Autonome Nationalisten
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Autonome Nationalisten (English: Autonomous Nationalists, abbreviated AN) are
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
,
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
, Dutch, and to a lesser degree Flemish, nationalists, who have adopted some of the
far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
and antifa's organizational concepts (
autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defi ...
activism), demonstration tactics (
black bloc A black bloc (sometimes black block) is a tactic used by protesters who wear black clothing, ski masks, scarves, sunglasses, motorcycle helmets with padding or other face-concealing and face-protecting items.
), symbolism, and elements of clothing, including
Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...
T-shirts and
keffiyeh The keffiyeh (), also regionally known as a hattah (), ghutrah (), or shemagh (), is a traditional headdress worn by men from parts of the Middle East. It is fashioned from a square scarf, and is usually made of cotton. The keffiyeh is commonly ...
s. Similar groups have also appeared in some central and eastern European countries, beginning with
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
(starting in 2009), the
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,
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,
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and
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and others.


History

The phenomenon of the Autonome Nationalisten can be traced to "Freie Nationaliste" (Free Nationalists), "Freie Kräfte" (Free Forces) and "Freie Kameradschaften" (Free Comradeships) movements, which developed in the shadow of the Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (NPD) (
National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...
) since the late-1980s. The police crackdown on the far-right after re-unification and the wave of banning in the early 1990s ("Deutsche Alternative", "Nationalistische Front", "Freiheitliche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei", among others) forced most of the local extreme far-right militant groups to split into "autonomous nationalist cells" of 5-20 members without a formal membership. Instead of conducting regular meetings, they started to use phones and later Internet for communication and organizing. Local cells formed loose umbrella networks in the regions to coordinate actions. In 2008, Germany's Autonomous Nationalists were estimated to number approximately 400 people, 1% of the country's neo-Nazis. The German
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the fed ...
, which provides domestic intelligence for the government, estimated the number of active participants of the far right movement in 2008 around 40,000. According to the
Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
(SPLC), in 2001 there were 75 extreme-right organizations in Germany with 50,000 members. The emergence of the Autonome Nationalisten was controversial within the German far right milieu, both because some older activists of the German extreme right objected to their "leftist" image and because the NPD feared they would complicate its efforts to take part in mainstream politics. Also controversial was that Autonome Nationalisten had occasionally expressed sympathy for
Islamic extremism Islamic extremism refers to extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideologies adhered to by some Muslims within Islam. The term 'Islamic extremism' is contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations of Is ...
, as well as
Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...
and
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
for their opposition to
Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
and
American imperialism U.S. imperialism or American imperialism is the expansion of political, economic, cultural, media, and military influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright mi ...
.Autonome neo-nazi’s op de linkse toer?
''Gebladerte Archief'' (Dutch)
The same controversies arose among the far right in Poland. The Autonomous Nationalists in Europe made themselves visible starting from 2003–2004 and are now considered more violent than other members of the European far right. However, as of 2010, according to Miroslav Mareš, their impact in these countries has been limited so far.


Message

Researchers view the syncretic political movement of the Autonomous Nationalists in Europe as a "strategic concept, organization and subculture – all three terms are possible for the designation of this phenomenon." They emphasize that, The Autonomous Nationalists were ideologically inspired by
Strasserism Strasserism () refers to a dissident current associated with the early Nazi movement. Named after brothers Gregor and Otto Strasser, Strasserism emphasized revolutionary nationalism, economic antisemitism, and opposition to both Marxist socia ...
. The message of AN shifted to anti-globalist, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist ideas. It promotes complete organizational decentralization and autonomy inside the movement. The adoption of codes and symbols of the far left "Autonome Antifa" by the "Autonome Nationalisten" coincided with the persistence of vibrant alternative subcultures of the radical left and rejection of traditional skinhead cultural-political templates of behavior of the extreme right. The AN thus see themselves as 'autonomous' from established neo-Nazi programs and structures, developing their own ideological discourse, street message, action repertoire, music scenes and fashion codes. These are often meant to display anti-capitalist and anti-systemic rebellion and opposition to globalization and 'American
cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism (also cultural colonialism) comprises the culture, cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" describes practices in which a country engages culture (language, tradition, ritual, politics, economics) to creat ...
'.Schlembach, Raphael
The ‘Autonomous Nationalists’: new developments and contradictions in the German neo-Nazi movement
''Interface: A journal for and about social movements'', Volume 5 (2): 295 - 318, (November 2013).
The AN also raised some social and economic issues, including poverty. At present time, they are firmly entrenched in the neo-Nazi movement.Schedler, Jan und Alexander Häusler (Hrsg.). ''Autonome Nationalisten Neonazismus in Bewegung''. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2011.


