In the MDR interview, Björn Höcke called for the inclusion “ideology project” to be abolished. Sharp criticism comes from various areas of society.
Statements made in an interview by the Thuringian AfD right-wing extremist Björn Höcke have caused dismay among associations for the disabled, trade unions and social organizations. Höcke said in MDR’s “summer interview” on Wednesday that inclusion, i.e. teaching children with disabilities at regular schools, is one of several “ideological projects”. The aim is to “liberate” the education system from this.
Höcke belongs to the extreme right camp of the AfD; Thuringia’s protection of the constitution classifies its state association as “safe right-wing extremist”.
Höcke said literally: “Among other things, we must also liberate the education system from ideological projects, such as inclusion, for example the gender mainstream approach.” He added: “All of these are projects that don’t help our students, that don’t make our children more productive and that don’t lead to us turning our children and young people into the professionals of the future.”
“Breaking a taboo and simply a scandal”
The federal chairman of the non-profit federal association Lebenshilfe, Ulla Schmidt, told the “Spiegel”: “We are appalled by Mr. Höcke’s omissions in the MDR summer interview on the subject of inclusion.” She added: “We regard questioning this right as breaking a taboo and simply as a scandal. Given this misanthropic attitude, we can only guess how Mr. Höcke would like to deal with people with disabilities,” said the former Federal Minister of Health.
Anja Bensinger-Stolze from the Education and Science Union (GEW) also said: “Every child, every young person has the right to be taught inclusively – i.e. at a regular school.” The GEW is “against any exclusion and selection,” she emphasized.
“An Assault on Human Dignity”
The head of communications for the organization “Aktion Mensch”, Christina Marx, told the magazine: “Inclusion is not an ideological project, inclusion is a human right. Abolishing it is an attack on human dignity.” Growing up and learning together from the very beginning enables people to take on social responsibility – that is exactly what a future-oriented society needs now more than ever.
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The social association VdK made a similar statement on Thursday: “Inclusion is a human right and not an ‘ideological project’,” explained VdK President Verena Bentele. “With this, the AfD shows once again how important it is to people with disabilities.”
The aim of the party is obviously not “that all people in the country have the same opportunities for participation,” criticized the VdK President. “Today it’s migrants and refugees, people with disabilities and women who the AfD brazenly and openly denies their rights, tomorrow it might be senior citizens, people in need of care and poorer people.”
Germany ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009 and thus committed to the right to equal participation for all people.
IW: People with disabilities “essential support”
The Institute of German Economics (IW) also condemned the statements by the AfD right-wing extremist as “misanthropic”. Höcke assumes that children and young people with disabilities do not add value to the labor market and that children with disabilities prevent their classmates from learning successfully – “a slap in the face for millions of people,” said the employer-friendly IW on Thursday. People with disabilities are an “indispensable support” for the job market. That is “indisputable”.
“A look at the statistics quickly unmasks Höcke’s statements,” according to the IW. A total of more than 1.3 million people with severe disabilities are employed by companies across Germany. The trend – with a small corona gap – has been increasing for years.
With a view to the shortage of skilled workers, there is still potential among severely disabled people: “Here, 49 percent of the unemployed have completed an apprenticeship, among those without disabilities it was 34 percent,” the institute determined. Severely disabled people are well qualified and work in all sectors, particularly often in manufacturing or in the public sector.
MDR justified itself in advance for an interview
In August, MDR interviews top politicians from all parties represented in the Thuringian state parliament. With a view to Höcke, the station had already explained in advance why it also offers a platform for the AfD right-wing extremist. “It is our task to make the positions in Thuringian politics transparent for the people in the Free State and to classify them.”
And further: “Excluding the influential figure of the Thuringian AfD, which is the third largest parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament, is not compatible with our journalistic mission.”
