New social movements

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As a new social movement or alternative movements, social movements and groups have been identified since the last quarter of the 20th century, a reform of the rigid perceived social aim standards and processes, and they try to implement independently of the established parties and institutions system. They emerged after the 1968 movement .

Emergence

New social movements (see also alternative movement , social movement ) first emerged in Western Europe and North America after the student movement and the APO from the end of the 1960s. Since the mid-1990s, with the strengthening of the international globalization-critical movement , these movements have increasingly spread to developing and emerging countries . These movements have often encountered resistance because of their criticism, their attempts to achieve change and, in part, their choice of means. Some parts of the New Social Movements remained minority movements to this day or were only relevant for a short time, while others grew into mass movements at times . Occasional content and positions initially represented by the New Social Movements, for example from the ecological movement or the new women's movement , currently form a relatively broad social consensus in those societies in which these movements occurred and remained active.

The protest movements of the 1960s, along with the youth cultures and subcultures of that time, e.g. B. the flower power or hippie movement , a new political-social awareness and a new cultural identity established. Initially, the new movements were mainly supported by the youth from the middle class . This turned against traditional cultural, moral and socio-political values ​​of the parents' generation , which was often accused of double standards and hypocrisy. However, there were also demarcations in relation to the labor movement as an “old” social movement. This was partially accused of “betraying” their original utopias, but at least as important was a changed political culture in post-war Western Europe.

Analysis and rational systemic criticism, as they were of more decisive importance for the so-called “68ers” in the student movement of the 1960s, initially took a back seat in the new movements - in favor of more emotionally influenced (not only) politically motivated activism. The individual and the individuality of the individual were of greater importance than in previous social movements.

Mark

The politically active New Social Movements usually act outside parliament and try to influence local, regional, national and also international areas of politics, culture or economy. Non-governmental organizations are increasingly being used in the most varied of forms.

Some of the new social movements share a moral conservatism of values , which is combined with a general anti-capitalist social criticism, with which, among other things, the waste of the earth's natural resources and the limits of economic growth are discussed. Politically and ideologically, a broad and colorful spectrum of world views is represented in the movements, ranging in the political field from anarchist to left or socialist to right-wing populist and right-wing extremist positions.

The lack of representation in the established media led to the emergence of a counter-public in its own media that understood itself to be oppositional .

Organizational form

There were and are different degrees of organization of the New Social Movements. They range from informal, self-organized, small local and regional grassroots groups without association status to sometimes large supra-regional, sometimes also international associations and organizations, especially in the movement critical of globalization (e.g. attac ) or the ecological movement (e.g. Greenpeace ).

In recent times, the term “ Non-Governmental Organizations ” (NGOs) has become commonplace for such and other organizations that are not assigned to the New Social Movements and are independent of government agencies .

In their means and actions, most groups and organizations refer to the principle of nonviolence , which is sometimes interpreted in different radicals, for example by distinguishing between violence against property and violence against people. Some activists may also include sabotage and other, more militant forms of action and thus fulfill criminal offenses (e.g. damage to property). The state's monopoly of force and its implementation are also often called into question. Occasionally there was and still is violence in various actions, especially in confrontations in which the state uses police against the activities of the new social movements.

reception

Despite their ideological diversity, the New Social Movements are largely perceived by the general public as being politically left-wing. During the Cold War until the end of the 1980s, many conservative citizens perceived the sometimes polarizing appearance of various groups as a provocation, which could lead to hostility and even physical attacks on individuals. The length of the hair, the appearance of the clothing or other external characteristics could be sufficient for this in individual cases. The movements were often accused of anti-Americanism , infiltration by Eastern European secret services or the like; - Their supporters were accused of at least political one-sidedness or simply naivety, sometimes also of “professional revolts” or “work reluctance” and the like. These prejudices and clichés have survived and are in part also applied to the new social movements.

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Critics also hold tendencies towards narcissism against the New Social Movements : They would put individual sensitivities in the foreground despite apparent political activity and try to hide them with verbal radical slogans.

Alternative ways of life and economy

Within the New Social Movements, alternative forms of coexistence were experimented with. Many groups looked for a more meaningful existence in a supposedly simpler life in the country. In the USA in particular, rural communities were founded in which a life in harmony with nature was sought. The turning to or rediscovery of local animistic religions , for example those of the North American Indians, who gained new popularity in the course of the political and cultural resistance actions of the American Indian Movement in the 1970s, played an increasing role in the development of a new spirituality . Mixing with Buddhist and Hindu elements in a partly alienated Western interpretation also contributed to this. In their search for meaning, parts of the New Social Movements of the 1970s and 1980s turned to esoteric content of the most varied of influences, which also contributed to a certain de-politicization of the movements.

With the establishment of cooperative- oriented agricultural projects, new farms emerged in which non-hierarchical structures prevailed and where primarily ecological cultivation was practiced. In the course of the 1970s and 1980s, self-governing businesses were set up in other areas of the economy, in which similar principles were used. In the mid-1980s, the Ökobank was founded in the Federal Republic of Germany , which was supposed to invest the money of its investors primarily in ecological technologies and in socially fair, non-exploitative branches of the economy.

The collective from Oktoberdruck in the 1990s

A business enterprise founded in 1973 as part of the alternative movement has retained its grassroots democratic business organization : Oktoberdruck in Berlin

Not only in rural areas, but also in the cities, municipalities and residential communities formed , from which alternative models to conventional forms of social community were developed - also outside and independently of traditional small family relationships. There was also an increased removal of the taboo from sexuality (see also: sexual revolution ). Different sexual orientations were dealt with in a more open and tolerant manner, at least in the context of the New Social Movements a corresponding demand prevailed. However, the new sexual permissiveness was generally not as pronounced as was often claimed in some conservative media of the time with a mixture of fascination and moral indignation.

The term “alternative movement” became a synonym for the New Social Movements. The sought and partially found alternatives to the predominant forms of expression of the " bourgeois-conservative ", in the understanding of large parts of the movements also " staid " society had effects on sociology, psychology, pedagogy, medicine, religion, politics and other social areas in which cultural processes of change were set in motion within western industrial societies.

Partial movements

Different sub-movements with larger and smaller, short- and long-lived organizations and associations developed very quickly, which were particularly dedicated to specific individual topics (“one-point movements”). There were networks among each other and often cross-thematic connections, especially between the ecological, anti-nuclear and the new peace movement .

New women's, gay and lesbian movement

In the social sphere, for example, the new women's movement and the gay and lesbian movement of homosexuals came to the public with a previously unknown level of aggressiveness. With increasing success, even if not yet completed, these movements managed to question the traditional understanding of gender roles and to break out of their centuries, if not millennia-old role definitions, or to overcome existing schemes of discrimination by increasingly aggressively stigmatizing their social roles broke up as a social fringe group and stepped out of it.

