New impetus for the AfD: founding of the youth organization in Giessen!

New impetus for the AfD: founding of the youth organization in Giessen!

The political landscape in Germany is facing an exciting upheaval. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is planning to found a new youth organization after its previous youth organization, the Junge Alternative (JA), was dissolved on March 31, 2023. The founding meeting of this new organization is scheduled to take place on November 29th and 30th, 2023 in Giessen, where not only the new name, but also the logo and the board of directors will be chosen. How stern.de reports, the AfD's goal with this new foundation is to increase its control over the party's youth and to prevent a possible ban on associations.

The dissolution of Junge Alternative affected 2,300 members, around half of whom remained in the AfD. This decision followed a party conference resolution that ordered the self-dissolution of the JA because of the threat of a ban due to its right-wing extremist classification by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The authority had classified the JA as right-wing extremist zdf.de.

The new face of the AfD youth

The new youth organization will probably be more closely tied to the AfD, which is also underlined by the possible election of Jean-Pascal Hohm as the new boss. The Brandenburg AfD state parliament member Hohm and four other representatives were also classified as right-wing extremists by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Brandenburg state chairman René Springer has already spoken out in favor of Hohm as a leader. The exchange with the security authorities is already underway as the city of Giessen prepares for possible protests. At the moment, two demonstrations against the event have already been registered verfassungsschutz.de.

A central point of contention among AfD officials is the name of the new youth organization. While Björn Höcke, the head of Thuringia, advocates keeping the old name “Junge Alternative”, there are also suggestions such as “Patriotic Youth” and “DeutschlandJugend”, which have been entered in the German Patent Register. Many in the party disagree about the future direction and the aesthetics of the new logo, which features an eagle, is also controversial.

The context of right-wing extremist potential

The problem surrounding the AfD and its youth organizations falls into a larger context of right-wing extremist potential in Germany. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution from 2024, the right-wing extremist potential is over 50,000, of which 25,000 are organized in parties. In addition, there has been an increase in right-wing extremist violence of more than 47%, which is further fueling the debate about security and political trends in the country. The JA, with currently around 4,300 members, is also one of the confirmed extremist efforts verfassungsschutz.de.

In the coming weeks it will become clear whether there will be further open disputes surrounding the naming, logo and board of directors. What is clear, however, is that the AfD is taking an important step in its strategic direction with its new youth organization and at the same time underscoring the internal party conflicts that accompany this restructuring.