Right-wing extremist concerts and folkish settlers: predominantly in rural areas with a less favorable socio-economic situation

Larissa Deppisch, Torsten Osigus and Andreas Klärner show in the journal Neue Kriminalpolitik in which spaces right-wing extremist activities are particularly prevalent. To this end, they investigated how often and in which types of areas right-wing extremist concerts took place from 2014 to mid-2023. The district regions were differentiated according to the Thünen typology of their rurality (very rural, rather rural, non-rural) and socio-economic situation (good, less good). Over 70 percent of right-wing extremist concerts took place in rural areas with a less good socio-economic situation. Whether these are more or very rural is less relevant here. Around 20 percent of concerts took place in non-rural areas and only around 10 percent in (more or very) rural areas with a good socio-economic situation. Within the rural districts, individual locations stand out in some cases where properties belonging to people from the far-right scene are located. Folkish settlers can also be found especially in rural areas with a less favorable socio-economic situation.

One reason for this prevalence could be that rural areas offer more space and open area for larger events. At the same time, the lower property prices in rural areas with a less favorable socio-economic situation enable far-right actors to acquire buildings (e.g. old inns) and land for events or farms for settlement purposes. Land ownership is linked to the right to enter the premises, which reduces the likelihood of events being terminated prematurely by the police. It is also possible to advertise events more openly, as there is no risk of cancellation by landlords. In socio-economically disadvantaged rural areas, the more limited opportunities for a democratic civil society to organize resistance against right-wing extremist activities could also increase the opportunities for the far right.

The publication in German language can be found in the journal Neue Kriminalpolitik: https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/0934-9200-2023-4/nk-neue-kriminalpolitik-jahrgang-35-2023-heft-4?page=1 The information on the time and location of the right-wing extremist concerts was published in answers to parliamentary inquiries to the federal government. They were compiled for the period 01/2014 to 06/2023 and the location was supplemented by the Thünen region type. The data set is available on open agrar: https://www.openagrar.de/receive/openagrar_mods_00090310?q=deppisch