From these positions, many new theories were developed that had a lasting effect on academic discourse and led to the development of new courses such as gender studies and queer studies .

The new women's movement propagated an increased self-confidence of the female part of society, more self-determination rights and opportunities for women to participate in politics, culture and economy. With the magazine Emma in the Federal Republic of Germany, Alice Schwarzer and others created an important medium that campaigned for the rights of women and against certain role stereotypes. She also advocated the reform or abolition of the abortion paragraph § 218 (“My belly belongs to me”) and started the “ PorNO campaign ” against the exploitation and marketing of the female body, especially in the red light district , pornography , advertising and other media.

Although women are still disadvantaged compared to men in many areas, many previously purely male domains have been weakened over the years. The proportion of women in leading positions in industry , business and politics has increased. Most political parties in Germany now have a quota for women through which various organizations have committed to promoting women's engagement.

See also: Alice Schwarzer, Christopher Street Day , Emancipation , Feminism , Polyamory

Disability Movement

Berlin, January 1990: Wheelchair users demonstrate in front of a cinema. Under the slogan “Against structural and intellectual barriers - for accessible people and buildings”, they demanded with their 20-minute blockade of the cinema entrance that disabled people should no longer be excluded from cultural life.

The spirit of optimism of the 1968s also left its mark on the disability movement. The "Club 68" was founded, the forerunner of the "Clubs for the disabled and their friends" (Cebeef), initially with the aim of common leisure activities, the clubs also became active at the local political level in order to remove everyday obstacles.

In 1974 Gusti Steiner gave courses together with the publicist Ernst Klee at the Frankfurt Adult Education Center , where they carried out provocative actions with disabled and non-disabled participants: They blocked the tram to draw attention to the grievances and awarded them the "Goldene Krücke" several times in each case the “biggest rivet in the work of the disabled”. From 1978 Franz Christoph and Horst Frehe founded cripple groups , the name alone was provocation, and non-disabled people were not allowed to participate. Following the example of the women's movement , they first wanted to analyze the situation among themselves. Of the cripple groups which was from 1979 to 1985 crippled newspaper "Newspaper of crippled for cripples" - - issued later with the air pump to Randschau was.

On February 25, 1980 the court decision known as the “Frankfurt judgment” was issued (vacationers successfully sued the sight of disabled people as a lack of travel ). There were numerous protests and a demonstration in Frankfurt am Main on May 8, 1980, during which attention was drawn to the discrimination against disabled people in Germany.

This was followed by the preparations for the disability initiatives for the UN Year of the Disabled , which had been declared for 1981. The aim of the groups was to use the official events of the UN year to make their concerns heard, such as the disruption of the opening event on January 24th in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle under the motto “Every cripple has his stick”. The cripple tribunal marked the end of the “Year of the Disabled” . Analogous to the Russell Tribunal of Amnesty International were human rights violations denounced by disabled people.

The criticism of the marginalization and institutionalization of disabled people was continued at the international specialist congress in Munich in 1982. Under the title “Living, Learning, Working in the Community”, various models of supporting physically handicapped people, such as the concept of independent living from the USA, were presented there.

In November 1986 the advice center for self-determined living was opened in Bremen, the first of more than twenty centers for self-determined living.

Ecology movement, anti-nuclear movement

Greenpeace campaign in London against the ExxonMobil group (Esso)

Also out of the alternative movement, a new awareness of ecological relationships increasingly established itself. The pollution and destruction of the natural foundations of life water, earth and air by conventional technological developments was increasingly brought into the public eye by the ecological movement from the 1970s. It calls for the exit from risk technologies such as nuclear energy and the promotion of the development of renewable energies such as solar energy , wind energy , biogas technology , hydropower and others. In the 1980s, the ecology movement also developed into large, internationally active organizations such as Greenpeace or the NGO Robin Wood , which was founded in the Federal Republic of Germany , which uncovered, partially hindered or even prevented environmental scandals through spectacular publicity campaigns . From 1970 on, growth criticism also moved into the focus of the environmental movement, in France a growth-critical movement emerged , which, however, was not able to establish itself in Germany and other mostly European countries until the 21st century.

In addition to campaigns to avoid waste and climate protection , other topics of the ecological movement include consumer protection , in connection with which the use of chemical additives in food is criticized, among other things. The labeling of the ingredients of food is required, which was increasingly implemented during the red-green federal government between 1998 and 2005. The ecology movement is committed to organic farming, demands an end to factory farming ; instead switch to animal welfare . Among other things, the addition of hormonal additives to feed meal is rejected. The relevant demands were particularly topical as a result of the BSE scandal and other animal diseases at the turn of the 21st century when tens of thousands of farm animals had to be killed across Europe. The movement is also more generally committed to animal welfare . In addition to the special protection of endangered animal species, the ban on animal experiments , more restrictive measures against whaling , etc. are required. Since the end of the 1990s, the protest against genetically modified food production and, more generally, the criticism of genetic research and genetic engineering, also from an ethical point of view, were added as a further focus .

Part of the eco-movement, the anti-nuclear power movement (see opponents of nuclear power ), addressed the dangers for humans and the environment that emanated not only from the military but also from the civilian use of nuclear energy . The anti-nuclear power movement received a boost and support from broader strata of the population through sensational accidents and disasters in some nuclear facilities. These were in particular the GAU ("Biggest Accident to be Assumed") at the US nuclear power plant Three Mile Island in Harrisburg in 1979 and the super GAUs after the explosions in the Ukrainian nuclear power plant of Chernobyl in 1986 and in Fukushima I in Japan in 2011.

Since the 1970s, especially in Western Europe and especially in the Federal Republic of Germany, there have been massive demonstrations and actions against existing and planned locations of nuclear power plants ( e.g. Wyhl am Kaiserstuhl , Brokdorf in Germany, Zwentendorf in Austria ), reprocessing plants ( WAA in Wackersdorf ) or final storage sites ( Gorleben ) have come with varying degrees of success. At the respective locations, especially during the clashes over Brokdorf in 1982 and Wackersdorf up to 1986, there had been regular battles between demonstrators and the police force several times. Up to the present day, the Castor transports with the spent radioactive fuel elements, for example from the French reprocessing plant from La Hague to the interim storage facility in Gorleben, are regularly hindered by sometimes militant nuclear power opponents from the autonomous scene, which repeatedly resulted in massive police operations to secure the transports.

The French nuclear opponent Sébastien Briat was killed in the Castor disability campaign on October 7, 2004 when he was run over by the transport train that severed his legs in Alsace. He died shortly afterwards of his serious injuries. Briat had tried to chain themselves to the tracks with three other people and at the time of the accident was just about to move away from the tracks, as the group realized that the train would not come to a stop. Sébastien was caught in the suction of the very fast Castor train.

