In September Germany will go to the polls to choose a new government. In the run-up to the election MUT's editor has asked experts and activists for their opinions on current progress and future perspectives in the battle against far right extremism. Our English correspondent Karen Margolis joins the debate.

In the coming general election in Germany, none of the major parties is prioritising the fight against far right extremism. "Why should they?", you might ask. After all, we're in the middle of a serious economic crisis, with banks and businesses collapsing, rising unemployment, growing poverty and social injustice. Not to mention global warming, vanishing natural resources, never-ending wars, famine and disease in faraway places, and all the rest of the gloom and doom the mass media feeds us with every day.

But this pervading misery scenario is precisely the reason why far right extremism should be an election issue in Germany. You don't have to be a history expert to know that crises like the present one can fuel people's underlying dissatisfaction and lead to political and social polarisation and the search for scapegoats. You can feel it in the atmosphere of anger, envy and frustration. You can hear it in the ever louder remarks about how Jews or foreigners are responsible for the crisis and migrant workers are stealing jobs; or in the aggressive hate songs of the young neo-Nazi scene. You can see it in the menacing faces of people on far right demonstrations waving banners with inflammatory slogans.

If you don't trust your own eyes, ears and feelings, I can refer you to the evidence of hundreds of media and research reports over the past few years. They show a disturbing growth in far right activity, and increasing acceptance of extreme right-wing ideas. Violence against foreigners (or simply people who seem different), open discrimination against gay people and other minorities, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, hatred of Gypsies… all this has become part of everyday life, not only in Germany, but in many other Western countries that pride themselves on civilisation and democracy.

Blinkers and the negativity trap

At the latest, the recent high votes for far right parties in the June European elections in countries like Austria, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Hungary should have alerted governments to the potential threat from anti-democratic forces. Parties that get around 10-15% of the vote for blatantly racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and anti-democratic programmes can't be dismissed as fringe any longer. Yet – aside from a few well-publicised exceptions – Germany's politicians seem to have put on collective blinkers and are joining in the "business as usual" chorus, ignoring the need for decisive action against the far right. At best they arrange talk shops, commission reports and set up expert committees to arrange more talk shops and produce more reports. At worst they go into denial, hoping the issue will vanish of its own accord. It won't, of course.

Fortunately we don't have to rely on politicians or election campaigns to identify the threat of right-wing extremism and fight against it. We may not be able to change the basic conditions that foster far right hate and violence, but at least, as citizens of a democracy, we can take action ourselves. Over the past 10 years a host of anti-racist organisations have sprung up at local and national level. You only have to look through the back pages of this website, http://www.mut-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de, or the newsletter of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, one of the leading organisations combating far right extremism (http://www.amadeu-antonio-stiftung.de), to get a picture of their activities and achievements and the big network of groups and projects they are part of. Some of these groups and publications are already influential in Germany's landscape of non-governmental organisations.

Yet this hasn't stopped racist and neo-fascist ideas gaining credibility in increasingly broad circles throughout German society, and it hasn't been able to prevent the far right scene from getting a firm foothold in youth culture. All too often we seem to be lagging behind while they dominate public space and discussion with violence and a cult of aggressive negativity that they market as "cool". If you're fighting a negative force like far right extremism, it's too easy to fall into negativity yourself. We often end up reacting negatively rather than acting positively.

Positively international

What do we have to do to tip the balance in our favour? First, I think we have to smarten up our image. However healthy an apple might be, you don't buy it if it doesn't look good and taste good. And however healthy an anti-racist movement might be for democratic life, you don't join or support it if it's always warning, admonishing and criticising. We should be aware that a constant stream of shock-horror stories about racist brutality and discrimination can end by desensitising or making people feel helpless. Along with protesting at far right outrages, we should be making our ideals of fairness, democracy and humanitarian behaviour attractive and desirable. There's a lot we can do to promote the positive benefits of multicultural life and to create social spaces where people can develop and enjoy their own specific culture. It's possible to imagine a broad non-parliamentary movement in which the present network of anti-racist activity is embedded as part of a wider campaign for social equality.

