Ring of Christian Democratic Students
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| Basic data | |
| Chairman: | Sebastian Mathes |
| deputy Chairman and Federal Treasurer: |
Johann Fiedler |
| vice-chairman: | Franca Bauernfeind |
| Executive Director: | Oh cyber |
| Members: | around 8000 (January 2008 ) |
| Structure: | 14 regional associations, 87 groups |
| Website: | www.rcds.de |
The Ring of Christian Democratic Students ( RCDS ) is a German, nationwide active political student association based in Berlin . According to its own information, it has over 100 college groups at universities , technical colleges and, more recently, professional academies with a total of around 8,000 members. The RCDS is the largest and oldest existing political student association in Germany. He sees himself as a liberal Christian - conservative student body and is committed to European unification . At the European level, the RCDS is a member of the European Democrat Students (EDS). The federal chairman of the RCDS is the editor of the magazine " Civis mit Sonde ".
Content profile
The primary field of activity of the RCDS is university policy and engagement in student self-administration at universities. He advocates that education should be given top priority. In addition, the RCDS has been providing services such as exchanging study places as well as interns, housing and book exchanges at federal level for years. He publishes information brochures on topics such as BAföG , scholarships , social issues and changing universities. In 2013, the RCDS adopted a new basic program at the 68th Federal Delegate Assembly . Under the title “Shaping the future together”, the RCDS, as a representative of the students, advocates “pragmatic politics beyond dogmatic ideologies”.
The RCDS understanding of values
The understanding of values is based "on the inviolable, inalienable dignity of human beings and the derived values of freedom , responsibility , justice , performance and tolerance ". It is open to all students who recognize the Christian- Western image of man, the free-democratic basic order and the basic values of the RCDS as a guideline for their actions.
Society, Europe and commitment
The RCDS advocates a society in which people have the right to free self-fulfillment and are actively involved in the community. The association is committed to the European motto "United in diversity", which at the same time emphasizes the common foundation of Europe and the diverse traditions and peculiarities of Europe. The RCDS campaigned for Europe-wide and cross-border studies as well as a European higher education area.
Social market economy
The RCDS advocates the social market economy . It is incumbent on the state to guarantee the citizens effective competition through fair framework conditions and comparable starting conditions. The state should provide adequate financial resources for the further development of the university landscape, since every study place provided is an investment in Germany's future.
Education, science and research
Through education , man is enabled to develop his individual abilities and freedoms for the acquisition of personal and social responsibility in society. Everyone has the right to education and everyone must have free access to educational institutions. The education system should serve to promote and challenge people. The RCDS firmly rejects any interference with the freedom of science , research and teaching . These require support from the general public. The student association speaks out clearly against the civil clause and emphasizes the freedom of research and teaching at German universities.
Studying at a university
In their own view, nobody should be denied access to a university for financial reasons. In addition, the RCDS rejects the centralization of the allocation of study places and advocates sufficient freedom for universities to choose their students . With regard to university funding, the RCDS advocates private and state funding for universities. The association advocates university autonomy. With regard to student participation, he is committed to the system of democratically legitimized student interest representation at universities.
European Policy Program 2014
In addition to the basic program adopted in 2013, the RCDS adopted its European policy program on March 29, 2014 at the group chairperson's conference in Münster. In terms of content, the RCDS called for the sustainable promotion of the European educational area through a diverse and cross-border educational offer. In addition, the student association welcomed the further development of the Erasmus program into Erasmus + . The new perspectives thus gained offer the best opportunities to increase mobility for students and trainees within Europe. Since the financial support provided for the students is not uniform, the RCDS demands that the monetary aid should be based on the cost of living in the target country. In addition, the introduction of an Erasmus loan is required in order to further increase the mobility of students in the European educational area. In order to improve the chances for foreign students at the universities of the host countries, Germany's largest student association demands that students can make up for the skills they lack in the first two semesters and that common qualification goals should be set for degrees in Europe. In order to increase the demand from German universities as a destination for stays abroad, they should on the one hand make themselves more attractive and on the other hand enter into targeted partnerships with educational institutions from countries for which there is a particularly high demand from German students. In order to better support foreign students in Germany, the RCDS advocates orientation weeks, a needs-based expansion of the “buddy program” and the expansion of foreign language offerings in teaching at universities.
Federal campaigns
As a representative of student interests, the RCDS organizes and controls political campaigns . At the federal level, the following campaigns from recent years should be highlighted.
Five is enough!
