It started with a tweet. One of the members of the “Sonnenblume” *, a food cooperative in Saxony-Anhalt, read about a donation. In August, the company Bode Immobilien GmbH transferred around 60,000 euros to the “Die Basis” party, a small party founded in 2020 that is close to the maverick milieu and won 1.35 percent of the votes in the federal elections. A short research revealed: Apparently the managing director of Bode Immobilien was identical to that of the organic wholesaler Bode Naturkost. Like many other food co-ops, which are buying groups primarily for regionally produced organic food, the sunflower also obtained its dry products there. How should the sunflower deal with it? Opinions differed. Soon the organic cooperative was about to split up.
“I was shocked that it wasn’t crystal clear to everyone in the project that we would no longer order,” says Sonja Hansen *, one of the members. Isn’t it a matter of course that you don’t want to have anything to do with the “base”? Hansen is not bothered that the party denies the extent of the corona pandemic, as Hansen says. “That the party is right-wing open and that its members are also anti-Semitic, I find that much more problematic,” says the 38-year-old. This means that “The Basis” joins “eco-brown tendencies”.
Henrik Schulz *, part of the smaller group of sunflowers who would like to continue to order from Bode Naturkost, on the other hand, finds “the concern of the ‘base’ to be well worth supporting”, as does her criticism of the corona policy. That’s why he doesn’t want to send a letter to Bode on behalf of the cooperative condemning the donation, as Hansen and others would like.
Decision postponed for now
The corona crisis also divides the organic movement. But are these trenches new? Or have they existed for a long time and are only now becoming visible? To the Friday opposite, Bode Naturkost distanced itself from any political activity. But also in the umbrella association of the Federal Working Group for Food Cooperatives. V. The news of the donation made waves. “Several of us then took a closer look at the party and came to different assessments,” reports Annette Hoffstiepel, one of the members. The donation was also an issue in her own cooperative. “In Bochum, ‘Die Basis’ is absolutely not eligible,” says Hoffstiepel. The direct candidate in the Bundestag election, a doctor, is being investigated because he may have falsified mask certificates, and he also has rights to go to demos. However, in order to give all members of the cooperative the opportunity to find out more about ‘Die Basis’, a decision was postponed for the time being.
Andreas Speit, author of the recently published book Crazy thinking. Dangerous worldviews in alternative milieus, observed a highly emotional debate in the organic scene about whether one should adhere to the mask requirement. “In health food stores there are often posters or magazines that speak out against vaccination. At the same time, we from the right-wing extremist scene are turning to the supposedly lateral thinking milieu, ”warns Speit. He draws parallels to the life reform movement at the end of the 19th century. In this, too, there were left and right currents, people who developed alternative lifestyles and wanted to tread new pedagogical or medical paths. “But there were always people who advocated anti-emancipatory to deeply anti-Semitic positions,” he recalls.
The organic scene has a problem, not just today: an ecological way of life and organic farming can definitely be reconciled with a right attitude. Heinrich Himmler welcomed Rudolf Steiner’s biodynamic agriculture with a view to improving the soil and “public health”. Right-wing extremists can still be found among organic farmers, as Anna Weers, the consultant for right-wing extremism in rural areas at the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, reports: some of the “ethnic settlers” who live mainly in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Lower Saxony, for example or the Members of the “right-wing esoteric” Anastasia movement.
In order to differentiate itself from brown farmers, the Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BÖLW) decided in 2012 to “decisively oppose racist, anti-constitutional and xenophobic tendencies and other discriminatory or inhuman behaviors”. The Network Solidarity Agriculture, another association of alternative farmers, founded a working group rights tendencies in 2016, which defends itself against appropriation by nationalist groups. The network refuses to work with lateral thinkers.
Anthroposophy has a special position. Many supporters: Rudolf Steiner has always been opponents of vaccinations: at the same time, biodynamic agriculture, as pursued by Demeter, one of the central organic farming associations, is based on anthroposophical convictions. Demeter came under criticism with a text in his winter journal last year: In it, an overcoming of the age of “destructive intellectual elites” was propagated, which many felt to be anti-science. At the beginning of 2021, the Demeter Association distanced itself from “anti-enlightenment currents such as the lateral thinking movement and conspiracy theories on Covid-19”.
Where are the red lines?
The sunflower, but also many consumers of organic products are wondering where a red line should be drawn: Should organic muesli be boycotted because the producers reject the current corona measures? Or only if they not only refuse a vaccination, but smell “the Jewish world conspiracy” behind it? How much time and energy do you spend to find out what makes individual companies “tick”?
Many cooperatives make their decisions based on the principle of consensus. A conflict like the one in the sunflower can cause groups to break up. This has not yet happened in the sunflower. After a mediation meeting, most of the group switched to the Bremen wholesaler Antakya. Although the rest of the group is free to continue ordering from Bode, they are not currently doing so. If Antakya turns out to be a good alternative, it might no longer be necessary.
It is different for business-minded customers: inside and outside shops. For Franziska Frank, owner of the Leipzig bulk store “Lieber lose”, a donation to “Die Basis” is a no-go. But not all goods can be replaced overnight. Bode offers products that nobody else has in their range for the price.
As a first step, Frank has greatly reduced the order quantities and is now looking for alternatives. While some of its members continue to order from Bode, a group in Hesse is looking for local producers who have no connections to lateral thinkers. In spring, when they can meet outside again, they want to discuss positions on corona policy. Then the cards should be on the table.
* Name changed by the editor
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