“We are the people! We are the people!” Replete with boos, cheers, a brass band, and even a puppet show, this weekly gathering in the small eastern German city of Zittau could be easily mistaken for a pantomime performance. But the messages and ideas spread at the cobbled square in front of city hall are deadly serious: flags of far-right groups dot the scene as speakers rile up a crowd of 600. “How did an ideology-driven elite manage to completely destroy the livelihoods of such a well-educated people as the Germans?” shouts Karin Viehweg, a far-right activist in her late 50s, over the loudspeaker in late November, nodding to the cost-of-living crisis and Germany’s left-leaning government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.