Agent

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Agent
Website logo
Information on anti-gender networks
Online encyclopedia on the subject of anti-feminism
languages German
operator Heinrich Böll Foundation
Registration No
programming language MediaWiki
On-line July 2017 (currently offline)
https://web.archive.org/web/20170801184637/http://www.agentin.org/index.php/Hauptseite

Agent * In ( acronym for Anti-Gender-Networks-Information ) was an online encyclopedia that collected and made available information about networks, organizations and people that the authors attributed to anti-feminism . It was published in July 2017 and, according to its own information, had 180 employees who “scientifically, theoretically and activistically” dealt with “anti-feminism”. The sociologists Elisabeth Tuider , Henning von Bargen and Andreas Kemper were volunteer initiators and members of the editorial team . The website was operated by the Gunda Werner Institute of the Heinrich Böll Foundation .

The platform met with widespread criticism mainly because of the articles about individuals. Since August 4, 2017, just under three weeks after the start, the network has been "temporarily offline" according to the company. On November 4, 2017, the Heinrich Böll Foundation announced its withdrawal and announced that it would not continue the wiki.

history

The website went online on July 17, 2017 with around 500 entries, around 177 of which were about people. The Heinrich Böll Foundation described Agent * In for publication as “a critical online encyclopedia on anti-feminism” that is a “joint project of the Gunda Werner Institute in collaboration with a group of feminist authors”. At the same time as Agent * In, a brochure “Gender out!”, Which was prepared together with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation , was published. Twelve Corrections to Anti-Feminism and Gender Criticism . According to the Böll Foundation, the dictionary and brochure complement each other.

At the beginning of August 2017, numerous critical comments were published in newspapers and online portals. The contents of the online lexicon could no longer be accessed from August 4, 2017. A text informed that the page was currently being revised and expanded to make it more understandable and diverse. The “chosen form” had “overlaid the socio-political debate on anti-feminism.” In a statement on August 7, 2017, the Böll Foundation announced that the project had been taken offline “in coordination with the editorial team”.

According to FAZ journalist Rainer Meyer , it should have been possible to view the drafts of the articles and the nicknames of the authors via the version management of the online lexicon . In total, this would have corresponded to 7,000 entries made since December 15, 2015. One could see that the majority of the articles were created under the nickname "Andreas Kemper".

Objective and working method

The website Agent * In wanted to provide information about ideologies, campaigns, organizations and people who were attributed to anti-feminism by the authors. These people were grouped into categories, “e.g. B. as masculist, anti-feminist, ultra-Catholic or right-wing populist ”. Influence on politics in Germany should be shown. Journalists, activists, multipliers and educational institutions should be given the opportunity to use their own research to identify the relevant relationships with regard to the people, parties and organizations involved.

The editorial team consisted of the sociologists von Bargen, Kemper and Tuider. The articles themselves were written by a group of volunteer authors who were known to the editors by name, but whose identities were not disclosed. These were supported by freelance workers.

Agent * In was technically based on the MediaWiki software as a content management system .

reception

A few days after activation, the media perception of the agent * in websites was reflected in a large number of reports and comments. The offer met with negative criticism on various social and political levels.

Bernd Matthies , editor of Tagesspiegel , described in a gloss , the platform as a " denunciatory list of organizations and names" which read "like a kind Verfassungsschutzbericht the gender scene." He described it as an ideologically motivated trick, from “right-wing extremist fanatics to militant conservatives to liberals who only consider gender theory to be nonsense”, to put everything in the sack of “anti-feminism and gender criticism” and to beat it up straight away: “gender-critical homophobic equals anti-feminist equals ugh ".

In a guest commentary in Die Welt, Henryk M. Broder described the platform as a “website on which 'anti-feminist' people are denounced” as well as a “bizarre dossier” and mass denunciation of people who merely represent different opinions than the authors.

Milena Zwerenz from ze.tt , the online platform of the time for young readers, criticized the low information content of the offer. The online encyclopedia raises more questions than answers. It triggered "even those who want to fight anti-feminism and homophobia, a strange aftertaste".

Carolina Schwarz ( Die Tageszeitung ) criticized the lack of facts and transparent working methods. The project adopted simple patterns from its opponents and made it easy for the critics: "Creating lists of this kind is otherwise known more to the right." The anti-feminism list draws "the charge of the ' online pillory '".

