Nipsters: German Neo-Nazi Hipsters

Rolling Stone has published a fascinating story about hipster Nazis in Germany. As many antifascists have warned for years, fascists are abandoning the old bonehead-and-white-robes approach for one that is closer to the cultural tastes of the radical left. The apolitical or right-wing political tendencies of the largely white hipster culture make this no surprise that it’s now become a focus for recruitment. Some highlights of this article include:

“In recent years, a number of extreme-right hip-hop acts have emerged in Germany — with names like Makss Damage and Dee Ex. Despite the awkward politics of using hip-hop to preach the virtues of German identity, they’ve amassed a small, but significant presence within the scene. Dee Ex, for example, has over 7,000 likes on Facebook and posts photos of herself in a revealing outfit on her blog. There is now neo-Nazi techno (biggest act: DJ Adolf) and neo-Nazi reggae.”

Some of the Nipsters argue that “young neo-Nazis should be allowed to dress however they want, as long as they have the ‘right’ anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic ideas. This newly relaxed approach allows neo-Nazi leaders to attract young people from different subcultures and makes neo-Nazis more difficult for their opponents to identify.”

“Daniel Koehler, director of research at the Institute for the Study of Radical Movements in Berlin, says the nipster is less new than many people think — he’s been seeing them at extreme-right rallies for the past two or three years. ‘When we first saw it, it was something weird,’ he says, ‘but now it’s pretty normal.’”

“In February, Tim and Kevin started Balaclava Kueche, Germany’s first Nazi vegan cooking show. In each episode, the two chatty, fast-talking men wear facemasks and earnestly explain to viewers how to make an array of vegan dishes (the first episode: mixed salad, tofu scramble). ‘The left-wing doesn’t have a prior claim to veganism,’ says Tim. ‘Industrial meat production is incompatible with our nationalist and socialist world views.’”

“The current German wave of, for instance, hip, vegan neo-Nazis functions in a similar way. [Simone Rafael, the editor-in-chief of Netz Gegen Nazis, a blog that monitors the extreme right] says they attempt to slide into debates where young people wouldn’t expect them, and then sell their politics as a palatable outlet. ‘They use subjects like globalization and animal protection as entry points, and then offer a very simple worldview that makes complex subjects very easy to understand,” says Rafael. ‘Of course, in the end, it’s always about racism and anti-Semitism and nationalism.’”

You can read the whole article here: Thomas Rogers, Heil Hipster: The Young Neo-Nazis Trying to Put a Stylish Face on Hate Inside the tote-bag friendly, “Harlem Shake”-happy world of Germany’s “nipsters”