The Prototype Project
FOCUS
CORE OBJECTIVE
COMPONENTS
The central starting point of the project 'FULL CONTACT: Democracy and Martial Arts' is the fact that extreme right-wing organizations want to profit from the constantly growing martial arts and self-defense sports market in Germany as they recognize its potential for their scene. On the one hand, the competence in violence imparted by martial arts is of interest to them for politically motivated 'street fighting', and, on the other hand, young people can be recruited for their scene and networking can be facilitated within the framework of important martial arts events. By marketing their own martial arts clothing brands and events, they last but not least finance their own activities and structures. Members of these right-wing groups are particularly interested in all forms of extreme martial arts and close combat systems for self-defence (with use of weapons). The fighting techniques that they can learn here are close to 'real fighting' in their applications and can therefore be used in politically motivated 'street fighting'.
Against this background, the project aims to both develop urgently needed preventive measures as well as establish political guidelines for the topic of democracy in the martial arts sector. In a preventive sense, the aim is to sensitize people to hostile attitudes and extreme right-wing strategies in martial arts - not to "convert" extreme right-wing people by means of martial arts measures. For the development of a strategy in Germany, the idea is also to use the experience of other European countries in how they have dealt with this challenge and handled the phenomenon of extreme martial arts (such as MMA) and the associated dynamics of violence.
One focus of the project is 'extreme combat sports', such as (Thai) kickboxing or mixed martial arts (MMA). MMA in particular is gaining increasing public interest, and the number of spectators at MMA events as well as the number of German Pay-Per-Views have been rising sharply for years. Though there is still a controversy at present whether MMA can be classified as a sport due to ethical questions concerning the topic of violence, the German MMA Federation (GEMMAF) is in communication with the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) about an admission as a member, which would make regular sports promotion accessible to the MMA professional association. International MMA associations are also involved in this interaction. Against this background, it can be assumed that a public debate of MMA will take place in the foreseeable future discussing both sports and socio-political issues.
The core objective of the project is to strengthen preventive approaches and standards regarding violence and group-focused enmity, especially the influence of the extreme right in martial arts in general and in MMA in particular. The results of the project will hopefully be applied in the practice of martial arts in the future and will be made known to a greater public through public presentations and discussion events.
The components of the project:
We are involving important actors in the field, such as members of martial arts associations, event organizers, youth protection/youth social work, local authorities and sports policy, in the investigation of the status of preventive activities concerning violence and group-focused enmity in MMA and other extreme martial arts and self-defense systems, in associations, in event organizers, and in gyms.
The results of an exploratory study conducted by KoFaS in 2019 show that there is a great need for information and for the development of preventive measures among the pertinent actors and target groups of the project. The ad hoc retrieval of specific information about extreme right-wing activities and actors in martial arts is extremely helpful for MMA associations and organizers as well as for youth protection and regulatory authorities in the municipalities. Partial or interim results of the project will therefore be constantly communicated to interested actors and target groups as well as to the greater (specialist) public via various information channels (e-mail distribution list, project homepage, specialist events, direct contact). In addition, dialogue platforms will be established in the course of the project to enable the exchange with central actors and target groups and to develop the foundation for joint action strategies and concrete preventive measures in practice. It is intended to have informational and exploratory meetings with the representatives of individual national MMA associations. Based on this, we are then striving for a joint networking meeting with the representatives of all national MMA associations, of the sports umbrella organisations, and of sports policy.
Activities of extreme right players in martial arts - e.g. fighter events and labels - will be observed and analyzed. These data will be published in a monitoring report at the end of the year and made available to all interested parties.