Ethnopluralism

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Ethnopluralism is a world view of the New Right , whose representatives strive to keep states and societies “cultural pure” according to “ ethnic groups ”. Some representatives of the New Right define “ethnic groups” not according to their origin but according to their belonging to a “culture” in order to distinguish them from “foreigners”. Influences from societies viewed as “foreign” are understood as a threat to “one's own identity”; Xenophobia is considered a natural response to this. Instead of terms historically burdened by the National Socialist genocide, such as " living space ", ethnopluralists speak of "ancestral territories of the peoples ".

The term is a Greek-Latin made-up word for “Völkervielfalt”, which Henning Eichberg introduced in 1973 in a debate in right-wing extremism . He understood this to mean his demand to preserve a cultural diversity of “ races ” with their own right to exist.

Over the years, the term has also been adopted by other parts of the right-wing extremist spectrum. It has been an integral part of the NPD's program at least since the turn of the millennium .

According to the managing director of the German Cultural Council , Olaf Zimmermann , "the Identitarian Movement ... aggressively represents ethnopluralism".

The term should not be confused with the superficially similar but actually fundamentally different theories of cultural pluralism and multiculturalism .

ideology

According to the social scientists Kurt Lenk and Stefan Borrmann, behind the evoked “cultural identity” of the different peoples lies a social Darwinist point of view and a pronounced, albeit “modernized” racism in which only the term “race” is deliberately avoided. The word “race”, as it has a negative connotation nowadays, is often replaced by “ culture ”, “ ethnicity ”, “ people ”, “ nation ” or other terms. These arguments are also referred to as “ racism without races ”, which gives up the term “race” without the devaluation and exclusion of the other loosing its sharpness.

In contrast to “classical” racism, ethnopluralism does not necessarily postulate the superiority of a people; nevertheless, most of the representatives raise the demand for a predominance of the European peoples, of the " West " or of Western or Central Europe in the world. Essentially, every “people” should be granted the same right and the same claim to their national and cultural identity, but only “in their place”.

Since migration is seen as a threat to culture, the representatives of ethno-pluralistic concepts refer only to its disadvantages. Even in the globalized world, a separation of peoples is preferable.

This can be understood as an intellectual exaggeration of the catchphrases first used by the NPD in the 1980 Bundestag election campaign (“Ausländerstopp - Deutschland den Deutschen”) and later by Franz Schönhuber's party The Republicans in the early 1980s (“Germany for the Germans, Turkey for the Turks ") . Ultimately, ethnopluralism is seen as an ethnocentrism implemented on a world scale , which wants to bring about a worldwide system of apartheid and understands any confusion as a threat to its own group.

History of origin

Historical roots can already be seen in Carl Schmitt , who assumed a pluriverse of equal, (relatively) homogeneous peoples. In 1923, in his reflections on the “intellectual-historical situation of today's parliamentarism”, Schmitt argued that democracy includes internal homogeneity and possibly the elimination of the heterogeneous.

The term and concept of ethnopluralism essentially go back to Henning Eichberg, who, as one of the leading figures of the New Right, developed both in the 1970s as a so-called “national revolutionary liberation philosophy”.

“Based on this, Eichberg designed the concept of ethnopluralism, according to which every people has an unchangeable, quasi-natural identity. However, this identity can only be developed in the ancestral home, the region. Migrants, for example, would on the one hand be alienated themselves and on the other hand their presence in the 'foreign region' inevitably led to conflicts with the 'rooted population' there. The concept of regionalism derived from this bids farewell to a traditional nationalism that is still oriented towards a German Empire and outlines a new and at the same time old concept of Europe . Ettore Vernier drew historical parallels under the title 'Volunteers for Europe'. Waffen SS and European nationalism. "

One of the best-known masterminds of ethnopluralism is the right-wing intellectual Alain de Benoist , the most important thinker of the French Nouvelle Droite , in whose theory circle GRECE the concept of ethno-différencialisme was significantly shaped. De Benoist justified ethnopluralism with the fact that “every people, every culture has its own norms”, that “every culture forms a self-sufficient structure” and that every individual is primarily determined by his “cultural” and “ethnic” affiliation. De Benoist understands human rights as an expression of Western thought without universal validity. In Germany the ethnopluralism z. B. represented by Pierre Krebs from the right-wing extremist " Thule Seminar ". After the Bundestag election campaign of the NPD in 1980, the so-called Heidelberg Manifesto in 1982 was the next milestone in the public perception of the concept of ethnopluralism. This media appeal was an appeal by German university professors against “ foreign infiltration ”. In the July / August 1989 edition of the right-wing weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit , a separate section “Ethnopluralism” was introduced, which lasted until the December 1991 edition and was renamed “Nationality Issues” from 1992 onwards.

