Berlin.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the youth organization of the AfD as “safe right-wing extremist” – and targets other groups.
A few days ago, a senior sergeant and extreme right spoke at the lectern of the Bundestag. The debate in parliament was about the future of the Bundeswehr, and Hannes Gnauck painted a crude picture on the wall at the microphone in the Reichstag. The federal government only wanted to bring “its own party clientele” into the troop, wanted the “politically correct, queer-feminist activists in uniform” with “gender asterisks” and “rainbow flags” – and a “bit of camouflage”.
That, Gnauck said, was “not a real army.” Applause came from the ranks of the AfD. The Brandenburg politician Gnauck is a member of the right-wing party – and he is the head of the AfD youth organization “Junge Alternative”, JA. The Military Shielding Service (MAD), the Bundeswehr’s secret service, classifies him as an extremist. Gnauck’s service in the troops is suspended.
Also read:Young, hip, extremist – the “Identitarian Movement”
When Gnauck was elected head of the JA last fall, experts saw it as a further step in the radicalization of party youth. And the security authorities are also alarmed. Now they are drawing conclusions. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) classifies the “Young Alternative” as a “secure right-wing extremist endeavor”. Since 2019, the correctional institution had been a “suspected case” and was under surveillance by the authorities. So far, the federal party of the AfD is a “suspected case” of the BfV.
Positions of the Young Alternative not compatible with the Basic Law
The observation of the correctional institution has shown that “the indications of efforts against the free democratic basic order have meanwhile become a certainty,” according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The positions are “not compatible with the Basic Law”, instead the ideology of the youth organization is based on a “national social concept” that is suitable “to exclude members of supposedly other ethnic groups and to devalue German nationals with a migration background as second-class Germans”.
The JA regularly railed against “migrant crime” with sweeping slogans, spreading slogans like “deportation protects women” or “It’s okay to be white” and “Black Knives Matter”, which means something like “counting black knives” – and they Black Lives Matter civil rights movement mocked in US
The “Young Alternative” agitates above all against refugees from Muslim countries and sees “national hostility” growing. At the same time, she also occupies other topics that are popular in the right-wing scene, such as “protecting children” or “native nature”. In the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the AfD youth positions themselves against military aid for the Ukrainian military.
Also read:The AfD is increasing in polls – but how strong is its voter potential?
The JA is closely linked to the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement” and, according to AfD right-wing extremist Björn Höcke, should also “maintain this course”. At the same time, the JA exchanges ideas with other extreme right-wing groups across Europe. In mid-April, members of the JA attended a conference in Brussels, which also included the French Le Pen party, the Rassemblement National, and members of the Italian “Lega”.
The ideologue Götz Kubitschek is behind the “Institute for State Politics”.
For the protection of the constitution, the image of the party is now clear: right-wing extremist. BfV President Thomas Haldenwang explains that the contents of the correctional institution “are aimed at the exclusion of supposedly ‘foreigners'”. “The targeted propagation of enemy images and the stoking of resentment in the population are also generally suitable for preparing the ground for unpeaceful behavior towards those affected.” An advertising image of the JA says: “Be defensive!” A young man with boxing gloves . A typical narrative of extreme parties.
Also read:How the Left in East Germany loses the fight against the AfD
On the Telegram channel, the “Junge Alternative” advertises a “Winter Academy” of the “Institute for State Politics” in Schnellroda, Saxony-Anhalt – an event for “young patriots”. Topic: ten years AfD. Behind the “Institute” is above all the new-right ideology Götz Kubitschek. In the scene, the organization has been considered a “think tank” for many years, produces articles for the magazine “Sezession”, networks secretly and openly with the leaders of the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement” and the radicals in the AfD, for example with the Thuringian state leader Björn crouch. The new-right scene meets again and again in Schnellroda.
Now the “Institute for State Politics” is also being targeted by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Like the JA, it is now regarded as “safe right-wing extremist”. The “propagated notion that there is a German people beyond the national people defined in the Basic Law as all German nationals implies a reduction of naturalized nationals to second-class Germans,” according to the intelligence service.
There are also repeated threats of an alleged “dissolution of the German people” and an allegedly forthcoming “population exchange”. It is a rhetoric that right-wing terrorist assassins have also referred to in the past.
JA boss Gnauck brags about donations to the new campaign network “One Percent”
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution also classifies the new right-wing group “One Percent” as right-wing extremist. The organization is part of an extreme right-wing media landscape that has also become more established in Germany in recent years. New right-wing actors set up “countermedia”, broadcast their own propaganda programmes, produce podcasts and videos.
The “One Percent” group plays a central role in the media strategy of the New Right. The aim of the association is “the metapolitical achievement of cultural hegemony and thus the establishment of a corresponding ‘counterculture'”, according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Hannes Gnauck, the head of the “Höcke-Jünger” in the JA, is a fan of “One Percent”. According to research by “Spiegel”, the deputy should regularly donate part of his diet to the campaign network.
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