See also: ecology , environmental protection

New peace movement

Musicians of the group Lebenslaute during a blockade action

From the mid-1970s, especially the early 1980s, a new peace movement grew rapidly. In the mid-1970s, her protest was directed against the development of the neutron bomb (1976), which led to a revival of the Easter march movement founded in the late 1950s . Between 1979 and the mid-1980s, the new peace movement grew into a mass movement. In its resistance to the stationing of the new US medium-range missiles Pershing II and cruise missiles as part of the NATO double resolution to compensate for the Soviet SS-20 missiles, the peace movement combined spectacular large- scale demonstrations with actions of civil disobedience such as sit-downs in front of military and nuclear weapons sites , denial campaigns and more. The peace movement was supported by a very broad spectrum, ranging from church grassroots groups to trade unions to radical pacifist and fundamentally anti-militarist groups from a socialist to anarchist environment. At the end of the 1980s the peace movement subsided again, but from the 1990s onwards it repeatedly gained a certain importance in Germany in protest against the expansion of competencies in the Bundeswehr and the wars waged by the USA and its European allies after the end of the Cold War in Iraq in 1991, in Yugoslavia in 1999, as well as in the wake of the so-called " war on terrorism " proclaimed by US President George W. Bush after September 11, 2001 in Afghanistan in 2001 and especially against the 3rd Gulf War of the USA, Great Britain and others Allies against Iraq 2003. This last major flare-up of the German and also international peace movement had a broad global response with several million demonstrators worldwide. On February 15, 2003 alone, more than 10 million people took to the streets in various cities around the world against the impending war.

In 2004/2005, one of the focal points of the German and Western European peace movement was the resistance to the constitution of the European Union , in particular to its military and “defense policy” content. Criticized are, for example, the stipulation of possible global EU combat missions, the expansion of the range of operations of a European army and an armament obligation for the individual states (Article I-41 of the EU constitution: " The member states undertake to gradually improve their military capabilities ") . - A corresponding awareness-raising campaign in the Federal Republic of Germany hardly found a public hearing, whereas the social discussion about the EU constitution was very broad in the western neighboring states of the FRG, especially the Benelux countries and France. In national referendums in France and the Netherlands in May and June 2005, where the peace movement allied itself with constitutional opponents who criticized the present EU constitution for other social aspects, it was rejected by a large majority. Instead, what is called for is a European constitution that is more oriented towards the social needs of the citizens and less towards neoliberal interests of business or internationally operating corporations.

See also: pacifism , grass roots movement .

Citizens' initiative movement

With the ecology and anti-nuclear power movement in the 1970s and 1980s, the number of citizens' initiatives (BIs) established by leaps and bounds. A relatively broad citizens' initiative movement developed in the FRG, especially at local and regional levels. In addition to ecological issues relating to environmental protection, the BIs increasingly took up other social, cultural, transport policy and other projects on site.

A common motto of the BIs was: "Think globally, act locally!"

Among other things, through direct citizen participation , for example in the context of municipal referendums , bypasses around residential areas, pedestrian zones or Tempo 30 zones, kindergartens, youth centers and other social meeting places were demanded and partially enforced. In addition, various construction / road construction projects, tunnels, the prevention of the destruction of local recreation areas, etc., which were viewed as problematic, were prevented.

Up until then, politically active citizens were less involved in the grassroots BIs than in the supra-regional area.

Nationwide, the Federal Association of Citizens' Initiatives Environmental Protection (BBU) formed the umbrella organization for ecologically oriented BIs. This worked closely with the Bund für Umwelt- und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) , founded in 1975 .

Various citizens' initiatives also received national and national political attention and importance. In addition to the large nuclear sites Wyhl, Gorleben, Wackersdorf, Brokdorf and others, it was also the resistance of the citizens' initiative in Mörfelden-Walldorf against the construction of the West Runway at Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport , which at times attracted tens of thousands of demonstrators could mobilize all of Germany. They also protested against the military use of the planned runway. The forest of the planned building site was occupied and a permanent presence of the runway opponents set up in a hut village . From the hut village, there were repeated violent and militant clashes between demonstrators and the police, which escalated once more when the state finally evacuated the village. Despite the massive resistance, the construction of the West Runway could not be prevented.

Third World / One World initiatives and solidarity groups, anti-imperialist movement; Globalization critic

“ Third World ” - or later one-world solidarity groups developed following the APO student movement from the anti-imperialist scene around the “ New Left ”, but also from Christian-oriented and other groups. They often showed solidarity with the revolutionary liberation movements of the developing countries, especially in the states of South and Central America. In doing so, they also turned against what they called US “ neo-imperialism ”. In West Germany, the "Federal Association of Development Action Groups" ( BUKO ) formed in the 1970s formed a coordinating, loose umbrella organization for these initiatives, which were mostly not organized in associations or hierarchically structured. One-world initiatives and solidarity groups in the GDR that were independent of the state came together under the umbrella of the INKOTA network that was established in the early 1970s .

Examples of international political solidarity efforts

After the 1973 coup in Chile , in which the democratically elected socialist prime minister of the Unidad Popular , Salvador Allende , was overthrown and died and General Augusto Pinochet established a military dictatorship , third-world / one-world groups also did publicized in the West the role of the US, its secret services and American corporations in supporting the coup and the dictatorship.

In 1979 anti-imperialist groups supported the Sandinista revolution of the FSLN under Huberto Ortega , Sergio Ramírez , Tomás Borge , Daniel Ortega and others against the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. Latin America solidarity committees formed, among other things, international brigades who traveled to Nicaragua and worked there for the revolution. For example, the brigades helped secure the country's infrastructure and medical care.

With the controversial “ Arms for El Salvador ” campaign in the early 1980s, the left guerrilla movement FMLN was supported against the right- wing dictatorship in El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, which was torn by civil war. After the murder of the local bishop Oscar Romero , a representative of liberation theology , by state terrorist gangs, increasingly critical Christian groups joined the internationalist solidarity committees.

In 1994, support was given to the Zapatistas , who were already decidedly critical of globalization , who in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, after a multi-year uprising, demanded more self-determination rights for the primarily Indian population and an end to economic tutelage and exploitation.

Furthermore, the international solidarity movement campaigned for the end of the racist apartheid regime in South Africa. She called for the release of the ANC leader Nelson Mandela from political custody and in the 1980s campaigned for a boycott of South African goods in order to weaken the apartheid regime economically. Due to international pressure, there was a democratic change and the end of racial segregation in South Africa in the early 1990s . Mandela was elected President of South Africa not long after his release.

Examples of politically controversial assessments in the internationalist movement

When assessing the political processes in Asia and the Near and Middle East, there were and are more controversial and sometimes opposing opinions within the movement than on other continents.

The overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Iran in 1979 was initially welcomed unanimously. Following the introduction of Islamist fundamentalism by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and its suppression of the People's Mujahideen , supporters of the Iranian revolution in the West quickly turned away from it.

The Pol Pot regime of the 1970s in Cambodia was also rejected by almost all internationalist groups because of its gruesome implementation and the massive murder of even apparent opponents.

The Kurds' struggle for a state of their own is rated differently . It is true that Turkey's civil war against the Kurds as well as the suppression of Kurdish culture and the revolutionary PKK party is condemned. However, many are also critical of radical Kurdish nationalism .

Opinions in the internationalist movement regarding the assessment of the PLO in Israel / Palestine diverged even further . There was and is a relative consensus in support of the demand for a Palestinian state of its own alongside Israel. The PLO's methods, which included terrorist attacks in the 1970s and thereafter, were legitimized by sections of the movement, but rejected by many others.

The assessment of recent developments since Ariel Sharon’s prime ministerial presidency in Israel is also very different . The Israeli war against the Palestinians finds little support, all the more for the Israeli peace movement and one of its most important organizations, the Gush Shalom initiative founded in 1992 . However, the suicide attacks from the ranks of Hamas and other radical fundamentalist Palestinian groups are discussed very controversially. For some it is legitimate acts of desperation by an oppressed and militarily inferior people, for others it is no longer justifiable terrorist acts against the innocent.

In more recent times, an anti-Semitism dispute has been waged in this context, especially within the German anti-imperialist movement . Hamas sympathizers and in some cases critics of the Israeli government are accused of anti-Semitic tendencies. In particular, the call for a boycott of Israeli goods from the West Bank and Gaza Strip occupied by Israel by some Palestine committees in Germany reminded many of the Nazi slogan “Do not buy from Jews” and led to very clear accusations of anti-Semitism against the respective groups.

Economic and social standpoints, criticism of globalization

One of the focal points of the anti-imperialist and one-world solidarity groups was the issue of the North-South conflict , which, according to the supporters of the solidarity movement, is based on an unjust world economic order. They accused the industrialized countries of the north of establishing and expanding their prosperity at the expense of the “third world”.

Other priorities in development aid were called for , such as the promotion of a stronger domestic orientation of the economy in developing countries in order to compensate for the import dependency there. In addition, in addition to many other measures, the abolition and ban on child labor , fairer wages, especially for farm workers, who in many places still worked under structures similar to feudalism , and debt relief for the states that were heavily indebted to the IMF and World Bank were called for.

With the development of Third World and later a World shops was attempted volley of goods of developing countries from occupied companies and cooperatives a fair trade to propagate to the respective countries and at least begin to implement. In particular, coffee, tea, tropical fruits and other regional products were offered in Europe by the initiatives at prices that were supposed to guarantee producers better, fairer wages for their gainful employment.

After the disintegration of the "real socialist" systems of the European Eastern Bloc , with which the Cold War ended around 1990, the world market increasingly opened up in the wake of so-called " neoliberalism ". Globally operating corporations in particular benefited from this opening, some of which merged to form global economic giants.

Economic globalization was accelerated by what some believed to be the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Century comparable technological revolutionary development, especially in electronic data processing (EDP) and telecommunications, which benefited the computer industry and other new technologies in particular. Worldwide trading and stock market speculation on a global scale have been and will be extremely simplified as a result.

This new phase of capitalism has fundamentally changing effects both on the social systems in the industrialized countries ( social cutbacks ) and on the economically and financially dependent on the rich countries of the “Third World”. With the increasing wealth of the large corporations, the poverty of broad sections of the population is growing - especially in developing and emerging countries. This also increases the social gap between north and south.

Since the mid-1990s, this development in economic globalization has led, among other things, to the uprising of the Zapatistas in the southern Mexican province of Chiapas, to a growing global movement critical of globalization, with criticism and resistance essentially directed against the social and economic consequences of globalization from above, which the movement tries to oppose a social globalization or better internationalization from below.

In this movement there are many different political and ideological opinions and spectra with correspondingly different focuses, concepts and ideas. There is an overlap with the growth-critical movement and the environmental movement .

Especially during the world economic summit of the industrialized countries, the so-called G8 summit and other political and economic meetings of representatives of the powerful states of the north, massive demonstrations against the corresponding policies of the industrialized countries, the WTO (World Trade Organization), have taken place regularly since the late 1990s , of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank, for example in 1999 in Seattle in the USA or in 2001 at the G8 summit in Genoa / Italy. The police there cracked down on peaceful demonstrators. The protester Carlo Giuliani was killed with a shot in the head by a carabiniere during protests against the G8 summit in Genoa on July 20, 2001. Many others were temporarily detained and / or suffered severe injuries as a result of abuse by the authorities.

Brandenburg Gate in Berlin during the Live 8 concert 2005

In the run-up to the G8 summit from 6 to 8 July 2005 in Gleneagles, Scotland, the motto of the international protests was to fight poverty in the developing countries, for example with the demand that the debt of the correspondingly heavily indebted countries be paid off. The focus was on aid for Africa, the world's poorest continent. In order to sensitize the public to this demand and to increase the moral pressure on the heads of state at the G8 summit, large rock and pop concerts were held on July 2, 2005 in metropolises of the participating countries and in Johannesburg / South Africa “ Live 8 concerts” initiated by Bob Geldof. These concerts have their origins in the worldwide " Live Aid " concert, also organized by Bob Geldof in 1985, to support the fight against poverty in Africa, especially in regions affected by famine such as Ethiopia and the like. a. Its revival in 2005 (as "Live 8") led to the largest music event of its kind in the world at that time. During the G8 summit itself, there were demonstrations in Edinburgh and the area around the spacious, cordoned-off area around Gleneagles. Both the summit itself and the demonstrations and protests of the critics of globalization, however, were overshadowed by the apparently Islamist-motivated terrorist attacks on July 7, 2005 against local public transport in London (see terrorist attacks on July 7, 2005 in London ), in which several dozen people were killed were. As a result of this more recent attack, apparently initiated in the context of al-Qaeda , the G8 summit, at least the alternative protest events against the anti-social excesses of the G8 policy in the current public reporting took a back seat.

Since 2001, at the counter-event to the World Economic Forum in Davos / Switzerland and other economic summits, individuals, groups and organizations critical of globalization have met at the World Social Forum to discuss political, social and economic concepts and strategies against capitalist globalization. The World Social Forum met in Porto Alegre / Brazil from 2001 to 2003, in Mumbai / India in 2004, and again in Porto Alegre at the end of January 2005. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, which is taking place at the same time, there are regular demonstrations by critics of globalization against the consultations of economic experts taking place there, which repeatedly led to militant clashes between the police / army on the one hand and the demonstrators on the other.

