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Demo against right-wing extremism in front of the stage at the Deutzer Werft.
© Sascha Thelen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
For weeks, people all over Germany have been taking to the streets to demonstrate against the right.
A psychological study is now providing initial insights into what motivates people.
Cologne - According to a study, the current demonstrations against right-wing extremism give participants a feeling of agency and togetherness.
“There is unused kinetic energy,” said psychologist Stephan Grünewald on Wednesday when presenting the study in Cologne.
“People have the feeling that they are stuck in a crisis-ridden everyday life.” The almost two-year war in Ukraine, the recurring corona pandemic and the ongoing issue of migration are perceived as crises with “zombie quality” because they simply cannot be killed.
The result is a feeling of powerlessness.
In this situation, the reports about a meeting of right-wing radicals in a Potsdam villa and the “remigration” fantasies discussed there were seen as a wake-up call from their own lethargy.
Many people would have found it liberating to suddenly be able to set an example by taking part in the demonstrations.
“You suddenly experienced a tremendous sense of togetherness, it was great when you came to these places and saw: you are not alone, you are part of a powerful movement.” Many who might have voted for the SPD, Greens or FDP in the federal election, but have now become strangers to the traffic lights and have the impression that they have now found a political home again.
For the study, the Cologne Rheingold Institute surveyed more than 1,000 people online and 26 people in depth interviews at the end of January.
According to the information, the results of the online survey are representative of the population in Germany aged 18 and over.
Rheingold founder Grünewald particularly emphasized that 29 percent of those surveyed said they could imagine taking part in demonstrations against the right in the future.
“That's a lot if a third of the population is willing to take to the streets.” Most demonstrators and their sympathizers therefore hope that the rallies will result in a constant “wave of citizens” who will not only stand up against right-wing extremism, but also against everything that goes wrong in politics.
The attitude of previous years - “We delegate everything to the good mother Merkel, who has no alternative” - has been overcome to some extent, people have ventured out of their private shell and want to feel self-efficacy again.
“There is a great longing for this to continue, for it not to fizzle out,” said Grünewald.
However, according to the Cologne psychologists, these great expectations also involve a risk.
So far, the overwhelming majority of people have the impression that the silent majority is on their feet at the rallies, that the rallies are moderate and moderate.
But if, for example, pro-Palestine slogans were shouted there or if the abolition of the police was called for, then many immediately asked themselves whether they even belonged here.
“The big danger is if these demos are hijacked by extreme groups.” Then the development could become a boomerang for the traffic light government, which is already blamed for part of the responsibility for the AfD’s rise.
People now expected a productive problem-solving attitude and a lot less bickering from the traffic lights.
A question that has been asked frequently in recent days is: What effect do the demonstrations have on AfD supporters?
According to Grünewald, a distinction must be made between three groups here.
On the one hand, there are the sympathizers who are not yet firmly rooted in the AfD, but have perhaps only been thinking about voting for the party for some time.
In view of the mass movement, this group could definitely start to think and perhaps turn away.
The second group is the classic protest voters who want to show the established parties.
“They now feel pretty excluded by the demos.” This then leads to a wagon-fortress mentality along the lines of “Now more than ever.”
The third group is that of the convinced ideological AfD voters who doubt that the demos even exist on this scale and for whom the detailed reporting is further evidence of the media's “conformity”.
Grünewald urgently recommends talking to AfD sympathizers.
“We must not continue to entrench ourselves in the silos,” he said.
“We won’t be able to convince everyone, but if we keep talking, some change is possible.” dpa