Really good people: Antifa with popcorn

Popcorn machine, right-wing radical fashion or a demonstration for diversity: the young people at the Güstrow Free School decide for themselves how they use the afternoon course. “We also just do things that we enjoy: graffiti or screen printing,” says teacher Hanka Gatter, who offers the course.

The course has been running for 13 years as part of the School without Racism – School with Courage network. "It's about having fun together. Sharing the values ​​behind School without Racism - School with Courage in a happy, fun, pleasant way." Most recently they all celebrated together at a festival and ran their own bratwurst stand there. They were invited to do so by their sponsors, who had chosen the afternoon course themselves: the band Feine Sahne Fischfilet.

“Young people determine what is relevant and what they can draw attention to.” This year they organized a demonstration in Güstrow themselves. The motto was: "We stand together. Feminist, queer, solidarity & anti-fascist!" This is how they want to live together in the city. And the course also stands out at school, for example with “Popcorn and Talk”: they go through the classes with a popcorn machine and drinks and explain right-wing radical fashion and music.

In the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a right-wing extremist party could come into government for the first time since 1945. But there is also a lively civil society on site that has not yet given up losing the elections. In the “Really Good People” series we will be introducing them throughout the summer.

60 kilometers away, Hanka Gatter also volunteers, here for her “heart project”: an intercultural café in Parchim. A contact point for people who are struggling with the authorities about migration and their asylum procedures and are looking for help - or just want to chat: "You can sit there and drink coffee."

It started with Gatter regularly going to friends' and acquaintances' homes to deal with correspondence with the authorities. She has been using the Die Linke party's Parchim premises for this purpose for four years. Since then, many have helped. "I organized it and am in charge, but we are a tight group. The afternoon is not organized by me, it always comes from the people themselves." What is important to Gatter is: “Not for them, but always with and through them.”

The intercultural café is a project of the “Network for Refugees, Democracy and Tolerance Parchim”, of which Gatter is also the club chairman. Among other things, they also organize a point of contact for exchanging payment cards: people exchange cash for shopping vouchers for supermarkets. Since 2024, asylum seekers have been receiving their benefits in the form of payment cards. The aim of the campaign is to give them back the autonomy to decide on their own financial expenses.

The café in the party office is also often the target of malice and provocative gestures. Because it is very visible in the 13,000-strong Parchim. The glass windows go all the way to the floor, making it easy to look inside. Fortunately, no one has been attacked yet. But café visitors regularly report threats in everyday life. There was an incident last summer that “was no longer funny,” says Gatter. At the apartment door, people pretended to be civilian police officers coming for deportation. "It was fake. A real racist joke. But the family was outraged."

Isn't commitment against the asylum system a fight against windmills anyway? “Honesty is very important.” If people come with a negative decision, they can refer them to advice centers “so that they can receive professional support,” says Gatter. "Because that goes beyond our competences. It is important that we are honest when we know, for example: There is no prospect of staying." They want to accompany that too. “Sometimes that means sitting together and crying.”

The Güstrow afternoon course was recently awarded the Integration Prize of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The following Tuesday, the influencer Marcant made a stop at the school on his pre-election tour.

The future “doesn’t just move me and the guests of our café”. A person who regularly comes to the café wrote to her the evening before the interview, completely frightened. “If the AfD comes to power here, what does that mean for you and your family, who do not have a secure residence status?” asks Gatter. This causes fear and insecurity among people with a migration background. On the other hand, Gatter would like to look further: "Fear should not be the sole guide. There are quite a few of us and we can support each other." Like in the café in Parchim.