Pro Germany Citizens' Movement
Encyclopedia
The Pro Germany Citizens' Movement is a far-right
political party in Germany
. It was founded in Cologne
on 20 January 2005 after Pro Cologne members had been elected to the Cologne City Council. Manfred Rouhs, treasurer of the Pro Cologne movement and former candidate of the German League for People and Homeland
and the National Democratic Party of Germany
, was elected its first chairman.
The movement is linked to the citizens' movements Pro Cologne and Pro NRW that are only active in the city of Cologne
and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
, respectively.
; lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 years of age; deportation
of illegal immigrants, and the segregation of students with insufficient German language proficiency.
It is critical of multi-national corporations, in particular bank
s and other financial institution
s. German
parents are promised a child check worth €5,000 and a family loan up to €20.000.
. The first state branch was formed in Berlin (Pro Berlin Citizen's Movement). The citizen's movements Pro NRW and Pro Cologne are only active in North Rhine-Westfalia and Cologne, respectively. The "Pro Movement", organised as an association, serves as an umbrella organisation to co-ordinate the activities of the formally idenpendent parties.
The party has been endorsed by the Freedom Party of Austria
.
on 18 September 2011. Its electoral campaign has attracted considerable attention of the media. On 25 July, three days after the Norway attacks
, Pro Germany supporters gathered for a "silent vigil" in front of the Norvegian embassy. Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit
sharply protested against the perceived disturbance of the commemoration. Later the critic of Islam Thilo Sarrazin
successfully filed a suit against Pro Germany because they had used his name in their slogan "Wählen gehen für Thilos Thesen!" (Go to the polls for Thilo's theses!"). On 11 August, two Pro Germany campaigners were arrested. According to the police and media reports, they had charged at a migrant passerby with a hammer handle and assaulted a police officer with fists and pepper spray. Eventually, Pro Germany won 1.2% of the votes. Therefore, they failed to surmount the 5% threshold and did not win any seats in the House of Representatives.
. The far-right publisher Manfred Rouhs and the lawyer Markus Beisicht have been active in the association from its start. In the 1999 mayoral election, the party presented Stephan Flug as its candidate who won 0.3% of the votes. When the municipality planned to erect a mosque
in Cologne's Chorweiler
district, the citizen's movement organised a collection of signatures
petitioning against the project. They could present 28,000 signatures against any mosque construction site in Cologne to the committee on petitions only shortly before the 2004 local elections. With the tailwinds from the signatures campaign, the voter's association could win 4.7% of the votes and four seats in the Cologne city council. In 2005, a fifth councillor joined Pro Cologne's group. The electoral success initiated the expansion of the party to the state and federal level.
In 2007 the movement ran another signature campaign against the Cologne Central Mosque in Ehrenfeld. They showed more than 23,000 signatures, however at least 7,000 of them were not valid and the citizen's initiative
failed. In September 2008, Pro Cologne organised the Anti-Islamisation Congress, inviting Mario Borghezio
and Filip Dewinter
among others. Counter-protests and blockings prompted the police to cancel the congress and rally. The congress was repeated in May 2009. In the 2009 Cologne local election, the party won 5.4% of the votes and could defend its five council seats. The chairman of Pro Cologne, Markus Beisicht, candidated for mayor and won 4.8% of the votes.
The North Rhine-Westfalia domestic intelligence service (Verfassungsschutz) has observed the grouping. From 2004 to 2010 it has presented it in its annual reports for the suspicion of right-wing extremist
aspirations. In October 2005, Pro Cologne filed a suit against the state to get the mention of the party removed from the annual report. Thereupon the Higher Administrative Court has ruled that there are sufficient factual indications for the suspicions, that justify the observation and mention in the report. Since 2011 the intelligence service has stated that the indications for anti-constitutional aspirations went beyond the scope of mere suspicion. According to their observations, the movement violates the human rights
as specified in the German constitution
.
According to FH Dusseldorf
sociologist Alexander Häusler, whose research focus is Neonazism, pro Germany can be considered a far-right movement on the fringes of right-wing extremism and right-wing populism
. He sees ethnonationalist
and racist
as well as antisemitic strands, authoritarian
ideas and the rejection of equality
and discrimination
of minorities in activities of pro Germany, particularly the campaigning against "multiculturalism
", building of mosque
s and minaret
s.