Demonstration of the Hessian Social Forum

In addition to the World Social Forum, regional social forums meet, which, in accordance with the World Social Forum, perform work related to individual continents and countries. For example, the European Social Forum last met in May 2006 in Athens / Greece.

The internationally active and regionally networked association Attac , founded in France in 1998, is involved in all these forums that are critical of globalization and which has attracted a large number of members and member organizations to this day. Attac first became known through the demand for the introduction of the " Tobin tax " on financial transactions, among other things to prevent tax evasion and excessive profits from stock market speculation. The Attac affiliated groups and organizations are increasingly devoting themselves to other topics of globalization down to local and regional areas in various working groups.

Since the problems that arose in Europe with the so-called euro crisis , there has also been the formation of “alternative” movements beyond the classic milieus. Protests against public building projects such as in Germany Stuttgart 21 or in Turkey were also attended by non-leftist citizens. In Germany, before the 2013 general election, the alternative for Germany was formed , which political scientists and sociologists classify as a right-wing populist, partly right-wing extremist party.

Further sub-movements, groups, subject areas

Youth center movement

In the 1970s, the youth center movement in many cities and municipalities called for self-managed youth centers and youth centers to create their own meeting places for leisure activities without being forced to consume and without control by the parents' generation. In the late 1970s and early 1980s in Zurich , Switzerland , there were sometimes violent riots and street fights with state authorities during the dispute over an autonomous youth center (AJZ), during which a former factory site was occupied (see youth riots in Switzerland ). After the protests subsided, many youth centers faced the choice of either closing or (re) professionalising. In Switzerland, this gave the profession of “ sociocultural animation ” a boost.

Squatters Movement

The squatting movement from the early 1970s, which was mainly shaped by the autonomous scene, also drew attention to itself with sometimes spectacular occupation campaigns on empty buildings. She defended herself against property speculation on a large scale as well as against exorbitant rents and housing shortages . A main center of the squatting movement was the West Berlin district of Berlin-Kreuzberg, which also generally formed a focal point of the left-wing alternative big city scene in the Federal Republic before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Another focus of the squatters' scene was Hafenstrasse in Hamburg. But vacant buildings were also repeatedly occupied in many other cities, some of which were used as living space and some as cultural centers. Sometimes the occupied buildings were forcibly evacuated by the state authorities after a period of tolerance, which very often led to street riots. In other cases the squatters were able to enforce usage agreements.

A variant of the squatter movement since the 1980s has been the Wagenburg movement , which in some cities is experimenting with alternative forms of coexistence and politically motivated activity in so-called Wagenburg settlements on fallow land. They live there mainly in converted and disused construction trailers and other simply constructed dwellings in order to realize a self-determined life in a larger social community without coercion and rental usury . Many inhabitants of these settlements are punks or belong to the spectrum of the autonomous scene.

Movement against professional bans

Also in the 1970s a movement against professional bans was formed , which turned against the " radical decree " passed by the SPD / FDP government under Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt . This decree particularly hit communists , who were denied a career in the public service on grounds of doubts about standing up for the free democratic basic order . In addition to anti-communism , the government was accused of snooping on attitudes and political denunciation, as well as disregarding the constitutionally protected freedom of expression.

Census boycott

The movement against the census , which called for a census boycott between 1983 and 1987 , urged compliance with constitutional rights and data protection provisions . A census planned for 1983 was prevented by a fundamental decision by the Federal Constitutional Court on data protection and the right to informational self-determination . The questionnaires were then modified so that the answers to the questions should not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the identity of the respondents.

The criticism of the census in 1987, unlike in 1983, was not primarily directed against the dangers of re-identification of personal data , but against the dismantling of democratic rights promoted by the then Interior Minister Friedrich Zimmermann with excessive data collections by the police and secret services, machine-readable IDs, central The ZEVIS traffic information system and the plans for the introduction of a uniform personal identifier through the social security card. The newly introduced personnel information systems in the private sector and the associated options for monitoring employees were also discussed.

Despite extensive repression, such as the threat of fines of up to DM 10,000 and over 100 house searches of opponents of the census for allegedly "calling for property damage" by cutting off the control number on the census sheets, the number of census boycott initiatives grew from 350 in mid-1986 to over 1,100 in April 1987. While Federal Interior Minister Zimmermann claimed that the census boycott had "collapsed", the "Coordination Office against the Surveillance State" in Bonn presented 1.1 million unfilled census forms and in March 1988 the head of the Hamburg State Statistical Office, Erhard Hruschka, had to vacate his chair, because he first downplayed the problems with the census, but then publicly admitted the lack of 248,000 questionnaires or 13 percent of the answers. So the census became a census with obstacles.

In contrast to other social movements, the “Vobo” movement was a cross-generational movement. The broad alliance of the supporting organizations came from a politically liberal center-left milieu, which is reflected in the group of sponsors of the "coordination office", which was financially and organizationally supported by the Greens, Young Democrats, Jusos, the Humanist Union and the Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy as well over a thousand independent initiatives. The supporters included parts of the trade unions such as the GEW Hamburg, IG Druck or the youth convention of the Evangelical Church Hesse-Nassau as well as subdivisions of the SPD and CDU members such as Prof. Dr. Eggert Schwan as well as parts of the “ Autonomen ”. The movement also mobilized many former FDP members who had left the Genscher party in 1982 due to the " Wende ".

Although the boycott of the census was chosen as a form of action, the overwhelming majority of the actors did not want to prevent the census, but to use it as an opportunity for a comprehensive discussion about the threatened surveillance state and civil rights. That is why they formulated laws as positive political goals. Instead of authoritarian-technocratic registration of the citizens, the movement's spokesmen called for more democratic rights, a freedom of information law , i.e. the transparent state instead of the transparent human being, as well as more elements of direct democracy such as the correction of electoral lists by accumulating and variegating or polling and referendum. Over 20 years later it must be established that they have been successful with these demands. Not only the federal government, North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein have freedom of information laws, but also other federal states have granted citizens more plebiscitary rights, mostly on the initiative of the Greens who were outside parliament in 1987. The “Vobo Movement” is thus another example of how movements that are initially directed against an abuse fight for an extension of basic rights and freedoms through the personal commitment of individuals and jointly created social pressure from below.

Anti-racism movement, Antifa

Another part of the new social movements, the anti-racism movement, advocates the rights of marginalized groups and minorities. Above all, this also includes anti-racist solidarity groups that campaign for an expansion of the right to asylum or against restrictions on this right. Under the motto “ nobody is illegal ” they organize lawyers for refugees threatened with deportation , some of whom are given shelter in private apartments or, in individual cases, church asylum . They fight anti-social and inhuman conditions in asylum seekers' accommodation , and address, among other things, racism and xenophobia in society in general.