With this campaign, the RCDS campaigned in 2016 to lower the fee for public service broadcasting to five euros. The trigger was the deliberation of the Prime Minister's Conference on the further use of reserves that had accumulated in previous years. The campaign enjoyed great public support and was taken up by the Association of Taxpayers Germany .
Generation Erasmus ! RCDS postcards for the European elections
In terms of content, the campaign for the European elections concentrated on the core issues of European politics. This was intended to promote the relevance of the European elections, reforms within Europe and the continuation of the European unification project.
Stayed here!
In 2013, the RCDS used this campaign to encourage foreign university graduates to stay in Germany. The RCDS pointed out that highly qualified, permanent foreign graduates support the labor market in Germany and contribute to reducing, for example, the shortage of skilled workers .
Students for Merkel
In order to promote the re-election of German Chancellor Angela Merkel , the RCDS relied on an innovative campaign in the 2013 federal election . The students themselves presented the poster motif and copied the Merkel diamond with their hands .
Paid enough !
In 2012, the RCDS called for a reduced license fee for students of € 6.00 per month with a signature campaign , as they are supposed to pay the same fee - € 17.98 - as employed people. 2000 online users and 1767 signatories at universities support this petition. The RCDS advocates a reduced radio license fee for students in the future.
Free education for Belarus!
Under pressure from the Lukashenko - regime the European Humanities University (EHU) had to go into exile from Belarus to Lithuania. The RCDS supports the EHU in order to finance young people from Belarus to study freely. For this reason, the RCDS called for donations. For several years now, the RCDS has been awarding a scholarship to students at the EHU.
organization structure
In contrast to the Junge Union , for example , the RCDS is not an “association” of the CDU / CSU , but is institutionally independent of it, but has the status of a “friendly organization”. Most of the RCDS group and state chairmen as well as the RCDS federal chairman are co-opted members of the boards of the CDU and CSU at the respective organizational level. The RCDS thus has in fact similar rights to say as the JU.
structure
The RCDS Federal Association is divided into 14 regional associations (see e.g. the Ring of Christian Democratic Students in Bavaria or the Ring of Christian Democratic Students in Baden-Württemberg ) and (university) groups. The groups at the individual university locations are largely autonomous in terms of organization and content from the federal and respective regional associations. However, they are bound by the RCDS basic program and the resolutions of the state and federal association.
The federal association coordinates the work of the groups and is responsible for articulating student interests at the national political level. He organizes seminars, congresses and other events, initiates nationwide actions and campaigns, publishes information leaflets and deals with all topics that are important for the RCDS. The federal association is represented internally and externally by the three-person executive federal board , which is elected for one year by the federal delegates' assembly. The federal executive board is supported in its work by up to four elected assessors , as well as by the political advisory board and, if necessary, by federal specialist committees and speakers.
The RCDS alumni are organized in the Ring of Christian Democratic Academics (RCDA). The RCDA Federal Association was founded in 1991 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the RCDS, individual local RCDA groups such as B. in Göttingen have existed for much longer. The association is headed by a currently four-member federal board.
history
The RCDS Federal Association was founded at the first Federal Delegate Assembly on August 25-27, 1951 in Bonn; the first Christian-Democratic university groups (CDH) came into being shortly after the end of the Second World War . Initially, their focus was primarily in the Soviet Zone of Occupation (SBZ), where, alongside the LDP university groups , they soon became centers of resistance against the SED's university policy . Numerous Christian Democratic student representatives such as Werner Neumann (1946), Georg Wrazidlo (1947) or Hanns Beitz (1948) were arbitrarily arrested; others, such as the later Federal Minister of the Interior, Ernst Benda, were among the founders of the Free University of Berlin in 1948 .
After the student councils in the GDR had been abolished and the Free German Youth (FDJ) declared the sole representation of interests, the CDH groups increasingly concentrated their work on the Federal Republic and Berlin. Numerous activists who had fled from the Soviet occupation zone or the GDR founded new university groups in the West, which eventually merged in 1951 to form the Ring of Christian Democratic Students.
At the West German universities, the RCDS initially only played a marginal role, as “party politics” was widely frowned upon in the student body and the conservative potential of voters was also represented by the majority of (predominantly Catholic) student associations and student communities ( KDSE ) and “independent” student representatives. It was not until the early 1960s that the RCDS was able to temporarily strengthen its position in student parliaments before it fell back on the defensive as a result of the student movement. In 1957, the RCDS decided on its first nationwide program, the “Guiding Principles for University Reform and Student Support”.
