Protection of the Constitution Lower Saxony: Merch campaign or indoctrination?

Protection of the Constitution Lower Saxony: Merch campaign or indoctrination?

The Lower Saxony Constitutional Protection is again criticized after he has stimulated public discussions with a merchandising campaign. Products such as cups, stickers and ballpoint pen are advertised on social media under the slogan "Basic Law regulates". This has caused outrage, especially with opposition politicians, such as the AfD member of the state parliament Ansgar Schledde. He describes the authority as a "merch authority" and sees the campaign as a political attempt to intimidate citizens and bring them to a certain line. Schledde accuses the authority of abusing symbols and calling itself "Antifa".

In October 2024, the protection of the constitution said that "anti -fascism was not anti -constitutional" and positioned itself as anti -fascist. This statement was spread by an Instagram post that dealt with Antifa. However, Klaus Wichmann, the AfD parliamentary group leader in the Lower Saxony state parliament, decidedly rejects the positioning of the authority. For him, Antifa is a symbol of political violence and left -wing extremism. In this context, Frank Rasche, spokesman for the protection of the constitution, emphasizes that being anti -fascist, is a democratic attitude that can be supported by all democratic forces.

criticism of political education

The discussion about the role of the protection of the constitution goes beyond the current campaign. Employees of the state offices for the protection of the constitution attend schools in several federal states to offer political education on topics such as extremism. In Lower Saxony, for example, the State Center for Political Education was abolished in 2005, which left a visible vacuum in the political educational landscape. As a result, the "Neis" (Lower Saxony Extremism Information Center) department was founded in the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2009 in order to meet the high demand for information in the school context.

The use of the protection of the constitution in schools is controversial. Critics argue that there is no legal basis for these activities, while supporters see the protection of the constitution as an important actor who informs the public about knowledge of extremism. Nevertheless, the protection of the constitution is not perceived as a suitable political artist, since his mandated work and the principles of political education are not in harmony. For a good reason, the legislature has determined the separation between intelligence and educational policy tasks in order to clearly define the boundaries between different educational actors.

public perception

Those who support the anti -fascist orientation of the constitutional protection, such as the Greens in the Lower Saxony state parliament, defend the recent measures by the authority. Nevertheless, there is largely no critical public debate on the role of the protection of the constitution in political education and its methods. The protection of the constitution itself no longer wants to see itself as a secret service, but as an agency for press, information and prevention work. The ambiguities regarding his role and the actual goals of his public relations work continue to raise questions that should be treated in the political discussion.

This complex situation of the protection of the constitution in Lower Saxony illustrates how much the political views and educational approaches within society are in the flow and what challenges are in the mediation of political knowledge. The relationship between security, extremism and political education remains a hotly controversial topic.