The political goals of the (German) New Right can largely be summarized by two central concepts: the intellectualization of right-wing extremism through the formulation of an intellectual metapolitics, and the pursuit of a (right-wing) cultural hegemony. Here, metapolitics denotes efforts to take intellectual control of public debates, shaping them on a theoretical meta-level by coining… Continue reading “New Right in Germany: Myth and Reality”
Alexander Gauland publicly supported the protests, while Princess Doris von Sayn-Wittgenstein, patron of the AfD in the Land of Schleswig-Holstein, posted a photograph of herself wearing a yellow vest. So-called ‘yellow vest’ movements are now active across the globe. Beginning in France on 17 November 2018, the ‘yellow vests’ (named after the fluorescent safety vests French… Continue reading “The Yellow Vest phenomenon and the radical right”
Where left-leaning observers warn of a return of totalitarian nationalism, the far right warns of the return of socialist and communist totalitarian politics. With the rise of populist and far-right politics in Europe and beyond, the fear of the return of totalitarian politics has equally intensified. Comparisons with the rise of fascism in the 1920s… Continue reading “The Far Right Imagines a Totalitarian Other”
Four years ago on October 20, 2014, ‘Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident’ (PEGIDA) staged their first-ever demonstration in the city of Dresden. About 350 people attended. Soon, the weekly PEGIDA protests turned into the most talked about issue in German politics. In the winter of 2014 and 2015, up to 20,000 people… Continue reading “PEGIDA turns 4 – will AfD be among the well-wishers?”
Chemnitz shows how collaboration across three right-wing sectors is a recipe for disaster, as the extreme right understands very well. Haunting video footage of groups of German right-wing extremists chasing, harassing and attacking ethnic minorities, journalists and counter-protesters circulated widely on social media last week, along with footage of overwhelmed police. “If the mob attacks,”… Continue reading “The united German extreme right”