Only after several formerly dominant left-wing student associations (e.g. Marxist Student Union Spartakus (MSB), Social Democratic University Association (SHB), Radical Democratic Student Groups (RSG)) collapsed at the beginning of the 1990s , the RCDS was able to gain a foothold again in the local student representatives . In 1990 the first RCDS university groups were founded in the new federal states, initially in Greifswald and later in other cities.
In April 2008, the RCDS founded together with eight other organizations from the higher education sector ( German University Association , German Student Union , Doctoral Network Thesis , Federal Association of Liberal University Groups (LHG), Federal Association of Academic Middle Classes (BAM), Association of University and Science (vhw), University Teachers' Association ( hlb), Association for the Promotion of Junior Professorships ) the so-called " University Alliance ". The aim of this alliance is to build up a joint representation of the interests of teachers and students vis-à-vis politics and to stand up for the interests of science.
In recent years, groups of the Junge Union have taken place at some universities instead of the RCDS , for example in Greifswald and Osnabrück . A specialty is the Junge Union university group in Cologne , which is also a member of the RCDS. Also as an independent group of the RCDS, the “Campus Union Cologne - Junge Union & RCDS” is a JU university group, in which the Junge Union has the right to intervene: “In this way, the responsible district board and the regional board of the Junge Union can arrange for the necessary, in extreme cases appoint a representative who temporarily performs the duties of the board ”.
Federal Chairperson
- 1951–1952: Fritz Flick and Ernst Benda (founding chairmen)
- 1952–1953: Wolfgang Brüggemann
- 1953–1956: Konrad Kraske
- 1956–1958: Willfried Gaddum
- 1958–1959: Walter Konrad
- 1959–1961: Dieter Ibielski
- 1961–1962: Martin Ratmann
- 1962–1963: Hans-Jürgen Vogt
- 1963–1965: Kurt Struppek
- 1965–1967: Gert Hammer
- 1967–1968: Wulf Schönbohm
- 1968–1970: Uwe-Rainer Simon
- 1970–1974: Gerd Langguth
- 1974–1975: Ulrich Schröder
- 1975–1977: Hans Reckers
- 1977–1978: Friedbert Pflüger
- 1978–1979: Günther Heckelmann
- 1979–1980: Stephan Eisel
- 1980–1981: Stefan Dingerkus
- 1981–1983: Johannes Weberling
- 1983–1985: Franz Dormann
- 1985–1987: Christoph Brand
- 1987–1989: Jürgen Hardt
- 1989–1990: Christian Schede
- 1990–1991: Marcel Kaufmann
- 1991–1992: Christian Schneller
- 1992–1993: Eckhard Wälzholz
- 1993–1994: Tamara Zieschang
- 1994–1995: Oliver Röseler
- 1995–1996: Wichard von der Heyden
- 1996-1997: Rasmus Tenbergen
- 1997–1998: Oliver Nölken
- 1998–1999: Fabian Magerl
- 1999–2000: Mario Voigt
- 2000–2001: Carsten Schwarz
- 2001–2002: Lars Kasischke
- 2002–2004: Barbara von Wnuk-Lipinski
- 2004–2006: Dorlies Last
- 2006–2007: Tim Küsters
- 2007–2008: Matthias Kutsch
- 2008–2010: Gottfried Ludewig
- 2010: Stefan Holz
- 2010–2011: Dennis Kahle
- 2011–2012: Frederik Ferreau
- 2012–2013: Erik Bertram
- 2013–2015: Martin Röckert
- 2015-2017: Jenovan Krishnan
- 2017–2019: Henrik Wärner
- Since 2019: Sebastian Mathes
Other prominent former members of the RCDS
- Heiner Geißler (1930–2017), group chairman Tübingen 1954
- Wolfgang Schäuble (* 1942), group chairman Hamburg 1962 to 1963
- Georg Milbradt (* 1945), Group Board member Münster 1966
- Thomas de Maizière (* 1954), group chairman Münster and member of the political advisory board
Controversy
RCDS and right-wing extremism
If members behave in a way that is harmful to the association, the individual university groups and the federal board have the right to exclude them. This is the case when “members are not on the basis of the free democratic basic order”, “are members of a group monitored by the protection of the Constitution, openly sympathize with them or actively participate in events they support” or participate in Participate in meetings of political opponents.
