Joint declaration 2018

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The Joint Declaration 2018 is a call published on March 15, 2018 by German authors, publicists, artists and scientists who oppose “damage to Germany” assumed by the signatories through “illegal mass immigration” in connection with the refugee crisis in Germany in 2015/2016 judged.

Most of the first signatories belong to the right-wing conservative and new-right milieu.

Wording, stated aim and illustration

The declaration was as follows:

“We observe with growing astonishment how Germany is being damaged by illegal mass immigration. We show solidarity with those who demonstrate peacefully for the rule of law to be restored on the borders of our country. "

- 2018 Declaration website

Initiator Vera Lengsfeld stated in the Tagesspiegel that the aim of the declaration was to "turn the existing migration policy from its head onto its feet".

The text was initially illustrated with a photo of the “ Women's March ” organized by Leyla Bilge . which took place on February 17, 2018 and was organized from the AfD environment.

Signatory

The declaration was first signed by 34 people, quickly reached several thousand signatories and was handed over to the chairman of the petitions committee of the German Bundestag on May 16, 2018 with 165,290 signatures .

First signatories were among others:

Uwe Steimle and Cora Stephan let themselves be crossed off the list. Later signed u. a. the political scientist Bassam Tibi , the author Alexander Grau and the psychologist Hans-Joachim Maaz the explanation. In addition, there were New Right actors such as Martin Lichtmesz and Caroline Sommerfeld-Lethen .

The publisher Wilhelm Hopf , founder of Lit Verlag , withdrew his signature after authors and publishing staff distanced themselves from their publisher. In his statement he wrote u. a .: "I had trusted Vera Lengsfeld without examining the initiator (formerly known as GDR 'civil rights activist') and had not noticed enough that the declaration led to simplistic populist conclusions: This should not have happened."

According to information on the Declaration's website, signing was initially “limited to authors, publicists, artists, scientists and other academics” and after 2018 signatures “open to all”. The declaration was later converted into a petition to the Bundestag. The Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag published them for signing between May 23 and June 20, 2018. On June 10, 53,000 citizens signed up online and an unknown number of other citizens signed up by fax and letter. The quorum of 50,000 votes was thus achieved within two weeks.

Social structure of the signatories

In the second wave of 2018 co-signers, those who state their academic degree included around 100 professors, more than 600 doctors from all departments and hundreds of other graduates and masters. Their degrees came from the fields of law, humanities, medicine or natural and engineering sciences and covered the entire university spectrum. The largest professional groups were doctors (approx. 300), authors, writers and publicists (approx. 300), natural scientists (approx. 250), engineers (approx. 200), teachers and pedagogues (approx. 200) and lawyers (approx. 150 ). The biographical career of the best-known signatories ranged from the East German civil rights activist scene from 1989 to the West German Catholic milieu, from the former left-wing intellectual with 1968 to representatives of the New Right , from intellectuals with a migration background to party members of the CDU, SPD or AfD.

The proportion of women among those who signed was only around 15% and thus much lower than the average population (almost 51% women).

The third wave was followed by a petition that was also widespread on social media and received over 163,000 signatures within a few weeks, which corresponds to around 0.2% of the German population. A statistical analysis of the social structure, which was collected by co-signer Alexander Wendt, showed that 85% of the signatories were in professional life and 15% were other signatories. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers and entrepreneurs made up the largest professional groups. Men were again clearly overrepresented.

Hearing in the German Bundestag

On October 8, 2018, a hearing of the petitioners took place before the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag , to which representatives of the Federal Government and members of all parties represented in the Bundestag were invited.

reception

In the NDR , Patric Seibel described the declaration as an “amazing alliance of bourgeois and national conservatives and new right conspiracy theorists ”.

Lothar Müller wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the declaration was mainly supported by people “who are closer to the 'elite' and the 'establishment' than to the 'little man' and the 'people', in whose name the fundamental criticism of refugee policy the federal government happens so frequently. They are cultural scientists and philologists, authors and librarians, psychologists and psychoanalysts, successful actors, natural scientists, former or current moderators and editors of public broadcasters, philosophers, doctors, filmmakers, historians. (...) You destroy an illusion that is widespread in the liberal political spectrum (...) Your most concise - and at the same time politically naive - formula found this illusion in the sentence: 'The spirit is on the left.' "

Martin Machowecz noted in Die Zeit that the appeal was interesting “because of its supporters: a broad spectrum of intellectuals and political activists. People who have already stood out in the refugee debate with critical positions, but who have never appeared together, never concerted. "It is a" group of liberal conservatives to the right wing extremists, from the SPD and CDU to the AfD ", the now dare to appear on the signature list.