The movement against right-wing extremism is closely related to the anti-racism movement . In addition to traditional anti-fascist organizations such as the Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime - Association of Antifascists , the Antifa , which is strongly influenced by the left-wing autonomous scene, is also active here. Some calls for a ban on right-wing extremist groups and parties such as the NPD and others. Antifascist groups often uncovered personal connections, also points of contact with conservative-bourgeois parties and organizations and international contacts of the neo-Nazi scene . Again and again there are attempts by the Antifa to disrupt and prevent marches and demonstrations as well as party conferences by right-wing extremist organizations. There are often violent clashes between left-wing demonstrators, right-wing extremists and the police.

With the increase in right-wing extremist violence through to murder against fringe groups and minorities (especially against foreigners, people with dark skin, the disabled, homeless, homosexuals and others) after the reunification of Germany in the early 1990s, there were also increasingly large demonstrations with masses Influx against right-wing extremism. The fairy lights against violence or the big “ rock against right ” concerts with hundreds of thousands of participants became known after an accumulation of murder attacks and pogrom-like excesses in the right-wing scene in the early 1990s, for example in Hoyerswerda , in Rostock-Lichtenhagen against a dormitory mainly inhabited by Vietnamese, or in Solingen in West Germany , where a Turkish family was killed after an arson attack on a residential building. At the time, the federal government was accused by the anti-fascist and anti-racist movement of having encouraged right-wing extremist violence by restricting the right to asylum just a few days before the attack by right-wing extremists in Solingen.

Since about 2000 there have been tendencies to split in the anti-fascist movement. The rift runs between the so-called anti - Germans and the so-called anti-imperialists. This is about the debate about left-wing anti-Semitism and positioning in the Middle East conflict (see also above, subheading 2.5.3: Economic and social standpoints of the anti-imperialist movement ). This split affects the entire left-wing radical spectrum, but is particularly evident in anti-fascist groups due to their frequent appearance in public at demonstrations and the like.

Instead newspapers

Instead of newspapers are mainly magazine projects that were created in the 1980s and see themselves as mouthpieces for the new social movements and have a clear regional reference in their reporting. Initially mainly in the left-wing spectrum, there are now more and more magazines thatcan be described as apoliticaland have the term “Stattzeitung” in their title. There are also now local newspapers that are no longer printed, but only appear on the Internet. An example of a classic Stattzeitung is the Stattzeitung for South Baden .

See main article counter-public

Movement against welfare cuts

Since 2002/2003 there has been an increasing movement against social cuts in Germany and other states of the European Union . In this movement, groups and organizations of the New Social Movements such as Attac appear together with the associations of traditional social movements such as left socialist and communist parties and trade unions. They protest against the effects of neoliberalism and economic globalization in the European industrialized countries as well.

Banner on a demonstration against social cuts at the Europe-wide protest against the EU Services Directive on March 19, 2005 in Brussels

In Germany, it was above all the so-called reform policy of the red-green federal government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) with the Agenda 2010 that hit particularly socially weak and disadvantaged groups of the population (unemployed, pensioners, welfare recipients , the sick, the disabled and others) and with increasing financial burdens, while at the same time large profitable companies were tax relieved. The government emphasized and emphasizes the endeavor to stimulate the economy and to secure Germany as a business location by maintaining competitiveness on the international market. However, the tax relief does not and does not prevent many companies from relocating their production to so-called low-wage countries and from laying off workers in Germany. As a result of the movement, the federal governments from 2002 onwards are accused, among other things, of pursuing a socially unjust redistribution policy from the bottom up.

On April 3, 2004, during a Europe-wide day of action against social cuts in Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne alone, demonstrations with several hundred thousand participants took place. Among other things, the electoral alternative work and social justice , which arose from dissatisfied SPD members, sought to organize this movement more strongly and to close the resulting political "gap in the market", if possible in parliament. In January 2005 the WASG constituted itself as a separate party.

From July / August 2004, after the Hartz IV legislation in the Federal Republic of Germany announced further severe disadvantages, especially for the long-term unemployed, from January 2005 ( unemployment benefit II at social assistance level, exhaustion of old-age provision, one-euro job regulation for long-term unemployed ), the Monday demonstrations against the ruling politics were initially revived in East Germany by the movement , which quickly gained popularity and soon spread to the western federal states.

Although the above-mentioned organizations such as Attac and others distance themselves from right-wing extremist slogans and groups, right-wing extremists in the East German states in particular managed to exploit the social discontent of the population for their own purposes and jump on the bandwagon of the protest movement (so-called cross - front strategy ). At least in some regions they received a considerable influx.

On the left , the increasing criticism of government policy after the defeat of the SPD in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in May 2005 and the subsequent announcement by the SPD leadership of early elections to the Bundestag for autumn 2005 led to the formation of an electoral alliance between the PDS and WASG in order to jointly as a new left-wing alternative party in the welfare state more easily overcome the five percent hurdle. The alliance named as the Left Party under its top candidates Oskar Lafontaine (formerly SPD, today Die Linke ) and Gregor Gysi (Die Linke) was able to achieve this goal in the election on September 18, 2005 and won 8.7 percent of the vote or 54 mandates elected to the 16th German Bundestag.

See also: Youth Center , Antifa

Animal Liberation Movement

In Germany, influenced by Anglo-Saxon models, an animal rights movement formed in the early 1980s . The underlying concept of animal rights was founded on a rational animal rights philosophy. The movement thus attracted a new clientele from the left-wing academic milieu, which could not identify with the bourgeois-conservative animal protection movement.

New social movements in Eastern Europe

In the real socialist states of Eastern Europe, too , new social movements arose during the Cold War, at least in part and with a time lag compared to the West, which were based on Western movements, for example the peace and ecological movement. The corresponding movements were subject to far greater reprisals in these countries than in the West and were mostly suppressed by the ruling state parties , especially when they turned against the ruling government policy. By and large, the influence of the Eastern movements on political culture and political decisions in Eastern Europe was rather small. However, corresponding movements and groups here and there also formed the nucleus for the increasing civil rights movements of the late 1980s, which ultimately led to mass demonstrations for general political reforms, which ultimately led to the overthrow of the so-called "real socialist" systems of the Eastern Bloc by changing to the 1990s and thus brought about the end of the Cold War.

In the GDR, a peace movement independent of the state emerged in the early 1980s, especially among young people and young adults, who chose the motto and image “ swords to plowshares ” as a symbol and also criticized the armament of the Warsaw Pact states. People who confessed to this movement, for example by wearing the symbol as a patch on their clothing, faced arrest, interrogation, professional bans and other repression. Despite the suppression of the peace movement in its own country, the SED government supported the new social movements in the West, especially the peace movement, the mass effects of which it tried to exploit for its own propaganda purposes.

