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Right-wing extremism: attitudes and extent (#1)

Right-wing extremism and the violence that emanates from it have long left their mark on our society. Time and again in recent years and decades, people in Germany have been threatened or murdered - because of their appearance, their religion, their origin or their political opinion. It is high time that we all addressed this problem.

Right-wing populism: definition and impact (#2)

Right-wing populist movements often pick up on fears and prejudices against certain groups and stir them up. In essence, extreme right-wing ideas are formulated in a less extreme, radical or violent way in the public sphere - and thus become socially acceptable again. In the long term, this can pose a major threat to democratic coexistence. It is also a particular danger for all those who are seen by right-wing populists as their enemies.

Group-related enmity (#3)

Devaluations such as anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia and trans-hostility or classism are also referred to as group­related enmity. They are an integral part of right-wing extremist ideology. Anyone who wants to prevent right-wing extremism must therefore also counteract these phenomena of group­related enmity. This episode deals with the concept and research on group-related enmity. We also look at the significance of this concept for prevention work.

Preventing right-wing extremism: development, promotion and current status (#4)

In view of its history, Germany has a special responsibility to counteract attitudes that are contemptuous of humanity and hostile to democracy, as well as a renewed strengthening of right-wing extremist movements. This episode deals with the situation of right-wing extremism prevention in Germany. We talk about support programmes and how civil society organizations and individuals are working to counter right-wing extremism.

Prevention work: fields of work and practice (#5)

What types of right-wing extremism prevention are there, who are they aimed at and where do they start? We discuss this in this episode.

Distancing work (#6)

The aim of distancing work is to support people in distancing themselves from right-wing extremist, inhumane and anti-democratic attitudes. Young people in particular who have made extreme right-wing statements but have not yet committed a crime should be addressed as early as possible. This is worthwhile, as young people are often still in a testing and orientation phase at this point. If they are reached with targeted offers, they may be open to other avenues.

Trust, commitment and respect: the foundations of prevention work (#7)

What is important for successful prevention work? Trust, commitment and respect towards young people are key. But the attitude of educational professionals is also important in this work. You can find out what this means in detail in this episode.

Connections for prevention work: youth work (#8)

What do youth workers need in order to effectively strengthen democratic and human rights attitudes? What can they do if they encounter right-wing extremist young people in their facilities? Cultures Interactive has developed an intervention plan for such cases. We explain what the individual steps are in episode 8.

Connections for prevention work: the school (#9)

Children and young people spend a third of their day at school. What happens here is therefore formative. A central task of schools is to prepare children and young people as democratic citizens. At the same time, many primary or universal prevention services are aimed at schools, as this is where many children and young people can be reached. This episode is about the importance of schools for prevention work, but also about their limitations.

Right-wing extremism in youth cultures (#10)

Young people are usually much more attracted to rap, graffiti, gaming or TikTok than a visit to a museum. Right-wing extremists know this too. This episode is therefore about the influence of right-wing extremism in youth cultures. We talk about rap and gaming and what makes youth cultures attractive to right-wing extremists.

Practical tip: Showing attitude (#11)

Taking a stance is extremely important when working with right-wing extremism. This is how we prevent right-wing extremist positions from being normalized as legitimate opinions. In this episode, we discuss what educational professionals need to bear in mind when working with young people with an extreme right-wing orientation.

Practical tip: Narrative interviewing (#12)

Having a conversation, especially with people who are very different from you, can be quite challenging. In addition to language skills, it also requires social and communication skills. A narrative conversation can be quite helpful when talking to young people about their experiences and views. In this episode, we explain what is important here.

Practical tip: Dealing with right-wing extremist statements (#13)

Youth workers are sometimes confronted with violent statements. They hear statements that are inhumane, derogatory or hurtful - towards individuals or a group. What can an appropriate response look like in such cases? That's what this episode is about.

Turning to right-wing extremism: motives and pioneers (#14)

The far right tries to target young people and win them over. Nevertheless, every entry into the far-right scene is individual and is based on different motives. In this episode, we therefore take a look at individual motives for joining as well as social risk factors that can encourage people to turn to the far-right scene.

Practical tip: Dealing with conspiracy narratives (#15)

It is often very challenging for relatives and friends when people subscribe to conspiracy narratives. They ask themselves how they can maintain contact with the person who believes in conspiracies and how they can be encouraged to reflect on their own beliefs. Our colleagues from the veritas advice center have collected some tips for dealing with conspiracy narratives, which they present in this episode.

Practical tip: Staying in the conversation (#16)

At what point do we deny a person the ability to move away from an extreme right-wing stance? Is it even worth keeping in touch with people from the extreme right-wing scene? In this episode, Niklas Vögeding explains why it is important to keep up the conversation with right-wing extremists in youth work and to enable them to engage in critical and personal discussions, but also when it may be necessary to break off the conversation. The episode also makes it clear what youth workers should look out for when dealing with young people with extreme right-wing attitudes.