The RCDS does not allow right-wing extremist members. Nevertheless, active neo-Nazis have repeatedly tried to work in the RCDS in recent years. Although the RCDS quickly separated from these people in all of these cases and excluded them from the university group, it had to face criticism. In 2005, for example, a student entered the student parliament of the University of Giessen via the RCDS list , whose contacts with the right-wing extremist spectrum only became known during the university election campaign . In November 2006 it turned out that the deputy chairman of the local RCDS group was also a member of the fraternity of Dresdensia-Rugia zu Gießen , "which is notorious as the unofficial cadre of the NPD". As an author in the new right weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit , he wrote about the NPD and DVU with so much pleasure that even the clientele of the new right weekly newspaper complained in letters to the editor. The " Young Landsmannschaft East Prussia ", whose regional association Southwest Müller has been leading since the beginning of the year, is classified as "partly right-wing extremist" by the Brandenburg Constitutional Protection Office. In November 2006 , the Giessen board resigned only after sustained pressure from the federal board and the student concerned ended his membership.
At the University of Cologne , Thomas Hartenfels entered the student parliament in 2005 via the RCDS list. After it became known that Hartenfels took part in neo-Nazi demonstrations, was active as an author of Junge Freiheit , supported expressions of solidarity for Martin Hohmann after his speech, which was criticized as anti-Semitic, and had personal contacts in the right-wing extremist scene, he renounced his mandate and then gave up his Functions in the CDU and the Junge Union.
At the University of Potsdam , a member of the DVU ran for first place on the RCDS list for the student parliament in 2006. After this became known, the student resigned his mandate and no longer appeared for the RCDS. Also at the University of Potsdam in 1999 an edition of the local RCDS newspaper “Gaudeamus” was banned by the rector. The reason was a full-page advertisement for “Junge Freiheit”. There were also advertisements for the "Ostpreußenblatt" and a striking connection.
Criticism of statements by former members
As chairman of the RCDS, Gottfried Ludewig came under fire in May 2008 when he called for a "double right to vote for top performers" which was contrary to the constitutional right to equality of election granted in Article 38 .
literature
- Stephan Convent, RCDS (Ed.): Agenda 2030 - Against the Apologists. A collection of essays about framework conditions of the future and reform needs of the present. Berlin / Brussels 2012, ISBN 978-3-9-3845615-6 .
- Johannes Weberling : For freedom and human rights. The Ring of Christian Democratic Students 1945–1986. Düsseldorf 1990, ISBN 3-7919-0333-0 .
- Holger Thuß , Mario Voigt : 50 years of RCDS. Student policy practiced for five decades. Erlangen 2001, ISBN 3-921713-30-7 .
- Bernd Gäbler , Helmut Haller: The anti-RCDS book. Dortmund 1981, ISBN 3-88142-266-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ RCDS federal office. Christian Democratic Student Ring, accessed January 26, 2015 .
- ↑ Shaping the future together. ( PDF (228 KB)) Ring of Christian Democratic Students, October 25, 2013, accessed on May 12, 2013 .
- ↑ RCDS, basic program “Shaping the future together” , Berlin, 2013, p. 3f.
- ↑ RCDS, basic program “Shaping the future together” , Berlin, 2013, pp. 4–6.
- ↑ RCDS, basic program “Shaping the future together” , Berlin, 2013, pp. 6–7.
- ↑ RCDS, basic program “Shaping the future together” , Berlin, 2013, pp. 7–9.
- ↑ RCDS, Freedom in Research and Teaching , Berlin, 2013, pp. 1–2.
- ↑ RCDS, basic program “Shaping the future together” , Berlin, 2013, pp. 9–11.
- ↑ RCDS, Europapolitisches Programm , Münster, 2014, p. 1.
- ↑ RCDS, Europapolitisches Programm , Münster, 2014, p. 1.
- ↑ RCDS, Europapolitisches Programm , Münster, 2014, p. 1.
- ↑ RCDS, Europapolitisches Programm , Münster, 2014, p. 2.
- ↑ RCDS, Europapolitisches Programm , Münster, 2014, pp. 2–3.
- ↑ Counted enough. Retrieved October 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Generation Erasmus. Campaign. (No longer available online.) RCDS, 2014, archived from the original on June 6, 2014 ; accessed on May 14, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Stayed here! Campaign. (No longer available online.) RCDS, 2013, archived from the original on June 7, 2014 ; accessed on May 14, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Students-for-Merkel. Campaign. (No longer available online.) RCDS, 2013, archived from the original on July 19, 2014 ; accessed on May 14, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Paid enough! Campaign. (No longer available online.) RCDS, 2012, archived from the original on June 6, 2014 ; Retrieved April 28, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Free-Education-for-Belarus! Campaign. (No longer available online.) RCDS, 2011, archived from the original on June 6, 2014 ; accessed on March 15, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ RCDS regional associations. In: Ring of Christian Democratic Students. Accessed March 6, 2020 (German).