In spite of everything, the GDR's independent peace movement gained a certain popularity and popularity. The Protestant churches offered supporters of the “swords to plowshares” movement a less controlled niche under whose roof they could meet and organize activities.

Also under the protection of the church, a civil rights movement critical of the state grew in the GDR, which grew into a mass movement at the end of the 1980s. The pressure of the increasing demonstrations that marched through the cities under the slogan “ We are the people ” prompted the government of the GDR to open the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 ; a measure that finally ushered in the end of the GDR through its accession to the Federal Republic of Germany. Some alternative groups, especially “ Bündnis 90 ”, joined the West German Greens after reunification and formed the merged party Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen , which was elected to the Bundestag and several East German state parliaments.

After the disintegration of the “real socialist” European Eastern Bloc, the civil rights movements critical of the regime gradually dissolved or joined newly founded parties.

However, there have been repeated demonstrations against governments that were considered illegitimate and accused of corruption and electoral fraud after the introduction of pluralistic suffrage. Belarus is an example of this. Likewise the Ukraine , where in 2004/2005 the “orange” protest movement supported by Western governments succeeded within a few weeks in that a presidential election was repeated under better conditions and the previous opposition, which was more politically oriented towards Western Europe, came to power under Viktor Yushchenko .

Influence of political parties; Party formation; The green

At the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, after the dissolution of the SDS, various socialist and communist-oriented student groups were formed, who often played leading roles in the general student committees (AStA) of the universities; for example the Socialist University Association (SHB), which is aligned on the left wing of the SPD, or the Marxist Student Association Spartakus (MSB Spartakus), which is oriented towards the German Communist Party (DKP ). These left student organizations as well as the youth organizations of some parties, in particular the Young Socialists (Jusos) of the SPD and the Young Democrats ( Judos ) of the FDP tried, sometimes in contradiction to their mother parties, to gain influence on the New Social Movements, where they at times also a certain Role played.

In the 1970s, when the 1968 student movement drifted apart, several communist splinter parties, the so-called K-groups, were founded, of which only a few are still active today. Most of them tried to gain a foothold in the traditional labor movement through agitation in industrial plants . However, they also took part in various activities of the New Social Movements, but did not gain any formative or even decisive influence here or there. Most of the supporters of the movements were deterred by the strict dogmatism based on different communist theories and the ideological division of the K groups among themselves.

Until the 1980s, “ green ” parties were founded in most countries in Western Europe and North America . These saw themselves initially as the parliamentary mainstay of the New Social Movements, especially the eco, peace and women's movements, where they saw their roots and from which their voter potential was primarily drawn.

The West German Greens played a pioneering role in establishing the relevant party. In the Federal Republic of Germany, “green”, “colorful” and “alternative” electoral alliances and lists that were committed to the goals of ecological and other movements were formed as early as the mid-1970s. These increasingly appeared in local elections.

As a federal party, “the Greens” were founded in January 1980. At first, a very broad spectrum of opposing political and ideological currents from left to right was represented in the party. The conservative currents around Herbert Gruhl and the right-wing extremists around the organic farmer Baldur Springmann , however, could not stay with the Greens for long. They soon formed their own associations, which, however, remained politically insignificant in the longer term. Probably the best-known bourgeois eco-party is the Ecological Democratic Party (ödp) founded by Herbert Gruhl in Munich , which is represented in some local parliaments, particularly in southern Germany, but has no significant political significance in terms of state or federal politics.

The Greens made it into the German Bundestag for the first time in 1983 as a new parliamentary force. Three years earlier they had failed at the five percent hurdle . At that time, many supporters of the New Social Movements had chosen the SPD under Helmut Schmidt as a so-called "lesser evil" in order to prevent Franz Josef Strauss ( CSU ) from becoming Federal Chancellor. They followed the “Stop Strauss” campaign initiated by the then newly founded party Popular Front against Reaction, Fascism and War from the spectrum of the radical left and supported by other groups (see also the 1980 Bundestag election ).

After the separation of the Greens from their right wing, the 1980s were marked by sometimes violent internal party conflicts with the alternative party during parliamentary work from 1983 onwards, which were also fought out in public. Essentially, two wings of the party emerged: the so-called " Fundis " (fundamentalists) and the " Realos " (realpoliticians).

The "Fundis" represented a position of the radical, also system-critical and uncompromising opposition to the established popular parties. They adhered to the grassroots democratic principles of rotation and the separation of office and mandate . The “Realos”, on the other hand, increasingly sought participation in government with a corresponding willingness to compromise and criticized the above-mentioned principles, which were initially jointly supported, in part as unrealistic and politically unprofessional in the long run.

Over the years, as a result of the conflicts, some prominent spokesmen have resigned from the Green Party. In the case of the “Realos”, for example, this was Otto Schily , who switched to the SPD. In 1989/1990 the “Fundis” was a relatively large group of so-called eco - socialists around the co-founders of the federal party Thomas Ebermann and Rainer Trampert . In 1991 they followed with Jutta Ditfurth, another prominent co-founder of the Greens.

Ditfurth founded the “ Ecological Left ” party in Frankfurt am Main , but it was unable to gain any parliamentary influence nationwide. From outside the Greens, Jutta Ditfurth criticized in various publications, according to her opinion, conservative tendencies and the departure from former content.

In 1986 the Greens were involved in a state government in Hesse for the first time with Joseph Fischer as Environment Minister. In the 1990s, the Greens established themselves more and more and, in 1994, after having fallen below the five percent hurdle in the federal government four years earlier, they returned to the Bundestag. In 1993 it was united with part of the East German civil rights movement to form the "Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen" party.

Despite increasing criticism from parts of the New Social Movements, who accused them of moving further and further away from their base, Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen were able to stabilize their voter potential and finally entered the federal government in 1998 in the coalition with the SPD, which was confirmed in 2002 and lasted until the change of government in 2005.

In the government, the Greens contributed to some problematic decisions - measured by their original, for example pacifist self-image: For example, the German participation in the Kosovo War in 1999 and other later international deployments of the Bundeswehr, such as that of US President George W. Bush proclaimed " war on terrorism ". Other measures that the Greens described as a success, such as the beginning of the phase-out from nuclear energy, which was decided in 1999, were also criticized by parts of the New Social Movements. For large parts of the anti-nuclear movement, the exit in its present form represented a “lazy” compromise with the nuclear industry, partly because it was too long-term.

As a result of the decisions criticized, the New Social Movements have repeatedly taken to the streets against the Greens they have emerged, while their participation in the corresponding demonstrations has fallen sharply. In the course of the German participation in the Kosovo war and other international military operations, there have been large waves of disappointed Greens leaving the party since the end of the 1990s, which was partly mitigated by new entrants from the bourgeois camp.