The work of some behavioral researchers from the post-war period, such as Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt , who also works on the politicization of his ideas himself, was used as a scientific foundation . The fear of "strangers" or xenophobia is therefore inevitable phylogenetically by Eibl-Eibesfeldt, but also by education influenced:

“Obviously xenophobia forms an important part of the human behavioral repertoire. It exists as an adaptation of the phylogenetic history, but can be strongly modulated by upbringing. […] Mothers occasionally use this fear to frighten disobedient children with the possibility that a stranger would take them away. Among other things, this reinforces the fear of foreigners. Initially, however, it develops independently of educational influence on the basis of a given program. "

In addition to cultural argumentation, representatives of ethnopluralism also refer to genetic differences between peoples, something that sociology usually regards as biological and rejects.

National Democratic Party of Germany

According to the Hessian constitution protection report , the NPD invoked ethnopluralism in a position paper published in 2002.

A subheading of the longer article right-wing extremism: eloquent, sleek, well-read by Philipp Schwenke in the Zeit Campus magazine on October 18, 2011 reads: The NPD likes to talk about ethnopluralism .

On the website of the Federal Agency for Civic Education in 2019 on the subject of ethnopluralism: “The basic program of the NPD contains clear ethnopluralistic elements.” And elsewhere: “In a training booklet of the NPD, for example, it says: 'Only ethnically closed societies with a small proportion of foreigners are solidarity and resilient. Only they can develop positive community forces for crisis management. ' Here the NPD evidently disguises its popular understanding of biology in the jargon of the ethnopluralists. "

reception

In addition to the legitimation function for the separation of “ races ”, “ peoples ” and “ cultures ”, the concept of ethnopluralism enables a further decisive step in right-wing extremist theory formation. If there were actually different cultures of equal value in the sense of this theorem, then the associated moral and legal concepts would also have to be considered separately. The human rights would no longer be universal, but developed by a minority construct another imposed.

Critics of the theorem say that defining a people is difficult. In this way one cannot speak of an identity of a people. Critics of ethnopluralism, such as representatives of cultural studies in particular , point out that cultures in the past developed through exchanges with other cultures, among other things. For example, Greek philosophy developed fastest in the coastal regions, since there was the strongest exchange with other cultures.

The concept of ethnopluralism is repeatedly associated with the former apartheid policy in South Africa with its homelands or the historical racial segregation in the southern states of the USA ( separate but equal ) . Gero Fischer wrote in 1998: "Ethnopluralism, if it is consistently thought, leads to apartheid as a new world order" . Michael Minkenberg wrote: “Ethnopluralism is only apparently pluralistic and liberal. Globally, he calls for a segregation of ethnic groups according to geographical criteria, a worldwide apartheid ” .

literature

  • Frank Teichmann: Ethnopluralism, or where the ethnic diversity leads. In: Henning Eichberg: National Revolutionary Perspectives in Sports Science. Series: Europäische Hochschulschriften, 211. Peter Lang, Bern 1991, Chapter B.4, pp. 157–199.
  • Patrick Moreau : The New Race Religion. The new biologism and the collective ethics of the New Right in France and Germany. In Iring Fetscher (ed.): Neoconservatives and "New Rights". The attack on the welfare state and liberal democracy in the United States, Western Europe and the Federal Republic. C. H. Beck, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-406-09690-5 , pp. 122-162; again Gutenberg Book Guild , Frankfurt 1984, ISBN 3-7632-2865-9 .
  • Wolfgang Gessenharter : Intellectual currents and thought leaders in the German New Radical Right. In: Thomas Grumke, Bernd Wagner: Handbook of German right-wing radicalism. Leske + Budrich , Opladen 2002, ISBN 3-8100-3399-5 , pp. 189–201, chapter “Ethnopluralism”, pp. 194f.
  • Gero Fischer: Ethnopluralism, multiculturalism and intercultural education. In: Reinalter, Petri, Kaufmann (ed.): The worldview of right-wing extremism. Vienna 1998, pp. 243-259.
  • Ulrich Prehn: The changing faces of a “Europe of Nations” in the 20th century. Ethno-political ideas with Max Hildebert Boehm , Eugen Lemberg and Guy Héraud . In: Heiko Kauffmann, Helmut Kellershohn, Jobst Paul (eds.): Völkische Gang - Dekadenz und Wiedergeburt. Analysis of right-wing ideology . Unrast, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-89771-737-9 .
  • Mark Terkessidis : Kulturkampf. People, Nation, the West and the New Right . Cologne 1995.

