Schwerin (dpa / mv) – According to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD), social peace is an important contribution to combating extremism. “We know that right-wing extremism also falls on fertile ground when people are dissatisfied, angry and insecure,” said Schwesig on Friday in a state parliament debate on the 30th anniversary of the racist pogrom in Rostock-Lichtenhagen. This is no excuse for right-wing extremism, she stressed. “But we also have to take care of the causes, the roots.” Good social policy is an important contribution to combating extremism, as is reliable support for democracy work.
Schwesig said everyone can be sure that the state would react faster and more consistently to signals like those in Lichtenhagen before the August 1992 riots. However, there are no guarantees that something like this will not happen again. Therefore, the fight against right-wing extremism remains a task for society as a whole. This begins with a clear demarcation from any form of extremism and violence. “No debate or argument, no matter how tough, must end in violence,” appealed the head of government. “We have to agree on that.”
Speakers from the parliamentary groups also called for cohesion and a united approach against extremist tendencies in the debate. The CDU MP Ann-Christin von Allwörden said that everyone should demand that attacks like the one in Lichtenhagen not be repeated. Left-wing politician Eva-Maria Kröger said one lesson must be that politics should never again be allowed to be driven by violent criminals on the right.
Green politician Christiane Oehlrich emphasized the importance of a strong civil society for stability. The FDP parliamentary group leader René Domke appealed that everyone should oppose extremist statements in their circle of friends and acquaintances. It must never again be allowed that crises and fears of people are politically exploited.
The AfD politician Jan-Phillip Tadsen said that today people are living in times of new uncertainties. “That’s why we have to develop an awareness of the fragility of this state and human order.” 30 years of Lichtenhagen are a call to deal carefully with the country’s resources and with social peace. He linked this with a demand for fewer illegal entries into Germany.
