Cross-phenomenon work

Taking a joint look at right-wing extremism and Islam-based extremism and exploring the extent to which findings from the prevention of right-wing extremism can also be made fruitful for the prevention of Islam-based extremism has occupied different actors in prevention work and researchers in recent years. Various approaches to cross-phenomenal work can be found, some of which have also been criticized – for example, the fact that the so-called Horseshoe theory of extremist fringes of society has resurfaced under the keyword “cross-phenomenal”. However, it was also noted that many cross-phenomenal projects fail to provide actual approaches for educational practice.

Why cross-phenomenal?

Cultures Interactive works with a cross-phenomenal perspective for the following reasons:

• When working across phenomena, target group stigmatization and attributions can be avoided (to avoid that the prevention of Islam-based extremism focuses on certain districts of bigger cities while right-wing extremism prevention mainly takes place in rural areas of eastern Germany).
• Both phenomena act as mutual amplifiers in the same discourse: Islamist attacks are used for propaganda purposes by the right-wing extremist camp and vice versa. Similar media strategies can often be found, including the use of similar images, memes and codes. In cross-phenomenon prevention, such connections can be made clear, and analogies highlighted.
• Workshops with young people also show that different phenomena (such as various forms of group-focused enmity, right-wing extremism, or Islam-based extremism) can often be found in the same class or school and are mutually reinforcing.
• There are also overlaps in terms of content in both ideologies, which are compatible with large sections of society.

Similarities between right-wing extremism and Islamist extremism: diagnoses of crisis, rejection of pluralistic societies and anti-Semitism

Both phenomena are diagnoses of crisis. However, this does not mean that their spread must always be based on actual social crises. They can also be about perceived crises and losses, such as when the extreme right imagines a “great replacement” of the population or the disintegration of the family. The emergence of Islamism, for example, was a reaction to the (perceived) loss of power and importance of the Islamic world following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and was linked to the desire for the Islamic world to regain power through a “return to true Islam”. This view was reinforced from 1979 onwards by the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. National Socialism in Germany and Fascism in Italy in turn saw themselves as a reaction to the loss of power and the humiliation experienced during the First World War.

Both phenomena are also characterized by a rejection of pluralistic societies. Both right-wing extremism and Islamism reject the idea of a society in which different lifestyles coexist and enjoy the same rights. They see the development of diverse lifestyles and heterogeneous societies primarily as a danger that threatens social cohesion.

In right-wing extremism, as in Islamism, traditional ideas of gender roles are also seen as the ideal. Feminism, gender equality, and homosexuality and transsexuality are vehemently rejected by both currents. Both also address social inequality, on the one hand through positions critical of capitalism, but also in part through an ostentatious rejection of status symbols or branded clothing.

In addition, conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism are a common feature. For example, the Islamist perpetrators of the attacks in Paris in 2015 and the perpetrators of the right-wing terrorist attacks in Halle (Saale) and Hanau in 2019 and 2020 referred to (anti-Semitic) conspiracy theories and believed that the world was controlled by (Jewish) secret societies. Many of these positions can certainly be linked to discussions in mainstream society, which is why it is important to pay particular attention to them in prevention work.

One difference: the addressees

Probably the most important difference between right-wing extremism and Islamism relates to the target audience: Where right-wing extremist groups appeal to patriotism, the nation and the Occident and thus tie in with nationalist and racist ideas, representatives of Islam-based extremism invoke the Ummah, the community of all Muslims, in which there is no racism and the only thing that counts is having found the “true religion” - which, in turn, is conceived in a very exclusive way. Whether young people feel more addressed by one or the other phenomenon therefore depends above all on which fears and insecurities they are more likely to struggle with and which of the two crisis diagnoses appeals to them more.

Turning motives of young people

For young people, both spectrums can offer identification and valorisation opportunities, in which their own valorisation is always linked to the devaluation of other people.
In prevention and youth work, the question is often asked as to what makes right-wing extremism and Islamism so attractive to young people, given the strict rules, clear hierarchies, and seemingly archaic social concepts. However, the fact that youthful expression and the decision in favour of Islamism or right-wing extremism is not seen as a “phase” by adults in the scene is likely to appeal to many young people: This is because, with all the - quite dreadful - consequences, these adults take them fully seriously here, commit them to their decision and thus attach great importance to young people as allies of the cause.