Marc Felix Serrao commented on the progress of the petition in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung : “If tens of thousands of citizens, including many academics, profess themselves in this way, then there will be a structural change in the public. There is a real desire to confess to the media and the usual attacks that follow them, for example in the form of worried calls from the anti- Nazi camp to the employer, now seem very irrelevant. "

Sandra Lumetsberger remarked in the Austrian courier that the explanation was very vague and asked which peaceful demonstrations were actually meant: “The demonstrators in Dresden, Cologne or Cottbus? Pegida ? The participants of the 'women's march' in Berlin, which can be seen on the website of the 'Declaration 2018'? ”The latter was ultimately organized from the AfD environment and attracted rights like Pegida frontman Lutz Bachmann . This indeed works like an approximation. She quoted the extremism researcher Julia Ebner as saying that the statement “gives a distorted picture of the situation”. The impression is given that “there is still illegal mass migration, everything is out of control”, which is actually wrong. Ebner's institute analyzed: “'35 percent of the first signatories are active in the New Right ( identities ) or from their environment, another almost 20 percent from the AfD and Pegida environment [...]. Of course, a distinction must be made between the fact that not all supporters are right-wing extremists . '

In the Cicero , Ernst Elitz described the declaration as a "missed opportunity". It is "in itself [...] fair, if not correct in every case". The wording sounds “firstly, as if it were a justification for the establishment of Seehofer's home ministry, including the Bavarian border police. Second, this leaves the question open: Where are the peaceful demonstrators to whom the signatories express their solidarity? And thirdly, ignoring the fact that there are no longer any masses trickling across the German border. ”Elitz specifically criticizes Vera Lengsfeld, who called for“ mass signing ”of the declaration and thus“ into the realm of the like buttons and the general signature system ":" Pegida, AfD and any other sect can easily copy their members into the list of signatories. "Elitz already sees" the spirit of the 'Joint Declaration 2018' at a demo in Hamburg, where the first signer Matussek is completely in Lengsfeld intoned a chorus: 'Merkel must go!'. Much to the pleasure of leaders of the so-called Identitarian Movement , who laughed at the edge of their fists at the advertising that was not ordered. In short, Tellkamp , who went to bed as a strange citizen, does not wake up the next morning as a bug like Gregor Samsa , but instead next to Lutz Bachmann. "

The AfD chairman Alexander Gauland welcomed the statement; Götz Kubitschek did the same .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Website of the declaration 2018
  2. ↑ a b c d Sandra Lumetsberger: Closing ranks or discourse with rights? In: kurier.at. April 15, 2018, accessed April 16, 2018 .
  3. ↑ , Andreas Montag: New National Front: “Joint Declaration” by artists and intellectuals. In: mz-web.de. March 19, 2018, accessed April 30, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Lothar Müller: Rather elite than "little man". In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. April 5, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Vera Lengsfeld's website, May 17, 2018, accessed May 20, 2018
  6. ↑ a b Martin Machowecz: "Declaration 2018": A new salon in Berlin , Zeit online, March 21, 2018, accessed on May 21, 2018.
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Schütz: Immigration: Germany's society is twofold. In: augsburger-allgemeine.de. March 26, 2018, accessed April 27, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Alexander Grau : “Democracy does not consist of memoranda”? In: cicero.de. April 5, 2018, accessed April 24, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b Martin Machowecz: "Declaration 2018": Ministerial Councilors and facial surgeons . In: zeit.de. March 27, 2018, accessed April 27, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b c Patric Seibel: How explosive is the “Declaration 2018”? In: ndr.de. March 27, 2018, accessed March 29, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Gerrit Bartels: Wilhelm Hopf - publisher withdraws signature on "Declaration 2018". Potsdam's latest news
  12. ↑ Statement by Dr. Wilhelm Hopf / LIT Verlag on the “Declaration 2018” and the “Call for Signature Campaign” in the KV list on the Lit-Verlag website
  13. ↑ Debate on "Declaration 2018" - What does the job reveal about the political stance? In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur . ( deutschlandfunkkultur.de [accessed on April 28, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Alexander Wendt: Who supports the “Declaration 2018”? publicomag.com, April 8, 2018.
  15. ↑ Press release of the German Bundestag on the public hearing before the Petitions Committee on October 8, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  16. ↑ Video recording of the hearing under web links
  17. ↑ Lothar Müller : Rather elite than 'little man'. In: sueddeutsche.de. April 5, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Marc Felix Serrao: The Conservatives Become Defiant , in: nzz.ch from April 12, 2018, accessed on April 21, 2018.
  19. ↑ Ernst Elitz : A Missed Chance In: cicero.de of April 3, 2018.