Book industry on migration policy: People are not a natural disaster

Real barbarism is preceded by the barbarization of language: An explanation by German publishers and authors on the term “Influx Limitation Act”.

The CDU parliamentary group in the Bundestag calls its legislative initiative to "limit the illegal influx of third-country nationals", which it put to a vote on January 31, 2025, the "Influx Limitation Act". The fact that a bill with a metaphor of this provenance - even as the official title of the motion - has been introduced in the German Bundestag by a democratic party is a first in the history of the Federal Republic. The metaphor of the "flow" or "streaming" and "overflowing" is not only historically part of the essential rhetorical repertoire of European and German fascism of the 20th century - especially National Socialism - but is also one of the most common demagogic instruments of neo-fascist, racist and xenophobic movements today. The AfD, the Rassemblement Nationale, the Fratelli d'Italia, the PiS party, the MAGA movement and other ultra-right milieus use "aquatic-apocalyptic" metaphors for their inhumane agitation against everything foreign. Viktor Orbán already presented the metaphor in 2015 as the most important battle cry of the new ultra-right spirit: security for the life and property of decent citizens will only be possible "when the flood has been stemmed".