Photo: D. Schneider (by DLF), E. Gaugele, H. Vens, J. Trebing, T. Gaier
The AfD now has seats in the German parliament, the cultural Right is inundating the »pre-political space« with »metapolitics«. The »Erklärung 2018«, an anti-refugee declaration by German authors and theorists, is being petitioned, and even the left-wing hegemony of pop culture is in question. The wavering borders of right-wing rhetoric and right-wing rumors have always been a dicey game: Xavier Naidoo, Andreas Gabalier, Frei.Wild, Böhse Onkelz, Joachim Witt, Fler. But now something is different—the presence and resonance of right-wing populism are stronger than they have ever been in post-war Germany. The strategies, sensibilities, and lifestyles of pop—amoralism, symbolism, novelty, and subversion—have been coopted as part of the repertoire of the Right. Time for alarm? Those who sell themselves as ‘pop’ versions of right-wing extremism number no more than a small-town shooting club, but their propaganda content goes viral. How should we position ourselves as pop culture, as pop-cultural people—or should we position ourselves at all? Would positioning be a reaction that accepts normalization? How and against what should we resist? Should we demand humanistic standards a la Campino at the Echo awards? Or establish new welfare committees as in the 90s? Unite with the Antifa? Or say goodbye to pop altogether, because its strategies have been hijacked?