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Original article: Entre “vuelos de la muerte” de Pinochet y la motosierra de Milei: Kaiser participó en festival de ultraderecha «libertaria» en Alemania
The president of the Libertarian National Party (PNL) Johannes Kaiser traveled to Gerlebogk, Germany, to be the keynote speaker at the second AfueraFest, a festival that drew about 500 attendees aligned with far-right «libertarian» ideologies. Notably, the most striking image from the event featured Kaiser posing alongside an attendee wearing a shirt that read «Pinochet’s Helicopter Tours Established 1973»—a disturbing reference to the «death flights» conducted during the civic-military dictatorship in Chile to dispose of the bodies of disappeared detainees. This photograph, far from being an isolated incident, highlighted the nature of a movement that seeks to impose an authoritarian order in service of capital, all under the banner of Argentine President Javier Milei’s «chainsaw» approach.
Marketed as a «Cultural Freedom Festival,» AfueraFest transformed into a meeting point for anarcho-capitalists, ultra-conservatives, and Bitcoin enthusiasts, all united by their rejection of the state, which they equate with bureaucracy and paternalism.
According to Research against Global Authoritarianism (Rega), organized by the Die Libertären party, the festival relocated to Saxony-Anhalt, a region where the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a real chance of gaining an absolute majority in upcoming elections. However, the light-hearted environment provided by activities such as yoga and karaoke sharply contrasted with speeches promoting the rhetoric that «taxes are theft» and advocating the complete privatization of health, education, and pension systems, ideologies directly inspired by Javier Milei.
Yet the event was not solely a promotion of extreme economic liberalism; it also fostered an atmosphere rife with misogyny and intolerance. The presentation titled «Make Patriarchy Great Again,» led by «dating coach» Maximilian Pütz, clarified that the «freedom» they espouse does not extend to women. Pütz, known for asserting that a woman’s «no» does not always mean «no,» originally proposed an even more explicit title: «Women Back to the Kitchen,» which he softened at the organizers’ request. His aim to «strengthen the role of mothers» under a «modern traditionalism» was evident in the overwhelming gender imbalance among speakers, where only one woman shared the stage with 36 men, reflecting the patriarchal structure underlying the movement.
The financial heavyweight of the festival, Titus Gebel, president of the Free Cities Foundation and of mining company Argentina MetalsCorp, embodies the alliance between financial power and authoritarian ideology. Gebel, who advocates for the establishment of «private cities» with legal and tax independence, praised the «Milei effect» in Argentina, which favors large mining investments through tax breaks, social cuts, and dismantling environmental protections. His presence, coupled with his push to exploit copper along the Argentina-Chile border, underscores that the defense of private property outweighs any ethical considerations, as evidenced by his willingness to pose for a photo alongside Chase Walinski, who wore the infamous «death flights» shirt that circulated on social media.
Kaiser’s Involvement in the Far-Right ‘Libertarian’ Festival
Johannes Kaiser’s presence was anything but accidental in this context. The former presidential candidate from Chile, who markets himself as a “defender of unborn life” and an opponent of LGBTIQ rights, leveraged the festival to advocate for Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship as a vehicle that ushered in neoliberalism in Chile, even going so far as to demand pardons for military personnel convicted of crimes against humanity. By posing next to the helicopter shirt, Kaiser not only legitimized the crime but also connected «libertarianism» with the practice of state terrorism, demonstrating that for this current, Milei’s “chainsaw” and Pinochet’s helicopters are complementary tools to achieve their objectives.
Susanne Brust reported for Research against Global Authoritarianism, during the event; Kaiser spoke in German with Gebel about Chilean political experiences, security issues, and libertarian concepts aimed at minimizing the state.
Also, the PNL president met with Jurij Christopher Kofner, who is the executive director of the Conservative Economic Policy Institute (IKW) and a specialist advisor on energy, economics, and digital affairs for the far-right AfD parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament.
Brust highlighted that Krofner recently invited economist Philipp Bagus to give a talk in the AfD group in the German Bundestag titled “How Much Milei Do We Need to Save the German Welfare State?”
AfuerFest also served as a crucial meeting point for the far-right party’s influence network with the presence of figures like Kofner and Markus Krall from the Atlas Initiative, who stated that the AfD is “a vehicle on the path to a minimal state” and that their government plan includes the “remigration” of Muslim people, which must be executed smoothly when they come into power, «to put it another way: chainsaw.» His remarks, calling to consign the «gender and climate madness» to the «dustbin of history,» reveal an agenda of hate and exclusion.
The combination of apologies for dictators, hate speech against women and migrants, and a nearly religious fervor for unrestricted free market principles makes this festival an example of the internationalization of the far right.
The photo of Kaiser next to the «death flights» shirt is not an accident but proof that, for this sector, Milei’s «chainsaw» and Pinochet’s helicopters are two sides of the same coin: the imposition of an authoritarian order in service of capital.
La entrada From Pinochet’s ‘Death Flights’ to Milei’s Chainsaw: Kaiser Attends Far-Right ‘Libertarian’ Festival in Germany se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.
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