On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, the Sächsischen Zeitung published an interview with Prof. Dr. Nadine Jukschat on the Upper Lusatian Monday demonstrations and the shift to the right in the region. The interview is based on research conducted as part of several teaching research projects since the 2021/22 winter semester with students from the Master's program in Management of Social Change at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, which were carried out in cooperation with the Oxymoron project of the Volkshochschule Görlitz on the one hand and with students from the Master's program in Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig on the other. The interview focuses on the development of the protests since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, their ideological shifts, and their social function in rural areas.

In the interview, Jukschat describes how anti-democratic positions quickly emerged during the course of the pandemic. Social uncertainty played a central role in this: “Most of us are not virologists, so much was difficult for us to understand and was not always well explained. There was clearly uncertainty in politics as well and mistakes were certainly made.” These uncertainties were met with simplistic explanations from actors such as the “Freie Sachsen” (Free Saxons).

The interview illustrates how right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists have been able to establish themselves in the context of the demonstrations—in particular through strategies of trivialization and reinterpretation. For example, they ridicule the classification of the demonstrations as right-wing extremist or reinterpret the term “right-wing extremist” in a positive sense—as meaning particularly consistent. Prof. Jukschat observes that parts of the movement deliberately portray themselves as true defenders of democracy. However, this self-image is based on a narrow understanding of democracy: “Democracy means that we all have to get involved and negotiate conflicts, and cannot simply delegate responsibility to politicians.”

Research shows that protest also has an inherent social function. Many participants were not primarily seeking political debate, but rather self-efficacy and community: “You applaud each other, experience self-efficacy, and meet up.”

At the same time it points out that the protests are continuing despite dwindling numbers of participants and shifts in focus. Today, what is most visible is a “hard core” with links to right-wing extremist organizations. The social climate has changed noticeably in the wake of the coronavirus protests: the tone toward politics and the media has become harsher and anti-democratic narratives have become more commonplace.