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ^ A b Richard Stöss: Right-wing extremist parties in Western Europe. In: Oskar Niedermayer, Richard Stöss, Melanie Haas: The party systems of Western Europe. VS-Verlag , 2006, ISBN 3-531-14111-2 , p. 525.
  2. ↑ Olaf Zimmermann : Old and New Right - What distinguishes the New Right from right-wing populism? German Cultural Council , February 28, 2018
  3. ↑ Kurt Lenk: Right-wing extremist "argumentation models" can be viewed online ( memento from July 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Stefan Borrmann: Social work with right-wing youth cliques. VS Verlag, 2005, p. 43.
  5. ↑ Cf. u. a. in Angelika Magiros (2004): Critique of Identity. 'Bio-Power' and 'Dialectic of Enlightenment' - tools against alien defense and (neo-) racism . Münster 2004, especially p. 166 ff. Other authors: Barker, Caglar, Taguieff, Balibar, Bielefeld, Jaschke, Terkessidis, Prehn s. u. "Literature".
  6. ^ Term of right-wing extremism Article of the DÖW April 30, 2001, accessed online August 12, 2018
  7. ^ A b Gero Fischer: ethnopluralism, multiculturalism and intercultural education. In: Helmut Reinalter, Franko Petri, Rüdiger Kaufmann: The worldview of right-wing extremism: the structures of de-solidarization. Studien Verlag, 1998, p. 243.
  8. ^ A b Michael Minkenberg: The new radical right in comparison: USA, France, Germany. Westdeutscher Verlag, 1998, p. 364.
  9. ↑ Carl Schmitt: The concept of the political. In: Archives for Social Sciences and Social Policy . 58, pp. 1-33 (1927).
  10. ↑ Carl Schmitt: The intellectual-historical situation of today's parliamentarism. Berlin 1985 (reprint), p. 12ff.
  11. ↑ Quote: German-European Study Society: Committed to the European idea of ​​the Waffen-SS.
  12. ^ Eckhard Jesse, Hans-Peter Niedermeier: Political extremism and parties. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, p. 23.
  13. ^ Christoph Schütte: Dawn of Intellectuals and Awakening of Nations. The reception of the Nouvelle Droite in Germany. In: Operations 31 (1992), pp. 51-60.
  14. ↑ Critique of Human Rights. Young Freedom Publishing House, Berlin 2004.
  15. ↑ Wilfried Schubarth, Richard Stöss: Right-wing extremism in the Federal Republic of Germany. A balance sheet. Leske & Budrich 2001, p. 118.
  16. ↑ Brigitte Kossek: Counter-racism. Constructions, interactions, interventions. Argument Verlag, 1999, p. 62.
  17. ↑ Klaus Kornexl: The worldview of the intellectual right in the Federal Republic of Germany. Shown using the example of the weekly magazine Junge Freiheit. Chapter 2.5 .: Ethnopluralism - «an ideological ghost». Herbert Utz Verlag, 2008, p. 175.
  18. ↑ Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt: The biology of human behavior - outline of human ethology. Piper, Munich 1984, pp. 223, 476.
  19. ^ Margret Feit: The "New Right" in the Federal Republic. Organization, ideology, strategy. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 106.
  20. ^ Dieter Staas: Migration and xenophobia as a political problem. Lit, Münster 1994, ISBN 3-8258-2330-X , p. 100.
  21. ↑ Verfassungsschutzbericht 2002 von Hessen, p. 56. There reference to: NPD party executive (ed.): Strategic guidelines for the political work of the NPD (=  profile - National Democratic series, volume 12). Berlin 2002, p. 17.
  22. ↑ Philipp Schwenke: Right-wing extremism: eloquent, sleek, well-read. In: Zeit Campus , October 18, 2011, p. 3/4: The NPD likes to speak of ethnopluralism.
  23. ↑ Ethnopluralism
  24. ↑ Transcript on Ethnopluralism , Federal Agency for Civic Education July 11, 2016
  25. ↑ Belltower.News : What does ethnopluralism mean?
  26. ↑ Jens Urbat: Right-wing populists in power: Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia in the new Italian party system. LIT Verlag, 2007, p. 39, section ethnopluralism.
  27. ↑ Wolfgang Gessenharter, Thomas Pfeiffer, The New Right: A Danger for Democracy? VS Verlag, 2004, p. 40f, section 4.3. Ethnopluralism instead of universal human rights.