Soros Heads East; Looks To East Germany To Stop AfD
American billionaire George Soros is
looking to block Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in East Germany. Recently, Soros announced plans to expand the
operations of his Open Society Foundation in East Germany where right-wing
populists dominate.
The Foundation closed its offices in
Budapest in 2018 due to the pressure of the Hungarian government and then
relocated to Berlin.
The far right party AfD gained a
strong foothold of Germany’s formerly Communist east three states — Thuringia,
Saxony and Brandenburg.
Last month, AfD emerged as a powerful
political force in eastern Germany. The
party is now well represented in federal parliament and every state
legislature.
In light of the current political
agenda in eastern Germany, the Open Society Foundation is targeting to curb
AfD’s influence by supporting organizations that promote an open, liberal and
pluralistic Germany.
According to Caliskan, the foundation
supports more than 50 civil society organizations in Germany.
“We are looking at ways to support actors
in the east of Germany who share our values,” said Foundation Director Selmin
Caliskan on Thursday in Berlin.
“As a first step we will work
with local partners in East Berlin and surrounding areas to launch an
initiative to fight against hate crimes,” Caliskan added.
The Hungarian-born billionaire Soros
is a known supporter of leftist globalist efforts worldwide. At the beginning
of February he praised the Greens in Germany:
“The Greens have become the only
consistently pro-European party in the country, and they continue to grow in
opinion polls as the AfD seems to have reached its zenith,” he wrote in an
essay on the online platform “Project Syndicate”.
Soros’ foundation launched and
supported projects in Germany on alleged “equal rights” and “anti-discrimination”.
It also aims to promote
journalistic organizations, such as the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists.
The Hungarian-born Soros has become a thorn in
AfD’s side for persistently advocating open borders and liberal causes.