In Basel, left-wing extremists are agitating against an employee of the Federal Asylum Center: She is threatened, her family cat’s fur was partially stripped off, and manipulated brakes were found on the car.
While right-wing extremism is illuminated and condemned in all its shades, left-wing extremism has mutated into a black box. The German Klaus Schroeder (71) is one of the few researchers who deals intensively with the topic.
Mr Schroeder, what goes through your head when you hear about these violent left-wing extremists in Basel?
Klaus Schroeder: Here, too, it is a matter of empowering the left-wing extremists to disregard the rule of law and to take action themselves.
How big is the problem of left-wing extremism really?
It’s not a problem in terms of mass. We have tens of thousands in Germany, in Switzerland there are significantly fewer. The problem is the quality. The hard core has radicalized further over the past two or three years. In the past, they attacked the police and the right wing, today they also go to private individuals in their homes.
Are there also cases in Germany like in Basel?
An employee of a real estate company was recently visited in her apartment in Leipzig. The perpetrators hit her in the face and then even let themselves be celebrated on indymedia for it.
Klaus Schroeder (71) is a contemporary historian at the Free University of Berlin and deals with the history of German division as well as left and right-wing extremism. He is the author of the book “The fight is not over: History and topicality of left-wing violence” published by Herder-Verlag.
Why has this left violence increased so?
Probably because of the unsuccessfulness. Politically, they have achieved nothing in the fight against the state. But there is a dispute within the extremists about how far the violence should go. There is the black bloc, which says that you can achieve nothing without violence, and there are the more moderate, who are afraid that too much violence will deter people from participating.
How far does the emerging climate youth play a role?
At Fridays for Future, the interventionist left tried to gain a foothold and radicalize the organization. You are also attached to the protest against the expansion of the motorway in the Dannenröder forest. However, this tendency has flattened out due to Corona.
How many left-wing extremists are there in Europe?
It depends on how you define left-wing extremism. In the past one spoke of the violent left, today of the violent left. Just changing the definition brings you to maybe a hundred thousand in Europe.
What role do the Swiss left-wing extremists play internationally?
They swim with them, but do not play a dominant role. In 2017, many took part in the serious riots during the G20 summit in Hamburg. The Italians, Spaniards and Greeks set the tone. When the European Central Bank opened in 2015, they flattened an entire quarter in Frankfurt.
How are they organized in Europe?
It is a loose network of violent extremists, where Swiss people are also involved. You operate undercover. I don’t know whether the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has control over it.
How and where is left-wing extremism developing? What is a good breeding ground?
Strangely enough, it does not grow where it expects it to be, namely in an economically poor environment. Rather, it is a phenomenon of prosperity. Many left-wing extremists come from the middle class.
This means that many do not participate out of conviction, but rather the riot is in the foreground.
There is a hard core among left-wing extremists who are more concerned with violence than content. There are aggressive young people who are considered outsiders in society but who become heroes in the radical scene. In East German cities this scene is more right-wing radical, in the west more left-wing radical.
Is there any hidden left-wing extremism in everyday life?
I would distinguish between left-wing extremists, who want to change everything, and left-wing radicals, who are barely operating on the very edge of the constitutional arc. There are many left-wing extremists among teachers and social workers – including journalists.
Why is so little talked about left-wing extremism?
It’s a phenomenon I’ve been observing for years. Many believe that it is about a good cause and that when the boys go overboard again, you have to turn a blind eye. One on the right would never accept that. In Germany we have 40 to 50 percent more violent acts on the left than on the right.
Even left-wing politicians represented in parliaments repeatedly applaud when right-wing politicians are attacked or property damage occurs during demonstrations. Are left parties too little distancing themselves from extremism?
Yes, they do not distance themselves from extremism, and certainly not from violence. In Germany even parts of the Green Youth and the Juso are making common cause with left-wing extremists.
How can you adjust that?
Many are afraid to talk about it. Only a few deal with it because they are afraid that they would then also be “visited”. Left-wing extremism can only be countered if the moderate and radical left clearly distance themselves from it and turn away. If liberal or conservative politicians say something, it is of no use – on the contrary.
How will increasing left-wing extremism develop? Do you have to expect terrorist attacks?
We already have attacks on railway lines and construction cranes. The left-wing extremists are slowly losing their scruples. There is a hard core that would be ready for terrorist actions – not necessarily in the sense of the Red Army Faction, but rather in the sense of the revolutionary cells, which are also called “after-work terrorists”. You no longer speak of violence, but of riots. They pretend civil war is imminent.
How do you get out of the left-wing extremist scene?
Of course there are contact points. Most of the time, however, people break away from the scene themselves when they get older, have a job and start a family. The old Autonomists are then still sympathizers and praise themselves as heroes, but they no longer fight.