The Immediate Dimension of Violence in the Communication of German New-Rightists

In the Neue Rechte, a new-rightist movement in Germany, the participants proclaim themselves in public as strictly non-violent. This non-violent attitude seems to be a strategic way to distance themselves from the “Old right” Nazis, who have a poor reputation in Germany and are antagonized. The strategic dimension of the non-violence becomes evident considering that the participants are presenting themselves to each other as having the potential to commit acts of violence. This provokes the question whether the communication about potential violence does in fact serve to replace immediate violence in far-right groups.

In the sociological discussion the term ‘violence’ is not neutral. Colloquially, to call something ‘violent’ means to delegitimize it. Nonetheless, in order to understand violent phenomena, it is necessary to have an analytical concept that incorporates the social specifics of violence. Thus, I adopt the violence concept of Gesa Lindemann, who describes violence as ‘mediated immediacy’ according to Helmuth Plessner. This concept allows to describe the immediate dimension of violence, in the sense of violence as an immediate embodied interaction in the Here-Now. Furthermore, this immediate act is mediated through the reference to mediating third parties. These third parties are important to understand the morality of violence: the existence of violence indicates breached normative expectations. In committing violence the perpetrators state, that their expectations are valid, even if they were breached.

To study the communication about potential violence as violence means in fact to study to what extent the immediate dimension of violence can be found in the verbally mediated violence. In my contribution I try to answer the question based upon ethnographic field research consisting of participatory observations over several months in different groups, interviews with key actors and public self-representations in the Neue Rechte. The qualitative data were coded based on the grounded theory methodology.