The change from Germany to the right left its mark on the country’s national game, causing all kinds of laughter.
Many German football clubs and fans groups have organized demonstrations against the far right in the past year, both in the stadiums on match days and in the streets of their cities. Several major clubs of the two main German leagues, including Werder Bremen, VFL Bochum, FSV Mainz 05, 1. FC Köln and Hanover 96, called their supporters to oppose right -wing extremism.
The sustained success of the extreme right Alternative for Germany (AFD) seems to have attracted the attention leading to Federal election on February 23: During a recent home game in St. Pauli, a club based in Hamburg with a strong anti-fascist tradition, fans made their feelings known by singing: “The Hamburg set hates AFD!”
They also scored International Day of Holocaust January 27, holding a banner who said: “Those who fight against the Nazis cannot count on the state.”
More racism, more politics
But this effusion of political feeling is far from universal – and, for some politically committed football fans, if something is the general trend among fans in recent years to avoid manifest manifestations of political allegiance.
“I would like them to have more courage,” said Rico Noack, president of GesellschaftsSpiele (“Social Games”), an organization of football fans that helps promote an inclusive society. Too often, he said, he saw “the groups of fans negotiate between them, decide that something is” too political “, then they are content with the smallest possible consensus, or they say nothing at all. “”
It is paradoxical, because the cultural wars of Germany have often focused on football, by far the most popular sport in the country and a major presence in German society. The FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for example, has become political when the German national football team said his intention To take the ground with “one love” armbands to protest against the laws of the host country on LGBTQ +.
Likewise, last year, when Germany welcomed the European Championships, AFD took advantage of the opportunity for Launch his own attack On what he deemed “awareness” in football. Maximilian Krah, the main candidate of the June elections in June, described the male national team Tiktok like a “political, politically correct mercenary”.
“This is the Arc-en-Ciel team, the pride team,” he said, referring to the defense of the LGBTQ +rights team. “We can ignore it.”
“Football is more political than ever,” Noack told DW. He sees the change to the right in German political culture reflected in the culture of football, although “it is not as if you saw real banners on the right” in the stadiums, he added.
But Noack and journalist Ronny Blaschke, who has just published a book on racism in football, has noticed that racism has become less a taboo in the stands.
“Especially after the so-called refugee crisis in 2015, we observed a transition to the right in the stadiums because we have more racist incidents on the stands against black football players,” Blaschke told Dana Sumlaji Dw. “We have massive racism and social media, so whenever you have black German players for youth teams or for the national team, you can look in social media comments and find many comments racists. “
The other demonstrators could learn a lot of organized football fans’
The German culture of football fans is complex. Some clubs, such as Saint-Pauli, have long have an openly left-wing identity. Others, like Alemannia Aachen, would have associations with the far right scene – although the club itself denied this.
Many other clubs, for their part, are home to groups of fans on the left and right. Noack also noticed that with certain groups of fans, whatever the political identity they become less important on the day of the match, when the allegiance of the club has priority.
Noack is also skeptical about the cultures of political football fans which can have a general effect on society. But he thinks that football fans have a special power: when they organize demonstrations, they have a conflicting and rebellious spirit – combined with unity and a sense of humor – that regular anti -Afd demonstrations are lacking Sometimes.
“You could learn a lot of organized football fans: football fans are often very creative, they are good at knowing what to do to create effective images in the media,” he said. “The classic example is the use of pyrotechnics and smoke bombs – it is always the images that are printed. Admittedly, other demonstrators could learn something.”
“ It is like the last stand which fights for democracy in Germany ”
Susanne Franke is a member of the board of directors of the Schalker Fan Initiative – an anti -racist organization of Schalke fans founded in 1992, when violent right -wing hooligans were a regular spectacle in football stadiums.
Schalke is based in the city of Gelsenkirchen, in what was previously the industrial heart of Germany in the Ruhr valley. Although it was once a bastion for the center-left Social democratsThe industrial decline of Gelsenkirchen transformed the city into one of the poorest cities in Germany, and the far -right AFD has gained ground. The neighbor of the club and the biggest rival, Borussia Dortmund, also has a neonazi quota much appreciated in its base of fans dating from the 1970s.
Franke fears that the culture of football will come back at that time. “It had improved, and now it gets worse again. In many places, fans struggle to control the story,” she told DW.
For Franke, the decision of the chief of the Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz has pass a non -binding resolution in the German parliament With the help of AFD has returned its work all the more urgent. “For me, it’s like the last stand that fights for democracy in Germany,” she said. “Whether you are a football fan or not, it is very important that you take this moment very seriously.”
Although there is no obvious evidence that football fans are more or less politically engaged than anyone, the presence of football in German society often makes them more visible when they express political opinions.
“Football has a huge chance and enormous scope,” said Franke. “It is widely visible – in news, in social media and in German society. This is why I hope honestly that people will take an honest position and will say something.”
Published by: Rina Goldenberg
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