival had been organized. Even before the event, Florian Handwerker, managing director of the party Die Libertaren and chairman of the Afuera Kulturverein, said in a livestream that they "would have loved to hold the festival in Regensburg again." In 2025, pressure from anti-fascist groups caused logistical problems for AfueraFest. In this regard, according to Handwerker, the new location also has advantages, since the local population in Saxony-Anhalt is "a bit more libertarian and tolerant than that of Regensburg," and "less resistance" is expected.

It is possible that the decision to choose Gerlebogk also has to do with the upcoming Saxony-Anhalt state parliament elections. In the September 6 election, Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning an absolute majority. Representatives of this far-right party were also present at the campsite. However, the atmosphere at AfueraFest does not match the majority opinions within the AfD. At the "Cultural Festival of Freedom," right-wing libertarians, ultraconservatives, anarcho-capitalists, and cryptocurrency enthusiasts gathered. What unites them is their rejection of the state, seen as synonymous with "bureaucracy, privilege, paternalism, and political self-interest," as stated on the AfueraFest website.

Chainsaw politics

Both the name of the gathering and its symbol are inspired by Argentine president Javier Milei. During the 2023 election campaign, he removed loose sheets of paper attached to a board with the names of ministries he disliked, shouting "afuera" each time. After his election, he in fact cut the number of ministries in half. In numerous public appearances, he held up the chainsaw with which he intended to "destroy the state." Milei - for whom the concept of "freedom" is central - has become a role model, or at least a point of reference, for the right-libertarian movement. "Freedom" - both in Argentina and among German right-libertarians - is understood above all in economic terms. At its core is the right to private property, which determines a person's value. The goal is as free a market as possible, to which state institutions and society are subordinated. State systems of health care, education, and pensions are to be privatized in this model. "Taxes are theft" was therefore a recurring slogan at AfueraFest.

In this context, the right-libertarian movement presented itself as open, willing to engage in dialogue, and peaceful. Whether through live music or karaoke, boating in inflatable boats or playing Viking chess, practicing yoga or attending workshops on topics such as "Bitcoin in practice," the idea was "not only to preach freedom, but to live it," as the festival website says. The message: right-libertarianism is fun and also suitable for the whole family.

However, on closer inspection, not much remains of that peaceful image. From misogyny to sympathy for dictatorships to demands for "remigration," AfueraFest had it all.

"Make patriarchy great again"

"Make patriarchy great again" was the title of a talk by Maximilian Pütz, who describes himself as a "dating coach." He openly explained to the far-right outlet Compact that he had softened the title he had originally planned after consulting with the AfueraFest organizers: "Women, back to the kitchen: a proposal." His goal is a "modern traditionalism" and "strengthening the role of the mother." Pütz had become known for statements in interviews in which he claimed that a woman's "No" does not always mean "No." Incidentally, among the people announced as "top-tier guests" for the festival there was only one woman, alongside 36 men.

Freedom for mining companies

The economic heavyweight of AfueraFest was Titus Gebel, chairman of the private cities initiative Free Cities Foundation and president and director of the copper mining company Argentina Metals Corp, both of which were among the sponsors of AfueraFest. He was a co-founder of the holding company Deutsche Rohstoff AG and one of the main driving forces behind the creation of Próspera, a private city with broad economic, legal, and administrative independence located on the Honduran island of Roatan. Argentina Metals plans to carry out major projects in the Mendoza region, in the border area between Argentina and Chile; on its own website it invokes the imminent copper boom in Argentina and praises the "Milei effect." This refers to the Argentine president's pro-business economic policy, which encourages major investments through tax advantages and other far-reaching measures under the programs known as "Rigi" or "Super-Rigi," carries out drastic social cuts, and labels environmental protection as "wokeism" in order to dismantle it. Recently, Argentina's glacier protection law has been weakened in favor of copper and lithium mining interests - despite protests from human rights and environmental organizations.

