Mobbing thrives on participation: The AfD doesn't get a large hall because the small SPD doesn't want it

The children are out of the house. We have space. To avoid any misunderstanding, this is not an offer. We are sufficient unto ourselves. For this reason, and in view of the housing shortage, they want to take care of us. Those who encroach on space and the status quo are to be pressured into reducing their living spaces to the size of a slab. – Friends, you can forget about that. There's a protective charm. The door sign. Our daughter once painted a picture of a family of four rabbits on ceramic for this purpose. Another plaque will soon be placed next to it. It will read: Karl Liebknecht Cuddle Cave.

It's unbelievable to even write this, but: The SPD has inspired me. More precisely, the wrangling over their parliamentary group hall. The administration calls it 3 S 001. Its occupants found this cumbersome and arbitrarily renamed it the Otto Wels Hall. In March 1933, the former party chairman led all SPD members of parliament in voting against Hitler's Enabling Act. With its good name, the parliamentary group believes it has marked its territory and gained control. The hall is large, especially for the recently almost halved number of its occupants. So it's like my residence. The AfD, with its almost doubled mandates, was only allocated the former FDP conference center. Eng. People without space. If factory farming is a problem, this could be one too.

The canned sardines want to swap places. The SPD doesn't. Let alone with guaranteed bad eczema. After all, Wels was an anti-fascist, and his great-niece's feelings were being violated. The socialists could easily stick their door sign somewhere else. Where there's a comrade, there's the party. Where the parliamentary group meets, Otto Wels lives. The multi-purpose hall at Ostbahnhof also constantly changes its name. – Nope. Not a chance.

The Council of Elders decided the battle in the chamber. As expected, because the same majority holds sway on the council that also ensures that the AfD is the only party not allowed to nominate a parliamentary vice president or committee chair. Bullying thrives on participation.

At this point, it's high time for the distancing phrase: "One can think what one will of the AfD, but." Or for the warning that such shenanigans only make the victim-ridden evildoers stronger. Can I spare myself that? Basically, it's all about fairness. Even informal, barely enforceable rules of the game should apply equally to all participants. I'm old-fashioned in that respect. On the other hand, Mario Voigt, Thuringia's particularly charismatic Premier, says the AfD should be happy to have a room at all. That sounds as if Weidel's people are lucky that the plenary hall isn't named after a patron saint. Otherwise, they wouldn't be allowed in there either. A certain generosity on the part of the democratic bloc is also demonstrated by the fact that it even has the toilets, mostly used by the Chrupalla commando, cleaned.

Inspired by this, my rabbit family now claims to measure any subsequent occupants of their Karl Liebknecht cuddle cave by the namesake. In 1914, he voted against World War II credits, the only Social Democrat to do so. He refused any military service until he was kicked out of the SPD parliamentary group. Someone has to live up to that résumé these days. Sorry, Mr. Pistorius, we're being picky.