Logo of the ecological platform in the PDS

After the German-German reunification from 1990 onwards, the PDS, which emerged from the former SED, increasingly tried to influence the new social movements, especially the peace movement, the movement critical of globalization and the movement against social cutbacks, and thus to fulfill the task again the Greens no longer fulfill for many: to be the parliamentary leg of the alternative extra-parliamentary movements. Corresponding efforts by the PDS and the left (party) are met with mistrust to a large extent by the movements. The hierarchical structure of the party, its SED past and its grown political culture, which many do not see as "alternative" in their sense of the word, keep many supporters of the New Social Movements in the West from blocking the left (party) up to the present choose. Nevertheless, the party is campaigning against the demands of the movements in many places.

Since June 2005, the party has been building new hopes of being able to gain a better foothold in the West, when it voted for the early election of the Bundestag with the election alternative Labor and Social Justice (WASG) for the left-wing alternative alliance Die Linkspartei. united. The initiative for this alliance came from the prominent former SPD chairman and government critic Oskar Lafontaine, who had made such an alliance a condition for his candidacy for a new left party. After the leading party bodies of the two organizations had come to an agreement, Lafontaine left the SPD and joined the WASG. In the 2005 Bundestag election, the Left Party was elected to the new Bundestag with 8.7% of the vote and 54 seats.

See also: Party of Democratic Socialism , K Group

New Age, psycho scene, esoteric, new inwardness

Esotericism has been a by-product of the New Social Movements from the start. It particularly influenced those who, besides political demands, also had other, more personal goals and who also sought a kind of “inner home” and spiritual meaning in the New Social Movements. In addition, the conflicts that existed in the movements sooner or later led some to a feeling of burnout and disappointment, which not infrequently led to a turning away from politically motivated goals and a turn to supposedly deeper, often religiously oriented content . Others felt the structures of the Christian churches to be rigid, conservative and outdated and filled this spiritual void by turning to esoteric content. The transfiguration of nature as a mystical concept also promoted corresponding tendencies.

From the late 1960s onwards, the “ New Age ” movement developed, heralding a paradigm shift in a new, global, societal age, the “ Aquarian Age ”, which was to replace the “Pisces Age”. The transition should take place in a so-called, not organized in a conventional sense "soft revolution", as it was called in a bestseller of the same name of the "New Age" followers (" The gentle conspiracy " by Marilyn Ferguson ).

The esoteric thought models, also praised by the "New Age movement", offered a wide range of anti-rational content and practices that promised to meet the need for meaning, happiness, physical and mental health. Groups emerged that mixed traditional religious and spiritual content from different religions with one another - including elements from Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and various ethnic religions. At times there was a boom in the religious and psychological field of larger and smaller sects and psycho-groups such as the Sannyasin movement around its Guru Osho (formerly Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ) or the Hare Krishna disciples.

From the 1970s onwards, neo-Nazism and neo-fascism took up right - wing esoteric motifs, which they combined with their ideas of a master race . In addition, there were new psychotherapeutic practices, particularly borrowed from humanistic psychology from the USA, as well as occult methods such as the revival of the theosophy that emerged in the 19th century and the anthroposophical theses of Rudolf Steiner . So-called “gentle” healing methods such as homeopathy and treatment with natural remedies have been revived. There has been a steadily growing market of psychological, esoteric and occult life aid guides that has grown steadily since the mid-1970s up to the present day; In bookstores these works now accounted for up to a third of total sales. They range from astrology , Bach flower therapy , angel belief , the effects of alleged earth rays , non-physical moon influences ( lunatism ), Reiki , reincarnation , ufology (see UFO ), neotantra , tarot to yoga and Zen Buddhism .

The influence of esotericism and the accompanying self-contained structures of thought and ideologies contributed to the depoliticization and isolation of parts of the new social movements and in some cases led to a flight into a new inwardness. The allegation that formerly politically active people had withdrawn into inner emigration alludes to a survival strategy of German artists and scientists during the Nazi era.

See also: Alternative Medicine , New Religious Movement , Neo-Paganism , Ecopsychology

See also

Literature (alphabetically by author or editor)

Web links

Archives, collections

Working groups, research institutes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralf Hoffrogge, for example, puts forward the thesis that the political forms of the labor movement, as a disciplined, generally conformist mass movement, reached their limits with the generation break of the 1960s - cf. Ralf Hoffrogge: Fordism, Eurokommunismus und Neue Linke. Theses on continuities and discontinuities between the labor movement and the left-wing scene in the FRG, in: Yearbook for Historical Communism Research 2012, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.fr.de/kultur/gewaltmonopol-die-polizei-als-risk-fuer-die-demokratie-a-1321343
  3. ↑ handicapped movement , accessed on January 3, 2012.
  4. ↑ History of Movement ( Memento of October 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 97 kB) accessed on January 3, 2012
  5. ↑ Marc Hieronimus: The Step to the Side, catware.net Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-9419-2163-4 .
  6. ↑ Concept work Neue Ökonomie eV, DFG-Kolleg Postwachstumsgesellschaft (ed.): Degrowth in movement (en) - 32 alternative ways to socio-ecological transformation. 2017. oekom Verlag, Munich. ISBN 978-3-86581-852-2 .
  7. ↑ a b Matthias Schmelzer: varieties of growth criticism. Degrowth, climate justice, subsistence - an introduction to the terms and approaches of the post-growth movement. In: Le Monde diplomatique, College of Post-Growth Societies. Atlas of globalization. Less becomes more. Berlin: Le Monde diplomatique / taz Verlags- und Vertriebs GmbH, 2015, pp. 116–121.
  8. ↑ a b Federico Demaria, Francois Schneider, Filka Sekulova, Joan Martinez-Alier: What is Degrowth? From an Activist Slogan to a Social Movement . In: White Horse Press (Ed.): Environmental Values . 22, No. 2, April 1, 2013, ISSN  0963-2719 , pp. 191-215. doi : 10.3197 / 096327113x13581561725194 .
  9. ↑ Cf. Ulf Teichmann: New Social Movement in the Steel Works? Protests for Peace and Work in the Ruhr Area (1981-1984) , in: Work - Movement - History , Issue III / 2018, pp. 91-108.
  10. ^ Albert Herrenkecht: Die Jugendzentrumsbewegung in der Kleinstadt In: Kleinstadt 1968 - Political Youth Movements 1967–1977 in the Province , Pro-Regio-Online 2008, Issue 5, Chapter 7, pp. 81–121
  11. ↑ R. Appel, D. Hummel, "The Republic after the Census". In: Die Neue Sicherheit, Cologne 1988, p. 9 ff., ISBN 3-923243-34-0
  12. ↑ Karl-Werner Brand with the assistance of Henrik Stöver: Environmental Movement (incl. Animal Protection) In: Roland Roth, Dieter Rucht (ed.): The social movements in Germany since 1945. A manual. Frankfurt am Main 2008. pp. 219–244, p. 26.