extremism
NRW Constitutional Protection: AfD youngsters are suspected cases
A member of the “Junge Alternative” (JA) carries a flag with the organization’s logo at an election campaign event in Dortmund. photo
© Alex Talash/dpa
The young AfD in North Rhine-Westphalia is now under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Reul sees right-wing extremist tendencies in the Junge Alternative.
The North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution has the youth organization AfD, Junge Alternative (JA), classified as a suspected right-wing extremist case in North Rhine-Westphalia. “There is strong evidence that the Junge Alternative is not playing according to democratic rules, but prefers its own right-wing extremist rules,” said Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) on Tuesday. The NRW Office for the Protection of the Constitution is therefore monitoring the Junge Alternative from now on.
Since 2019, the regional association of JA NRW has shifted ideologically to the political course of the federal association of Junge Alternative, the Interior Minister continued. This is characterized by a “national-ethnic understanding of the people and xenophobia”. JA NRW also represents positions that violate the guarantee of human dignity. The aim in particular is to exclude and despise people with a migration background and Muslims.
In recent years, JA NRW has developed into a part of the right-wing extremist movement of the New Right, said Reul. The NRW AfD youth campaign on social media for the “Identitarian Movement” and its successor organizations such as “Lukreta”, “Revolte Rheinland”, “1 percent” and the “Institute for State Politics”.
The AfD’s North Rhine-Westphalia youth organization also offers a forum for protagonists of the New Right. People with right-wing extremist biographies are also active in JA NRW. Another important clue is the proximity to the formally dissolved so-called wing of the AfD federal party and its ideological leader Björn Höcke.
In a suspected case, there is “sufficiently weighty factual evidence” of anti-constitutional efforts. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution can then evaluate and store personal data and, under strict conditions, use intelligence resources, such as observing or recruiting informants.
Decisions from the OVG are still awaited
A dispute is currently pending at the Münster Higher Administrative Court between the AfD federal party and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution over the classification of the party as a suspected right-wing extremist case. The Federal Association of the AfD is defending itself against a first-instance ruling. In March 2022, the Cologne Administrative Court ruled in favor of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in classifying the AfD as a suspected case. The Federal Association of Young Alternatives also no longer wants to be classified as a suspected case.
The decisions of the OVG in Münster in these nationwide cases are expected in the spring. The proceedings are pending in North Rhine-Westphalia because the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has its headquarters in Cologne.
Interior Minister Reul said that regardless of the technical assessment, the AfD youth organization had to be dealt with politically. “To achieve this, we as politically responsible people have to make good policies for the people in this country and explain them sensibly.”