Infiltrating the protests: “The right-wing extremists are not interested in the farmers”

In the run-up to the farmers’ protests, right-wing extremists and conspiracy ideologists also mobilized massively. They are trying to infiltrate the protests and use them for their own purposes, says psychologist Lamberty in an interview.

tagesschau.de: Why are right-wing extremists or conspiracy ideologists even trying to use the farmers’ protests for their own benefit?

Pia Lamberty: Right-wing extremists haven’t really managed to bring their issues to the streets for a long time. We are seeing an increase in support for the AfD, the parliamentary arm of right-wing extremism, but this has not been successfully reflected on the streets recently. With the current protests they see an opportunity to change that and infiltrate the protests. It is not the first time that attempts have been made to exploit farmers’ protests for their own agenda.

tagesschau.de: Why do they choose the farmers’ protests for this?

Lamberty: On the one hand, the protests are suitable because right-wing extremists have long been trying to appropriate issues such as agriculture for themselves. This is simply because it represents such an ideal projection surface: on the one hand, you construct the “good people”, the farmers, who represent the original in this world view. And on the other side are the “evil elites” who supposedly do not understand them, who are trying to “decompose” society.

These are typical mobilization patterns that we also know from the pandemic. And because the farmers’ associations thought this protest was very big, there was hope that they could finally build on previous successes.

tagesschau.de: So the content of the protests only plays a minor role for you?

Lamberty: On the one hand, of course, not every protest is suitable for right-wing extremist instrumentalization. There have to be topics that can at least be reinterpreted in terms of right-wing extremism. And especially in the areas of nature conservation or agriculture, there are points of reference in right-wing extremist ideology that can be projected onto this. But the right-wing extremists are not concerned about the farmers.

You can see, for example, Martin Sellner (Former spokesman for the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement Austria”, editor’s note) already a very strategic approach. Right-wing extremists don’t care how many subsidies farmers ultimately receive. It’s always just a matter of using the topics that are suitable for your own goals.

tagesschau.de: Relevant channels, including Telegram, have already called for a general strike today. What do right-wing extremists and conspiracy ideologists hope for from the protests?

Lamberty: Ultimately, right-wing extremist actors are always concerned with overcoming, abolishing and destroying democracy. That’s why it’s hoped that these protests will ultimately escalate or at least that this impression will be created in individual pictures and videos. Things are also being done to ensure that exactly that happens, like last week with Robert Habeck.

It is hoped that this will encourage people to take to the streets again and that there will be violence on the streets in order to accelerate the erosion of democracy.

The topic of general strikes is also one that we have known from “lateral thinking” circles for a long time. During the Corona pandemic, for example, there were several attempts to organize a large general strike that failed resoundingly.

tagesschau.de: Who are the driving actors behind the attempted hijacking of the protests?

Lamberty: You actually have to say that everyone is actually involved – that is, all the right-wing extremist actors that exist are trying to use the issue for their own benefit. The AfD is there, the Identitarian Movement and also many who took part in “lateral thinking”. We haven’t seen this on this scale for a long time, and it also has an activating function for these networks that emerged during the corona pandemic. They haven’t been quite as active lately.

When the attack against Habeck happened, we saw an enormous increase in news. So there only needs to be one reason and then they can access these networks again. The danger is there, and this also creates such a fragility in the perception of society as a whole.

tagesschau.de: How successful are AfD and Co. with their strategy?

Lamberty: I can already imagine that the strategy works. The AfD is often on site or on social media and presents itself as the supposed voice of the farmers. That doesn’t mean that all farmers are jumping on board. But with such protests there can be a further shift to the right within a group.

This is definitely a danger if they manage to present themselves as the voice of the people. This undermining of democracy from below is a strategy of the AfD, with which it has also managed to build up a reach. And that falls into that for me too.

tagesschau.de: What role do social networks play in this?

Lamberty: In connection with the farmers’ protests, we see that content is being deliberately produced on platforms such as Telegram and TikTok in such a way that it can also be distributed on WhatsApp. Because WhatsApp is an important communication channel for farmers. And so this content comes into groups that were perhaps not intended as a political space, but rather to sell machines, for example.

So media competence is required here – that is, that in the long term you also have strategies to ensure that right-wing extremist ideas are recognized at an early stage and that something is countered against them, even within such groups.

tagesschau.de: Training media skills is therefore an issue. What else can farmers do to protect themselves against their protests being co-opted?

Lamberty: It is important that the farmers’ association distanced itself – not just once, but several times. That’s a good start. However, I believe that the very escalatory language of the association from the beginning was to some extent what made this instrumentalization work like it did. You should also think again linguistically whether that was successful.

Furthermore, in my opinion, simply distancing oneself is not enough. Just because you wish right-wing extremists weren’t there doesn’t mean they won’t come. That means you need action. And I have the impression from the outside that not enough has happened to say which symbols should not be part of the protests, for example gallows, calls for violence or right-wing extremist flags. And that there are people on site who can implement this and have knowledge of local actors.

Because the damage to the farmers and their concerns is very great if they do not differentiate themselves successfully. Because then there is hardly any talk about the actual content and there is a risk that they will lose the support of parts of the population.

The interview was conducted by Pascal Siggelkow, tagesschau.de.