Right-wing extremism and gender: the attractiveness of traditional role models (#17)

Right-wing extremism was long regarded as an almost exclusively male phenomenon in which girls and women only played minor roles at best. Women and girls from the right-wing extremist scene have only recently become the focus of research and prevention work, not least due to the NSU's self-disclosure in 2011. However, the male images of the scene are also increasingly the subject of right-wing extremism research, as well as the design of prevention programs. Episode 17 looks at which gender images are widespread in right-wing extremism and how these fit in with the active participation of women in the right-wing extremist scene.

Connections for prevention work: Anti-violence trainings (#18)

In order to counteract right-wing violence, there must also be offers that explicitly address the violent behavior of young people. Episode 18 therefore deals with anti-violence training in working with young people.

Practical tip: Lifeworld orientation (#19)

The concept of lifeworld orientation aims to explore the everyday statements and experiences of young people in more detail and to correctly classify the lifeworld circumstances of young people. This episode sheds light on what lifeworld orientation means and what significance the concept has for the prevention of right-wing extremism.

Human rights-oriented youth culture work (#20)

Youth culture workshops can offer young people an approach to political issues that inspires them and picks up on their interests or strengths. This is because the political discussion starts with the topics and experiences that move the young people personally. They find their own topics and can also become creative themselves. This episode is about what youth cultural work can look like in the prevention of right-wing extremism and how it promotes the development of young people towards a human rights-based, pro-social identity.

Leaving the far-right scene and exit counseling (#21)

How is it that people turn away from the far-right scene again? And what makes a successful exit? Episode 21 is about leaving the far-right scene and exit counseling. Dr. Stefan Tepper of the Landesdemokratiezentrum Niedersachsen explains which factors can encourage or hinder people to turn away from right-wing extremism and how exit counseling has developed in Germany.

Acceptance-oriented youth work (#22)

There are probably few things in political education that are as controversial as so-called accepting youth work. This approach, which was developed in the 1980s by the Bremen educationalist Franz-Josef Krafeld, was intended to provide social work with a low-threshold and lifeworld-oriented approach to right-wing extremist young people and youth groups. However, the transfer of accepting work from a large West German city to the rural areas of East Germany in the 1990s in particular brought the approach much criticism and accusations of depoliticization.

Reason enough to take a closer look at the accepting approach. Episode 22 therefore looks at the origins and guiding principles of accepting youth work, its limitations and possible reasons for the failure of the approach in the 1990s. We also spoke to Anne Cathrin Beyer of VAJA e.V., who works as a street worker with young people in Bremen.

Conspiracy narratives and right-wing extremism (#23)

Belief in conspiracy narratives can be a door opener for right-wing extremism. This is because many people who spread conspiracy narratives also propagate right-wing extremist ideas or are at least susceptible to them. And a right-wing extremist world view also often contains conspiracy narratives and is spread via these. Nevertheless, not every conspiracy belief is right-wing extremist. This episode looks at the similarities and differences between right-wing extremism and conspiracy beliefs. Anti-Semitism also plays an important role here.

The political neutrality requirement (#24)

In political education, youth work and prevention, the requirement of political neutrality often leads to uncertainty. This is due to the fact that the constitutional principle regularly leads to the demand that political education should be value-neutral: All opinions should be allowed and always treated equally. However, as Leon Andrea Brandt of the SOCLES Institute for Socio-Legal Studies shows in this episode, the political neutrality requirement is not about value neutrality, but about impartiality. The lawyer explains what the obligation of political neutrality means and how political positions can be discussed in youth work.

Growing uncertainty: more support needed in dealing with right-wing extremism in education (#25)

Dealing with grouph-hatred and anti-democracy in education is a challenge for school and youth work professionals. This is why the center for the prevention of right-wing extremism offers practical advice on how to deal with right-wing extremism in education. Possible courses of action can be discussed, suitable approaches to prevention and intervention can be developed and materials can be recommended. However, the number of requests for advice has increased continuously in recent years. More and more frequently, enquirers are reporting openly right-wing extremist behavior by young people, as well as anti-human and anti-democratic statements that are used deliberately and with a high level of awareness.

Right-wing extremist attitudes among young people: A growing challenge for youth social work (#26)

The center for the prevention of right-wing extremism organizes youth culture workshops and school project days throughout Germany. This shows that right-wing extremist attitudes are on the rise among young people. Time and again, fa:rp staff come across groups in which almost all young people hold openly right-wing to right-wing extremist attitudes or at least do not raise any objections. This episode looks at what the increasing spread and normalization of right-wing extremist attitudes means for the prevention of right-wing extremism, and not just among young people.

Strengthening professionals: More training needed on pedagogical approaches to right-wing extremism (#27)

One of the focal points of the center for right-wing extremism is training courses to strengthen teachers, school social workers and staff from youth facilities in dealing with right-wing extremist attitudes and statements in education. The educational professionals who attend the fa:rp training courses have all noticed a shift to the right in society and are feeling its consequences in their daily work. Many of them report a clear shift in attitudes that are skeptical of democracy and inhumane. This episode therefore deals with the question of how the increasing normalization of right-wing extremist attitudes affects educational professionals and what support they need in this situation.