Gallery

File:AutonomeNationalisten am 7.10.2006 in NDH.jpg, Autonome Nationalisten/Autonomous Nationalists marching behind a banner with graffiti-style lettering in 2006 File:Autonome Nationalisten aus Südthüringen.jpg, Autonome Nationalisten/Autonomous Nationalists at a 2006 protest. The black and red flags on the banner are of the Antifaschistische Aktion's logo File:Autonome Nationalisten-Vermummung.jpg, Autonome Nationalisten/Autonomous Nationalists carrying a black flag, a traditional symbol of anarchism File:Autonome Nationalisten.jpg, German Autonome Nationalisten/Autonomous Nationalists stage a demonstration File:NWDO.jpg, Detention of the members of the Autonome Nationalisten/Autonomous Nationalists in Dortmund File:D90bcebc8a5c.jpg, Emblem of the Ukrainian Autonomous Nationalists which is similar to Antifa's symbols


See also

* Bases Autónomas * Black Front * Far-right social centre * Far-right subcultures * Groupe Union Défense *
National-Anarchism National-anarchism is a radical right-wing.... nationalist ideology which advocates racial separatism, racial nationalism, ethnic nationalism, and racial purity... National-anarchists syncretize ethnic nationalism with anarchism, mainly in ...
* National Bolshevik Party * Nipster * Political soldier * Popular Resistance Association *
Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented ...


References


Further reading


Rechtsextremismus in Berlin
''Senatsverwaltung für Inneres und Sport''. * Decker, Oliver, Marliese Weißmann, Johannes Kiess, und Elmar Brähler. ''Die Mitte in der Krise. Rechtsextreme Einstellungen in Deutschland''. Berlin: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2010. * Braun, Stephan, Alexander Geisler, und Martin Gerster. ''Strategien der extremen Rechten: Hintergründe - Analysen - Antworten.'' Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009. * Hafeneger, Benno, und Sven Schönfelder. ''Politische Strategien gegen die extreme Rechte in Parlamenten: Folgen für kommunale Politik und lokale Demokratie : Eine qualitative Studie''. Berlin: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2007. * Peters, Jürgen. ''"Autonome Nationalisten" die Modernisierung neofaschistischer Jugendkultur''. Münster: Unrast, 2009. * Roth, Roland. ''Demokratie braucht Qualität!: Beispiele guter Praxis und Handlungsempfehlungen für erfolgreiches Engagement gegen Rechtsextremismus''. Berlin: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2010. * Schedler, Jan
Autonome Nationalisten
In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, Nr. 44/2010, S. 20–26, (2010). * Schedler, Jan und Alexander Häusler (Hrsg.). ''Autonome Nationalisten Neonazismus in Bewegung''. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2011. * Schedler, Jan. The Devil in Disguise: Action Repertoire, Visual Performance and Collective Identity of the Autonomous Nationalists, ''Nations and Nationalism'', V. 20, No. 2: 239-258, (2014). *Schlembach, Raphael. The ‘Autonomous Nationalists’: New developments and contradictions in the German neo-Nazi movement, ''Interface: A journal for and about social movements'', Volume 5 (2): 295 - 318, (November 2013).


External links


Autonom.pl
Autonomous Nationalists in Poland
Athens Autonomous
Autonomous Nationalists in Greece
Autonome Nationalisten


{{Authority control Strasserism Neo-Nazism in Germany Syncretic political movements Neo-Nazi concepts