Status: 12.12.2023, 12:57 p.m.
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View of the party logo at an AfD national party conference. © Carsten Koall/dpa/Symbolbild
The AfD's junior members in North Rhine-Westphalia are now under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Reul sees right-wing extremist tendencies in the Young Alternative.
Düsseldorf - The North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the AfD's youth organization, Junge Alternative (JA), as a suspected right-wing extremist case in North Rhine-Westphalia. "There are condensed indications that the Young Alternative does not play by democratic rules, but prefers its own right-wing extremist rules," Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) announced on Tuesday. The NRW Office for the Protection of the Constitution is therefore monitoring the Young Alternative from now on.
The AfD, on the other hand, spoke of "insinuations and conjectures". The allegations are now being examined closely, said a spokesman for the Düsseldorf parliamentary group. The general secretary of the NRW SPD, Frederick Cordes, on the other hand, accused the AfD: "The bourgeois-conservative coat of paint was never more than a makeshift mask."
According to Reul, since 2019, the state association of JA NRW has ideologically swung to the political course of the Federal Association of Young Alternative. This is characterized by a "völkisch-ethnic understanding of the people and xenophobia". The JA NRW also represents positions that violate the guarantee of human dignity. In particular, the aim is to exclude and disparage people with migration backgrounds and Muslims.
In recent years, JA NRW has developed into a component of the right-wing extremist current of the New Right, Reul reported. The NRW AfD junior members are promoting the "Identitarian Movement" and its successor organisations such as "Lukreta", "Revolte Rheinland", "1 Percent" and the "Institute for State Policy" on social media.
The AfD's youth organisation in North Rhine-Westphalia also offers protagonists of the New Right a forum. People with right-wing extremist biographies are also active in the 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 the case of a suspected case, there are "sufficiently weighty factual indications" of anti-constitutional tendencies. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution can then evaluate and store personal data and, under strict conditions, use intelligence means, such as observation or recruitment of informants.
At the Higher Administrative Court of Münster, a dispute is currently pending 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 ruling from the first instance. In March 2022, the Administrative Court of Cologne 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 Alternative also no longer wants to be classified as a suspected case.
The decisions of the Higher Administrative Court 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.
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The statements from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and several state offices against the AfD and its organizations suggest that the decision to YES is primarily politically motivated, argued the spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group. "The AfD is a party based on the rule of law and stands firmly on the ground of the Basic Law." This also applies to her youth organization. "The party is cracking down on the few who cross borders, just as we have done in the past, are doing now and will continue to do in the future."
SPD General Secretary Cordes countered: "The AfD youth organization does not stand on the basis of the constitution." In fact, significant parts of the AfD tried to undermine the democratic system. "The Young Alternative collects and networks radical enemies of democracy in the right-wing extremist spectrum."
Interior Minister Reul said that regardless of the professional assessment of the AfD's youth organization, a political debate was necessary. "To achieve this, we, as political leaders, must make good policies for the people of this country and explain them sensibly." dpa