Gebel himself emphasizes that he negotiates with governments over the implementation of private city models and distances himself from the Reichsbürger ("Citizens of the Reich") and from "secessionist" ambitions. [Reichsbürger do not accept the authority of the Federal Republic of Germany and therefore want to separate from it and establish their own order, often anti-democratic, and in some cases seek to restore the German monarchy.] However, at AfueraFest, Gebel had no problem posing for a photo in front of his stand with Chase Walinski, who became known in the context of far-right demonstrations in Germany. Walinski was wearing a T-shirt with the disturbing image of a helicopter and the slogan "Pinochet's Helicopter Tours Established 1973" - a clear reference to the practice of forcibly disappearing opponents during the Chilean dictatorship (1973-1990), in which prisoners were thrown from helicopters into the open sea. At AfueraFest 2025, a photo had already been published of YouTuber Andreas Tank, known online as "Der Rosarote Panzer" ("The Pink Tank"), wearing such a shirt.

Against the state, but with state terrorism

This year's international star guest at AfueraFest was former Chilean presidential candidate Johannes Kaiser of the National Libertarian Party (PNL). He also speaks positively about the dictatorship through which neoliberalism was first imposed in Chile, and he calls for pardons for military and police officers convicted of torture and murder during that period. He also posed for a photo with Walinski and his helicopter T-shirt.

Kaiser, who is of German descent, also presents himself as a "defender of unborn life" and is a staunch opponent of abortion rights and the rights of LGBTIQ people. On the AfueraFest stage this year, he spoke in German with Gebel, advocate of private cities, about experiences in Chilean politics, security issues, and libertarian concepts for reducing the state to a minimum. Under the far-right government of José Antonio Kast, Chile is also lowering corporate taxes and attracting foreign investment. Chile and Argentina have recently reactivated a bilateral treaty to develop major mining projects in the border region.

The libertarian wing of the AfD

Kaiser also met with Jurij Christopher Kofner. Kofner is executive director of the Institute for Conservative Economic Policy (IKW) and a specialist adviser on economic, energy, and digital affairs for the AfD parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament, and he had already attended the far-right Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary in 2023. He represents the right-libertarian wing within the AfD, which in March 2025 invited economist Philipp Bagus to the Bavarian state parliament and has now invited him to give a talk to the AfD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag under the title "How much Milei do we need to save the German welfare state?"

Strengthening this wing within the AfD is also the declared goal of Markus Krall, chairman of the board of the right-libertarian organization Atlas Initiative - which also sponsored AfueraFest - and member of the small party Bündnis Deutschland, who spoke on the AfueraFest stage. In an interview with the right-wing YouTube channel Utopia TV - which livestreamed two days of AfueraFest and on the third day accompanied AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund on a Simson motorcycle tour - Krall explained that although he is not an AfD member, he has "influence in terms of propaganda" over the party. He believes the AfD "can be a vehicle on the path toward a minimal state." In his assessment, the party still needs two to three years before reaching government. This time, he says, should be used to "develop a program that is ready and on the table when the AfD takes power, and that can then be executed smoothly. In other words: chainsaw."

Krall is also close to the AfD on cultural policy issues. "Gender madness, climate madness, all of that" must be "thrown onto the trash heap of history," according to him; immigration, especially of Muslim people, can be "corrected through remigration, and through nothing else," he explains. "These people do not belong to us, they do not belong here."

Although many of the participants at AfueraFest are close to the AfD, the right-libertarian scene is nevertheless relatively heterogeneous. In Gerlebogk, representatives of the very small party Die Libertaren, of Team Freiheit - which called itself an "anti-party" when it was founded in 2025 by former AfD politicians such as Joana Cotar and Frauke Petry, as well as former FDP members such as Thomas Kemmerich - or of the Party of Reason (Partei der Vernunft, PDV) came together. Added to this are lobby groups and think tanks of the libertarian right, such as the Atlas Initiative, the Ludwig von Mises Institute Germany, or the Hayek Society.

Despite ideological differences that are in some cases quite significant - for example on foreign policy - AfueraFest has, in just one year, become an important meeting point and networking space for circles of the right and libertarian right, as well as for supporters of "private cities" and cryptocurrencies in German-speaking contexts. Even if this movement in Germany remains relatively small, its role as a source of inspiration for other actors on the right and as a meeting point for various currents should not be underestimated.

Redaction: Susanne Brust, Translation: Andrea Dip