- ^ Ring of Christian Democratic Academics. About us. Retrieved November 27, 2015 .
- ^ Ring of Christian Democratic Academics. Board. Retrieved November 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Ulrike Poppe, Rainer Eckert, Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: Between Self-Assertion and Adaptation: Forms of Resistance and Opposition in the GDR (Research on GDR History, Volume 6), Berlin 1995, ISBN 386153097X , page 147f.
- ^ Hans-Otto Kleinmann: History of the CDU 1945–1982, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-421-06541-1 ; Page 143–144
- ↑ http://ju-hsg-koeln.de/
- ↑ http://rcds.de/gruppen-3/
- ↑ http://www.ju-nrw.de/ju-nrw/satzung/geschaeftsordnung-hochschulgruppen
- ^ RCDS [Ring of Christian Democratic Students]. Facebook, accessed June 3, 2020 .
- ^ RCDS, Statutes of the Ring of Christian Democratic Students (RCDS) , Berlin, 2009, p. 2f.
- ^ Antonia Götsch: A right-wing extremist on the RCDS board. In: UniSpiegel. Der Spiegel , November 22, 2006, accessed April 25, 2012 .
- ↑ Britta Mersch, Jochen Leffers: Neo-Nazi alarm in the Asta. In: UniSpiegel. Der Spiegel , December 19, 2005, accessed April 25, 2012 .
- ↑ DVU candidate in university elections. Potsdam Latest News , July 11, 2006, accessed April 25, 2012 .
- ^ University of Potsdam had the RCDS newspaper forbidden. Die Welt , December 22, 1999, accessed April 25, 2012 .
- ↑ Double voting rights for everyone who works! in image of 22 May 2008
- ↑ Absurd approach - the head of the CDU association wants to demote pensioners to second-class voters in Spiegel online on May 23, 2008
Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)
Associations Christian Democratic Employees' Association (CDA) | Women's Union (FU) | Young Union (JU) | Local political association of the CDU and CSU of Germany (KPV) | SME and Economic Union (MIT) | Seniors Union (SU) | East and Central German Association (OMV) |
Special organizations Evangelical Working Group | Ring of Christian Democratic Students
Without status in the Federal Party Working Group of Engaged Catholics in the CDU | Christian Democrats for Life (CDL) | German-Turkish Forum (DTF) | Lesbians and Gays in the Union (LSU) | Student Union (SU) | ValuesUnion | Economic Council of the CDU
Fritz Flick and Ernst Benda (1951–1952) | Wolfgang Brüggemann (1952–1953) | Konrad Kraske (1953–1956) | Willfried Gaddum (1956–1958) | Walter Konrad (1958–1959) | Dieter Ibielski (1959–1961) | Martin Ratmann (1961–1962) | Hans-Jürgen Vogt (1962–1963) | Kurt Struppek (1963–1965) | Gert Hammer (1965–1967) | Wulf Schönbohm (1967–1968) | Uwe-Rainer Simon (1968–1970) | Gerd Langguth (1970–1974) | Ulrich Schröder (1974–1975) | Hans Reckers (1975–1977) | Friedbert Pflüger (1977–1978) | Günther Heckelmann (1978–1979) | Stephan Eisel (1979–1980) | Stefan Dingerkus (1980–1981) | Johannes Weberling (1981–1983) | Franz Dormann (1983–1985) | Christoph Brand (1985–1987) | Jürgen Hardt (1987–1989) | Christian Schede (1989–1990) | Marcel Kaufmann (1990–1991) | Christian Schneller (1991–1992) | Eckhard Wälzholz (1992–1993) | Tamara Zieschang (1993-1994) | Oliver Röseler (1994–1995) | Wichard von der Heyden (1995–1996) | Rasmus Tenbergen (1996-1997) | Oliver Nölken (1997–1998) | Fabian Magerl (1998–1999) | Mario Voigt (1999–2000) | Carsten Schwarz (2000–2001) | Lars Kasischke (2001–2002) | Barbara von Wnuk-Lipinski (2002–2004) | Dorlies Last (2004–2006) | Tim Küsters (2006–2007) | Matthias Kutsch (2007–2008) | Gottfried Ludewig (2008–2010) | Stefan Holz (2010) | Dennis Kahle (2010–2011) | Frederik Ferreau (2011–2012) | Erik Bertram (2012–2013) | Martin Röckert (2013–2015) | Jenovan Krishnan (2015-2017) | Henrik Wärner (2017–2019) | Sebastian Mathes (since 2019)