Knoll: Young people must feel the benefits of democracy

According to the designated Minister for Youth and Democracy, Manuel Knoll, young people's frustration with democracy is based on a lack of consideration for their worries, needs and concerns. «Young people must feel that they have a direct benefit because they live in freedom and prosperity. And the impression should not arise that younger people only have to bear the greater burdens," said the CSU politician to the German Press Agency in Munich. Knoll is also state leader of the Junge Union (JU) in Bavaria and will be sworn in in the state parliament on Wednesday.

Call for sustainability factor for future generations

Knoll cited the pension debate as an example of the lack of appreciation, “when the impression arose that younger people wanted to evade their responsibility towards the older generation.” Instead, the consequences for the future must always be examined when setting the course in the future. “There needs to be a sustainability factor in laws for future generations.” They should also get a piece of the cake and should not have the impression that “the flood will come after us”.

From Knoll's point of view, the enthusiasm of young people is crucial for the future viability of democracy: "If the worries and needs are not eliminated, i.e. if nothing changes in the basic conditions, then the danger increases that many will become susceptible to irrational explanations or supposed solutions that ultimately are not solutions."

Centrist parties no longer reach many young people

The fact that young people are currently increasingly voting for extreme parties shows that the centrist parties are no longer reaching them. «We have to manage to penetrate the new media landscape to young people, even with more complex solutions. Young people must understand that they too have to fight for democracy and their values. Democracy always means compromise, and that must not lead to waves of indignation.”

In the most recent elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD and the Left in particular received votes from young voters. A survey commissioned by the “Augsburger Allgemeine” also showed that the AfD would also reach 42 percent in the Free State if only those under 30 years old voted.

There are many reasons why young people tend to vote for the AfD

“The reasons why so many young people can currently imagine voting for the AfD cannot be answered in a monocausal way. On the one hand, it is very much linked to the uncertainty that arises from the international crises. And then of course there is climate change, which no one can turn a blind eye to,” said Knoll. At the same time, they felt economic fears, also because of the effects of demographic change on the social systems and personal insecurities because no one could afford home ownership anymore.

“All of this meets a completely changed media landscape,” he says. While people used to get information through traditional media and classify things, today the main sources of information for young people are social media: "There is no longer a filter, but there they meet the parties that have extreme approaches, that work with polarization and cynicism."

As a minister, Knoll wants to go to those who feel left behind

Despite the difficult situation, Knoll is optimistic: He is convinced that young people can be enthusiastic about democracy. “It is crucial that the concerns of young people are recognized and taken into account appropriately.”

As a minister, he wants to “go exactly to the place” where he meets people who have no access to the classic structures, who are not in a club, association or party, but who feel somewhat left behind: “But I don’t want to be the high-school explanatory uncle who explains democracy to the young. For me, it's about a real exchange in which I also take topics from these discussions into government work."

The great social commitment of young people gives him hope. “We have an incredible number of young people who do voluntary work and who are willing to do something for society in their free time. And I think you have to use this advantage.”