Anti-Germans (political current)

Anti-German (German: Antideutsch) is the generic name applied to a variety of theoretical and political tendencies within the radical left mainly in Germany and Austria. In 2006 Deutsche Welle estimated the number of Anti-Germans at between 500 and 3,000.

The basic standpoint of the Anti-Germans includes opposition to German nationalism, a critique of mainstream left anti-capitalist views, which are thought to be simplistic and structurally anti-Semitic, and a critique of anti-Semitism, which is considered to be deeply rooted in German cultural history. As a result of this analysis of anti-semitism, support for Israel and opposition to Anti-Zionism is a primary unifying factor of the Anti-German movement. The critical theory of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer is often cited by Anti-German theorists.

The term does not generally refer to any one specific radical left tendency, but rather a wide variety of distinct currents, ranging from the so-called "hardcore" Anti-Germans such as the quarterly journal Bahamas to "softcore" Anti-Germans such as the radical left journal Phase 2. Some Anti-German ideas have also exerted an influence on the broader radical leftist milieu, such as the monthly magazine konkret and the weekly newspaper Jungle World.

The first stirrings of the emergence of the anti-Germans can be traced back to the dissolution process of the Communist League (Kommunistischer Bund, KB), a Marxist-Leninist political organization primarily active in Hamburg and Northern Germany. The KB distinguished itself from other extra-parliamentary groups through a decidedly pessimistic analysis with regard to the potential for revolutionary change in Germany. Known as the "Fascisation" analysis, this theory held that due to the particularity of German history and development, the endemic crisis of capitalism would lead to a move towards the Right and to a new Fascism.

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