Dear friends and interested readers,
welcome to the 21st newsletter on and against global and local authoritarianism, October 2026. While in Saxony-Anhalt the AfD, the BSW, and the CDU are preparing to hand over power to Ulrich Siegmund, Brazil faces the threat of another right-wing presidency—this time under Flávio Bolsonaro.
In our ReGA newsletter, you’ll find the following reports:
→ As always, we take a look at the AfD’s foreign policy, this time focusing on a meeting between Brandenburg’s Member of the Bundestag Steffen Kotré and Polish anti-Semites, an intervention by the MAGA movement in the Thuringian state parliament, and other news
→ Under “Europe’s Far Right,” we report on whether an AfD ban could be enacted more quickly at the EU level than in Germany, on a further rapprochement between the European far right and Israel’s Likud party, and on the dispute over South Tyrol
→ Under “International Reports,” you’ll find a brief report on the anti-feminist “Marches for Life” held in September in Berlin and Cologne, as well as a look back at the campaign by the South African organization Lex Libertas in the U.S.
→ With our Linea B project, you’ll find reports from Latin America—including, of course, coverage of the situation in Brazil following the first round of the presidential election—as well as articles on Milei’s visit to Paris, an update on Peter Thiel’s network, pieces on the expansion of the Shield of the Americas, and on the politics of history in Chile on the occasion of the 53rd anniversary of the coup.
→ Finally, we’ve included information on upcoming and past events!
If you’d like to subscribe to this newsletter, please click here.
On October 6, 2026, Germany experienced a turning point when Tobias Rausch of the AfD was elected president of a state parliament—the first time since 1945 that a far-right politician had held that office. Rausch was elected with 48 of the 83 votes cast in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament. In the secret ballot, he received four more votes than the AfD (39) and BSW (5) combined. These votes presumably came from the CDU, as is made very clear in a report by taz, which interviewed all CDU members of the state parliament.
“False flag” claims by Merz, who seeks to blame the Left Party, the Greens, or the SPD for the additional votes, seem like obvious distractions in light of the numerous statements by CDU politicians who make little secret of their willingness to cooperate with the AfD in various ways.
This does not paint a rosy picture for Saxony-Anhalt and the election of the state premier in December—but in fact, the threatening situation extends far beyond the state’s borders. After all, the AfD, with its potential Minister-President Ulrich Siegmund, has already announced that it intends to dismantle critical civil society, abolish public broadcasting, and “remigrate”—that is, deport—large numbers of people it defines as not belonging. For the latter, the “Institute for Remigration”—now based in Magdeburg and led by the Austrian far-right extremist Martin Sellner—provides the pseudoscientific basis. According to Der Spiegel, a paper published by the institute states that Saxony-Anhalt is to become a “model state for remigration” and thus a “political showcase.” “Saxony-Anhalt is becoming a testing ground,” says David Begrich of Miteinander e.V., the Network for Democracy and Open-Mindedness in Saxony-Anhalt, in Die Blätter. “Whatever succeeds here, the AfD will implement elsewhere as well, if it gets the chance.” That is why, he says, the top priority must be to preserve democratic strongholds.
Meanwhile, it seems that the CDU—having already failed to clear the five-percent threshold in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania—is now completely falling apart. And instead of moving away from its rigid policy of “cutting costs at the bottom while letting the top get richer and richer,” from planned expansions of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s powers, and from restricting journalistic transparency by curtailing the Freedom of Information Act, the Merz faction—in its struggle for government and its own right to exist—stubbornly insists on mantra-like repetition that democracy, is indeed under dramatic threat from the “political fringes” on the right and left—that is, from the AfD and the supposedly equally anti-democratic Left Party—with which cooperation is absolutely out of the question—not even in the face of the question of whether the far right will come to power.
This impresses many within and around the black-red governing coalition, but seemingly fewer and fewer others. In Berlin, where the Left Party, the Greens, and the SPD would have a majority capable of forming a government, they are currently managing to negotiate and seek compromises, thereby countering the—equally transparent—narrative that the Left Party has a bigger problem with antisemitism than all other parties. In fact, the potential Red-Green-Red coalition in Berlin has a responsibility to become capable of taking action, to pursue constructive policies, and thereby to counter the rise of the far right.
We recommend: anti-fascist economic policy, as explained by Isabella Weber in her book and discussed in a thought-provoking conversation with representatives from the SPD, the Greens, and The Left. Above all, we recommend strengthening civil society through active engagement and donations, and defending democratic structures. The “Recht solidarisch” project aims to offer support and guidance through a publication. “When teachers are threatened with disciplinary action for taking a clear democratic stance, a demonstration is moved to the outskirts of town, or funding for a cultural project is tied to political loyalty tests, it often creates the impression of powerlessness.” The guide aims to counteract this, highlight legal countermeasures, and “help people maintain their ability to act.”
And then there was one more thing: The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize has just been awarded to South African lawyer Navanethem Pillay (85). Born to Tamil parents, Pillay was the first woman of color in South Africa to open a law firm—and she represented victims of the apartheid regime. She later became a judge at the International Criminal Court and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. During her tenure as chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry into possible violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel (2021 to 2025), the commission concluded that Israel was committing genocide.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry immediately and indignantly protested the award. The German government offered a reserved congratulations. Germany and the EU must do much more overall to uphold international law and protect the International Criminal Court against U.S. sanctions and attacks by other authoritarian governments, say Alexander Schwarz and Andreas Schüller of the ECCHR in their article, programmatically titled “Resisting,” published by IPG. - The Nobel Prize Committee’s jury appears to share this view; in any case, its decision sent a clear signal in support of strengthening international law.
And here are a few more reading recommendations from us:
We’d like to recommend three articles that were published on our website following our symposium on anti-feminism as a factor in international authoritarian networks. At the well-attended symposium, Jamie Vernaelde from Ipas spoke about anti-gender movements in Europe and the U.S. This was followed by a presentation by Lina Dahm on anti-feminist alliances in Germany and the Brosius-Gersdorf case, which you can read in both German and English. Finally, Gabriela Mitidieri from our partner organization CELS reported on the feminist struggles of recent years in Argentina and explained why, despite the Milei administration’s rollback of feminist gains, all is not lost. Thank you for your widespread interest and your insightful contributions to the symposium!
In addition, our publication “The Reactionary Ecosystem” by CELS and ReGA is now available! There, we examine how far-right forces are developing a global anti-democratic agenda through joint events, funding models, and shared ideas. All texts are available in Spanish, English, and German. The PDF can be downloaded directly via this link or from the CELS website. Enjoy reading!
Last but certainly not least, we recommend “Im Namen des Herrn” by our esteemed Brazilian colleague Andrea Dip. In October, PapyRossa Verlag published an updated version of her book “Em Nome de Quem?” that has been translated into German. Andrea Dip examines the rise of the evangelical right in Brazil and its political influence on Bolsonarism.