The youth magazine Vice described the project as a “crude and undifferentiated” “uh list [...] for people and organizations whose lowest common denominator is traditional gender roles”, but it is also a “platform” for “the problem of anti-feminism ":" Maybe not in the finest, but certainly not really in a denunciating way ".

According to Kathleen Hildebrand, editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Agent * In aims “to ensure that representatives of anti-feminist positions no longer have their say in the media by chance, but rather only after a journalist has found out about them on agentin.org”. She also made a reference to the anti-feminist portal WikiMANNia , which is a "hate speech portal" whose operators remain anonymous and "evade legal prosecution, for example because of insult". The authors of Agent * in, on the other hand, did not use inflammatory language. While the makers see their work only as a reaction to a dynamic "with which debates about gender issues on the Internet have radicalized in recent years", one could also regard agent as part of the dynamic.

“Here it says who is stupid”, headline Spiegel Online columnist Margarete Stokowski, and said: “It is not good to make lists of people according to political views. See: World history. ”Her conclusion:“ This is not the way to fight for equality. ”

Thomas Assheuer (Die Zeit) recalled that "after the murder of Hanns-Martin Schleyer in the late summer of 1977, the conservative media started a witch hunt on left networks and sympathizers". At that time, "the name of the writer Heinrich Böll " was on their list . Böll already felt the listing of names as denunciation. According to Assheuer, it is understandable that the operators of the online lexicon have burst their chops "after all the anti-gender hatred that oozes towards them every day from the far right". Some who are now outraged about the green "Inquisition" are themselves gifted permanent inquisitors. Nevertheless, the list is a surrender. “Lists are a specialty of the right. You don't have to imitate everything. "

Under the heading “Heinrich Böll would be ashamed of his foundation”, Matthias Iken , deputy editor-in-chief of the Hamburger Abendblatt , criticized the agent. In his opinion, "the agents combined [...] a frightening lack of humor with a stasi-like paranoia". By listing journalists like Martenstein , Kissler and Matussek , the message is sent: “Watch out, dear journalists, what you write. Otherwise you will be on our list. ”For young journalists, an entry could act like a professional ban. Iken continued to criticize the Böll Foundation's silence on the allegations for days.

Michael Prüller wrote in the press at the end of Agent * in that perhaps listing an anti-feminist network of agents had revealed too clearly that the actors in this corner of gender theory and feminism are not the social scientists they claim to be, but rather also only ideologues: anti-anti-feminists.

In a comment for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , Claudia Schwartz found that the project with the aim of “personal damage to the political opponent” had crossed the “limit of democratic debate”. On the other hand, the agent initiated meaningful public debates about denunciation practices on the Internet.

Reactions from the Agent * In editorial team and the Böll Foundation

Henning von Bargen rejected the charge of pillory and defamation to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The wiki is aimed at people who want to know “which groups and people spread anti-feminist positions such as that the 'gender ideology' wants to abolish marriage and the nuclear family. Or that feminism should be equated with hatred of men ”. Compared to New Germany, he justified the often criticized inclusion of Harald Martenstein. In the past, Martenstein positioned himself disparagingly towards gender research and gender mainstreaming. He described gender research as "anti-science".

However, the board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation apologized in a statement on August 7, 2017 as a result of the criticism made: “The public and internal criticism of the 'Agent * In' format made it clear to us that this path is not suitable to lead the socio-political debate on anti-feminism. We very much regret that the form chosen reminds some of anti-democratic methods and we apologize to those who may feel personally injured. "They say" goals and format as well as the cooperation with the network and the effect of the "agent" question critically, advise promptly internally and lead the public debate ”. As long as the project rest.

In an interview with the taz in August, when asked why journalists from left-wing liberal media were also mentioned, argued that the word “anti-science” for gender had been invented by such a journalist and that the right had happily taken up it.

On November 4, 2017, the Heinrich Böll Foundation announced its "final withdrawal" from the Wiki and announced its decision not to continue the project. Instead, other formats of political education work would be used and redeveloped in the future when dealing with right-wing populism and attacks on feminist and gender equality achievements.

On November 9th, 2017 the portal queer.de wrote: “After the case had been 'advised internally' for months, the Böll Foundation has now decided to finally end the project.” Kemper announced: “We are now going to do the project in a continue in the revised form. ”He criticized the editorial staff for not having been involved in the decision.

