Announcement of anthology: "Sächsiche Realitäten" (Saxon realities)

Announcement of anthology: "Saxon Realities"

In June, Thelem-Verlag will publish the latest anthology by Michael Krell and Tom Böhme entitled "Sächsische Realitäten: Analyses of Current Protest Phenomena of the Radical Right in Saxony". The articles collected in the volume deal with the radical right-wing protest scene in Saxony since the coronavirus pandemic and its reorganization in the wake of it. The anthology focuses in particular on the emergence of the federal state as a hotspot for demonstrations and the emergence of the radical right-wing micro-party Freie Sachsen, which has succeeded in shaping the protests against the corona measures as a kind of umbrella organization in Saxony. Various aspects of Saxony's current right-wing scene are examined from the perspective of different social science disciplines and theoretical traditions. In the first part of the volume, the 12 contributions deal with fundamental analyses of Free Saxony, for example by examining the invocation of specific Saxon identities or mobilization via the online messenger service Telegram. The second group of contributions consists of local case studies on Dresden and Bautzen as well as observations of specific protest events such as the 'Ami-Go-Home Demonstration' or the 'Silent Protests' along the Bundesstraße 96. Towards the end of the volume, the focus broadens to include contextual factors for the success of the protests, for example by analyzing how the Saxon CDU Minister President dealt with them and the effects of the right-wing successes on other areas of society such as freedom of the press. Overall, the anthology attempts to provide answers to the question of why Saxony, of all places, occupies a special position in the current phase of right-wing mobilization in terms of the quantity and radical nature of the protests.

In addition to the print version to be published in June, the volume is already available in open access.