The moment we stop defining ourselves simply in terms of opposition to the far right, a whole lot of possibilities open up. My personal concern is the international dimension: what happens in Britain, France, the US, Holland, Hungary, Poland, Israel, Italy, South Africa and many other places is important to me because I have friends or relatives there. And what happens in Germany affects me because I'm a migrant here. After living in Berlin for 26 years as an EU resident, it feels almost like home. In common with many other migrants, I'm looking for ways to bridge cultural gaps and share experiences with Germans and people from different backgrounds. Last year I made a proposal on this website for a national Museum of Migration in Germany that could become a focus for migrants, our own patch in our host country. A museum like this would show Germany's commitment to its migrant citizens as a positive rejection of far right racism and xenophobia.

Cross-cultural communication

In the battle for hearts and minds, political movements today have to continually update and extend their mass communications and media presence. There are already lots of websites and blogs, pamphlets and books from the anti-racist movement watching the far right and reporting on its activities, and promoting action groups and events that combat far right extremism. There is much to be said for trying to link all these separate outlets into a broad and clearly identifiable network of information and publications. Instead of merely observing and commenting, as is often the case, the different media strands and projects should aim far more to involve migrants and other victims of racism and persecution, and especially young people of all backgrounds, offering platforms and forums for grass-roots action and debate.

But it shouldn't stop there. In the past, neo-Nazis and far rightists used to smuggle banned literature to fellow groups across borders and flirt with the romance of semi-legal and covert activity. Nowadays, emboldened by growing success and government inaction, the European far right is tuning in to globalisation and increasingly networking and getting organised on an international level. Whether it's legal persecution of Roma in Italy, attacks on Jews and gays in Hungary, victimisation of Muslims in Austria, Holland or Scandinavia, hate campaigns against guest workers in Britain, or xenophobic murder in Germany or France – what happens to our neighbours in Europe is important for us, and what happens to us is important for them. As well as keeping readers up to date with the latest news in campaigns against the far right, we should be keeping track of what's going on abroad. Linking up publications and sharing information is the best way to build the cross-border movement that we need to stop the advance of the far right. I think the German movement against the far right would benefit from an online magazine with a mix of local, national, and international news and views, links to similar projects abroad and forums for migrants and young people from all over Europe. And let's not forget a generous dose of humour as well. Laughter can be a good weapon to disarm hate.

The point is to get behind and beyond the mass media headlines and reach the large group of people in Germany who reject right-wing violence and ideas but can't see a way to express it. You could call them silent sympathisers. But just because they're not active doesn't mean they're not concerned. Leaving aside all the negative verdicts on the state of their society, many Germans have a deep feeling for democracy and social justice. I was reminded of this recently when I met a representative from Collegium Hungaricum, the Hungarian cultural centre in Berlin. He told me that after the European elections in June, the staff at the centre were surprised by the number of German visitors who came in to ask why the extreme right Jobbik Party had gained so many votes in Hungary. As a result of the public interest, in September Collegium Hungaricum (http://www.hungaricum.de) is planning a public round table discussion on the rise of Hungary's far right with Hungarian and German political analysts and commentators, including the head of a Budapest centre for research on anti-Semitism. This is a creative way to communicate in the fight against the far right. We need much more of this creativity to succeed in building a genuine European spirit of democracy and tolerance.

Footnote: The right to vote is one of the keystones of democracy. So the coming elections in Germany are a good time to raise the issue of migrant disenfranchisement, which touches me personally. As I'm not a German citizen, I can't vote in general elections, although I'm a permanent resident and pay taxes, insurance and pension contributions here. I'm allowed to vote in local and EU elections but not for the national German government, even though it makes major decision affecting my life and work. This is definitely an issue for hundreds of thousands of long-term migrant workers all over Europe. It's the kind of anomaly that deprives migrants of proper representation and gives the lie to any talk of integration.

© Karen Margolis for MUT
29 July 2009

For the unsmart behaviour of new far right Hungarian members in the European Parliament, see: http://www.politics.hu/20090714/jobbik-mep-wears-banned-hungarian-guard-uniform-in-first-ep-session

www.mut-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de with many thanks to Karen Margolis / Foto: Schoolyard in Niedersachsen/Germany 2008 - Copyright Holger Kulick