Presentation of the initial findings of the threat assessment
Youth organisation work under pressure – a preview of the Bundesjugendring’s study on threats
The youth organisations and federations united within the Bundesjugendring champion democracy, the social and legal rule of law, and inalienable human rights. This is also reflected in the Bundesjugendring’s statutory mandate to “counteract and combat militaristic, nationalist, discriminatory and totalitarian tendencies”. As ‘workshops of democracy’, local youth organisations create spaces of freedom for young people and work day in, day out to promote democracy and to vociferously champion the interests of young people. For this reason, and because of their nature as democratic self-organisations of young people, youth organisations and federations are identified as enemies, in particular by the far right, and are threatened, undermined and opposed.
A wide variety of reports from members, as well as full-time and voluntary staff of youth organisations and networks, show unequivocally that the greatest current threat to youth organisations and networks comes from the far right. Furthermore, the steady rise in the number of potential right-wing extremists recorded by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2020 points to a problem concerning the development of society as a whole.1 The Federal Youth Council was therefore called upon to examine this specific phenomenon – attacks on youth organisations and federations motivated by far-right extremism – in greater empirical detail through a nationwide survey.
This is being carried out against the backdrop of already known strategies employed by the far right against youth organisations and federations, such as the propagation of a supposedly blanket requirement for political neutrality among non-governmental organisations, defamatory enquiries in parliaments and youth welfare committees, and false claims regarding the right to represent youth policy interests under Section 12 of Book VIII of the Social Code (SGB VIII) in the context of the law on non-profit organisations.
In response to the diverse strategies of attack employed by the far right, youth organisations and networks have strengthened their exchange and networking, and built up knowledge and expertise on far-right activities and strategies; this has resulted in guidance documents, the ‘Sorge’ study, publications and active alliance work.2
The current threat assessment forms part of an ongoing examination of a dynamic threat and needs landscape, in which staff and volunteers seek to maintain their confidence and capacity to act – and thereby their participation in democracy – through knowledge, dialogue and expertise. “Our services and facilities are the last places where progressive ideas can still be expressed. Graffiti, swastikas and stickers have now become part of everyday life, even at our events,” report colleagues from Saxony-Anhalt as part of the threat assessment. 26 per cent of the participating organisations have experienced at least one incident in the last 12 months that they classify as a far-right attack or an assault motivated by far-right ideology. Half of these (48.9 per cent) state that they have experienced between one and three incidents. 25.6 per cent state that they have experienced more than three incidents. Only 12.2 per cent report a single incident.
1 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution: https://www.verfassungsschutz.de/DE/themen/rechtsextremismus/zahlen-und-fakten/zahlen-und-fakten_node.html