Far right in Germany
Following the fall of Nazi Germany and the dissolution of the Nazi Party in 1945, the far right in Germany quickly re-organized itself.The Deutsche Rechtspartei was founded in 1946, succeeded by the Deutsche Reichspartei in 1950. The Socialist Reich Party was founded in 1949...
political party in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It was founded in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
on 20 January 2005 after Pro Cologne members had been elected to the Cologne City Council. Manfred Rouhs, treasurer of the Pro Cologne movement and former candidate of the German League for People and Homeland
German League for People and Homeland
The German League for People and Homeland is a right wing political organization in Germany.-History:The DVLH had its orginis in the power struggle within Die Republikaner between moderate leader Franz Schönhuber and his more extreme deputy Harald Neubauer, which culminated in Schönhuber being...
and the National Democratic Party of Germany
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...
, was elected its first chairman.
The movement is linked to the citizens' movements Pro Cologne and Pro NRW that are only active in the city of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, respectively.
Program
The party advocates law and orderLaw and order (politics)
In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...
; lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 years of age; deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
of illegal immigrants, and the segregation of students with insufficient German language proficiency.
It is critical of multi-national corporations, in particular bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s and other financial institution
Financial institution
In financial economics, a financial institution is an institution that provides financial services for its clients or members. Probably the most important financial service provided by financial institutions is acting as financial intermediaries...
s. German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
parents are promised a child check worth €5,000 and a family loan up to €20.000.
Structure
The headquarters of pro Germany are located in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. The first state branch was formed in Berlin (Pro Berlin Citizen's Movement). The citizen's movements Pro NRW and Pro Cologne are only active in North Rhine-Westfalia and Cologne, respectively. The "Pro Movement", organised as an association, serves as an umbrella organisation to co-ordinate the activities of the formally idenpendent parties.
The party has been endorsed by the Freedom Party of Austria
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
.
Elections
The party's regional branch in Berlin contested the state electionBerlin state election, 2011
The last Berlin state election was held on 18 September 2011, to elect members to the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. All 141 seats were up for election. Berlin was governed by a coalition between the Social Democratic Party and The Left at the time. Current mayor Klaus Wowereit was the favourite...
on 18 September 2011. Its electoral campaign has attracted considerable attention of the media. On 25 July, three days after the Norway attacks
2011 Norway attacks
The 2011 Norway attacks were two sequential terrorist attacks against the government, the civilian population and a summer camp in Norway on 22 July 2011....
, Pro Germany supporters gathered for a "silent vigil" in front of the Norvegian embassy. Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit
Klaus Wowereit
Klaus Wowereit is a German politician, member of the SPD , and has been the Mayor of Berlin since the 2001 state elections, where his party won a plurality of the votes, 29.7%. He served as President of the Bundesrat in 2001/02. His SPD-led coalition was re-elected in the 2006 elections...
sharply protested against the perceived disturbance of the commemoration. Later the critic of Islam Thilo Sarrazin
Thilo Sarrazin
Thilo Sarrazin is a German politician and former member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank...
successfully filed a suit against Pro Germany because they had used his name in their slogan "Wählen gehen für Thilos Thesen!" (Go to the polls for Thilo's theses!"). On 11 August, two Pro Germany campaigners were arrested. According to the police and media reports, they had charged at a migrant passerby with a hammer handle and assaulted a police officer with fists and pepper spray. Eventually, Pro Germany won 1.2% of the votes. Therefore, they failed to surmount the 5% threshold and did not win any seats in the House of Representatives.
Pro Cologne Citizen's Movement
The Pro Cologne Citizen's Movement was formed in 1996 as an offshoot of the extreme right-wing German League for People and HomelandGerman League for People and Homeland
The German League for People and Homeland is a right wing political organization in Germany.-History:The DVLH had its orginis in the power struggle within Die Republikaner between moderate leader Franz Schönhuber and his more extreme deputy Harald Neubauer, which culminated in Schönhuber being...