Discourse Atlas of Antifeminism

In April 2018, the follow-up project Discourse Atlas Antifeminism went online without the participation of the Heinrich Böll Foundation . The wiki is a further development of Agent * In . The initiator and person responsible is Andreas Kemper, who is the only one to appear by name. Katja Thorwarth wrote in the Frankfurter Rundschau : “The team of authors stuck to the idea of ​​an online reference work based on the example of Wikipedia.” The goal it has set itself is to educate about discourse strategies of anti-feminist groups.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian Meier: Anti-feminism, but please understandable . In: The world . No. 186 , August 11, 2017, p. 26 ( online [accessed October 22, 2019]).
  2. ↑ "Gender out" and "Agent * in" appeared. Heinrich Böll Foundation, accessed on August 5, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Heide Oestreich: Agent "temporarily offline". taz, August 4, 2017, accessed August 4, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b Gunda Werner Institute: Statement of the board on the final exit from the wiki "Agent * in". gwi-boell.de, November 4, 2017
  5. ↑ Heinrich Böll Foundation (July 17 , 2017 ) “Gender out” and “Agent * in” published, online , accessed on August 10, 2017.
  6. ^ Statement by the Heinrich Böll Foundation of August 7, 2017.
  7. ^ Rainer Meyer: The legacy of the black list . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 183 , August 9, 2017, p. 13 .
  8. ↑ New: Agent * In - a critical online lexicon on anti-feminism. Heinrich Böll Foundation Gunda Werner Institute, July 17, 2017, accessed on August 4, 2017 .
  9. ↑ FAQ page of the website, accessed on July 24, 2017.
  10. ↑ Bernd Matthies : A kind of constitutional protection report of the gender scene. Der Tagesspiegel, July 24, 2017, accessed on October 22, 2019 .
  11. ^ Henryk M. Broder : On the bizarre online pillory of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Die Welt, 2017, accessed July 26, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Milena Zwerenz: New Gender Wiki wants to fight clichés in a strange way. ze.tt , July 25, 2017, accessed on July 26, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Carolina Schwarz: But not like that! Die Tageszeitung, July 27, 2017, accessed on July 27, 2017 .
  14. ↑ The Heinrich Böll Foundation, which is close to green, publishes a list of anti-feminists. Vice, 2017, accessed July 28, 2017 .
  15. ↑ a b Kathleen Hildebrand: “Pillory” or everyday life in the gender struggle? In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . July 28, 2017 ( online [accessed July 31, 2017]).
  16. ↑ Margarete Stokowski: Anti-Feminism Lexicon of the Böll Foundation: Here it says who is stupid. In: Spiegel Online. Retrieved August 1, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Thomas Assheuer : Spiritual waste separation . In: The time . No.  32 , August 3, 2017, p. 37 ( Paywall [accessed October 22, 2019]).
  18. ↑ Matthias Iken : Heinrich Böll would be ashamed of his foundation . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . No.  181 , August 5, 2017, p. 2 ( Paywall [accessed October 22, 2019]).
  19. ↑ Michael Prüller : Pfui und Doof. In: The press . August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2017 .
  20. ↑ Claudia Schwartz: The lost honor of the Böll Foundation. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved August 15, 2017 .
  21. ↑ Samuela Nickel: Anti-feminism connects - especially right-wing and conservative: The lexicon "Agent * In" provides information about the entanglements among anti-abortionists, nationalists and religious fundamentalists. In: New Germany. July 29, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2017 .
  22. ^ Statement by the Heinrich Böll Foundation of August 7, 2017.
  23. ↑ Heide Oestreich: “A highly ideological and distorted discourse” . In: taz . August 18, 2017, p. 3 ( Online [accessed January 4, 2018]).
  24. ↑ Dealing with right-wing populism - Write about “Demo for Everyone”? Too delicate for the Böll Foundation , report on queer.de from November 9, 2017, accessed on April 18, 2018.
  25. ↑ Patricia Hecht: Agent reactivated. taz, April 26, 2018
  26. ↑ a b Katja Thorwarth: Where “linksversifft” and “Homolobby” meet. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . May 4, 2018, accessed October 22, 2019 .
  27. ↑ The discourse atlas anti-feminism. In: Culture at noon. WDR 3 , June 1, 2018, archived from the original on June 12, 2018 ; accessed on October 22, 2019 (interview with Andreas Kemper, 7:46 minutes).