Lecture series: "quite extreme! Culture - Power - Language"

The focus of this year's series is on the cultural and linguistic dimension of extreme right-wing interpretations of the world, ideologies and thought patterns and corresponding mobilization strategies. "This year, we would like to return to the original idea of the lecture series and also give civil society initiatives a clear voice", say Prof. Dr Sabine Ruß-Sattar, Professor of Comparative Political Science at the University of Kassel and Julian Sehmer, Head of the Bachelor of Social Work programme at HAWK Holzminden, who are jointly organizing this year's lecture series.

At the first event on 23.10.2023, initiatives that are committed to education, remembrance, counter-strategies, violence prevention and a democratic society will have the opportunity to present themselves and their work. Among others, employees of the Anne Frank Educational Center will be present. Dr. Wolfgang Kraushaar will kick off the lectures on 30.10.2023 with a lecture entitled "From Rathenau to Lübcke: The threat to democracy from the radical right."

The program of the lecture series is divided into three blocks:

The first block deals with the basics of understanding right-wing extremism. It will look at the continuities and metamorphoses of right-wing extremism in Germany. In addition, key terms such as "right-wing extremism" and "right-wing radicalism" will be clarified, the significance and strategies of the use of language by extreme right-wing actors will be explored and key current developments, for example in relation to political conservatism, will be discussed.

The second block will focus on the social arenas in which extreme right-wing dynamics manifest themselves, as well as the means and forms of their mobilization. There will be presentations on racism, hate speech and agitation in social media, anti-Muslim racism and anti-Semitism, on the specific use of aesthetics by far-right actors, on queer and trans hostility, on ways of commemorating and remembering far-right acts and on pseudo-scientific stagings by far-right actors.

The third block is dedicated to civil society counter-strategies to the spread of right-wing extremist thought and argumentation patterns. On the one hand, journalistic approaches to right-wing actors will be examined and, on the other, civil society initiatives against right-wing extremism will have their say again.

The last session on 29.01.2024 will take place as a panel discussion in which members of the educational initiative Ferhat Unvar, the initiatives 6. April, NACHGEFRAGT and Offen für Vielfalt as well as the Anne Frank Educational Center will be involved.

This year's lecture is hosted by the Presidential Board of the University, the Faculties of Humanities, Humanities and Cultural Studies and Social Sciences as well as the HAWK Social Work Department in Holzminden and organized by lecturers from the University of Kassel and the Holzminden University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

Background:

The lecture series against right-wing extremism was founded in 2012 after the NSU trio exposed themselves and in response to the murder of Halit Yozgat not far from the Holländischer Platz campus in order to support civil society initiatives and struggles for clarification through scientific analysis and the joint development of counter-strategies. Since then, it has been held every winter at the University of Kassel, to which students and staff of the university as well as the entire urban community are invited.