. The far-right publisher Manfred Rouhs and the lawyer Markus Beisicht have been active in the association from its start. In the 1999 mayoral election, the party presented Stephan Flug as its candidate who won 0.3% of the votes. When the municipality planned to erect a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in Cologne's Chorweiler
Chorweiler
Chorweiler is the Sixth city district of Cologne, Germany. Large portion of the district of Chorweiler were incorporated into the city of Cologne in 1922, the quarter of Chorweiler was created in the 1970s...
district, the citizen's movement organised a collection of signatures
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
petitioning against the project. They could present 28,000 signatures against any mosque construction site in Cologne to the committee on petitions only shortly before the 2004 local elections. With the tailwinds from the signatures campaign, the voter's association could win 4.7% of the votes and four seats in the Cologne city council. In 2005, a fifth councillor joined Pro Cologne's group. The electoral success initiated the expansion of the party to the state and federal level.
In 2007 the movement ran another signature campaign against the Cologne Central Mosque in Ehrenfeld. They showed more than 23,000 signatures, however at least 7,000 of them were not valid and the citizen's initiative
Initiative
In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote...
failed. In September 2008, Pro Cologne organised the Anti-Islamisation Congress, inviting Mario Borghezio
Mario Borghezio
Mario Borghezio is an Italian politician from the Northern League. He is a Member of the European Parliament, and sits with the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group. He is a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairsand of the Committee on Petitions...
and Filip Dewinter
Filip Dewinter
Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter is a Flemish politician in Belgium. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party...
among others. Counter-protests and blockings prompted the police to cancel the congress and rally. The congress was repeated in May 2009. In the 2009 Cologne local election, the party won 5.4% of the votes and could defend its five council seats. The chairman of Pro Cologne, Markus Beisicht, candidated for mayor and won 4.8% of the votes.
The North Rhine-Westfalia domestic intelligence service (Verfassungsschutz) has observed the grouping. From 2004 to 2010 it has presented it in its annual reports for the suspicion of right-wing extremist
Extremism
Extremism is any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards...
aspirations. In October 2005, Pro Cologne filed a suit against the state to get the mention of the party removed from the annual report. Thereupon the Higher Administrative Court has ruled that there are sufficient factual indications for the suspicions, that justify the observation and mention in the report. Since 2011 the intelligence service has stated that the indications for anti-constitutional aspirations went beyond the scope of mere suspicion. According to their observations, the movement violates the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
as specified in the German constitution
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included...
.
Political classification
According to FH Dusseldorf
Fachhochschule Düsseldorf
The Fachhochschule Düsseldorf is a Fachhochschule with departments for social sciences and cultural studies, technical sciences, architecture, media, design and business education in Düsseldorf.Its foundation was in 1971...
sociologist Alexander Häusler, whose research focus is Neonazism, pro Germany can be considered a far-right movement on the fringes of right-wing extremism and right-wing populism
Right-wing populism
Right-wing populism is a political ideology that rejects existing political consensus and combines laissez-faire liberalism and anti-elitism. It is considered "right-wing" because of its rejection of social equality and government programs to achieve it, its opposition to social integration, and...
. He sees ethnonationalist
Ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...
and racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
as well as antisemitic strands, authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
ideas and the rejection of equality
Equality
Equality may refer to:Social concepts* Egalitarianism, the belief that all/some people ought to be treated equally* Equality before the law* Equal opportunity* Equality of outcome or equality of condition* Gender equality* Racial equality...
and discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
of minorities in activities of pro Germany, particularly the campaigning against "multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
", building of mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s and minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
s.
Sources
- http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/parteien/downloads/parteien/Buergerbewegung_pro_Deutschland.pdf Bürgerbewegung pro Deutschland at the Federal Returning OfficerFederal Returning OfficerIn Germany, the Federal Returning Officer is the Returning Officer responsible for overseeing elections on the federal level. The Federal Returning Officer and his deputy are appointed indefinitely by the Federal Minister of the Interior; traditionally this position has been held by the President...
's website - http://www.arbeitsstelle-neonazismus.de/news/Expertise_Web_mit_Anhang_ver2.pdf Alexander Häusler: Rechtspopulismus in Gestalt einer neuen Bürgerbewegung