To put it straight: ...

DRIVE does not work for misanthropic parties, groups, or organizations such as the AfD. As a matter of principle.

Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz) has classified the entire political party AfD (Alternative for Germany) as a suspected right-wing extremist organization. This classification has been explicitly confirmed in a legal ruling by the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia. The same applies to the party’s youth organization, the so-called "Young Alternative" (Junge Alternative).

The court, in its official justification, stated:

"… In the opinion of the Senate, there are sufficient factual indications that the AfD pursues objectives directed against the human dignity of certain groups and against the principles of democracy."

And further: "There is reasonable suspicion that the political aims — at least of a significant part of the AfD — include assigning German citizens with a migration background an inferior legal status. This constitutes unlawful discrimination on the basis of descent, which is incompatible with the guarantee of human dignity under the German Basic Law…". (Source: Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia, content in German  https://www.ovg.nrw.de/: Content in German - "Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution may monitor AfD and JA as suspected extremist cases,” May 13, 2024)

Something has changed in Germany. And we are against it.

At DRIVE, we see the danger that something has changed in Germany. We ourselves grew up with the consensus that we were growing up in a free, tolerant, compassionate, and supportive society whose citizens are committed to these values and behave accordingly. For us, it was and is self-evident that clearly misanthropic views, attitudes, and behaviors such as xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, and much more are simply completely unacceptable. The results of the last political elections show that it is apparently no longer taboo for a large group of people here to clearly express such views and attitudes through their behavior.

We reject this. We do not want to, cannot, and will not work with or for clients who belong to such groups, organizations, or parties, or who cooperate with or sympathize with those who exhibit such behavior, hold such views, or cultivate such attitudes. This fundamentally contradicts everything we consider essential and unconditional for communication, our work, and our existence as human beings in this society and in this world: unity, justice, freedom, solidarity, mutual respect, and standing together. We know that in Germany we have sufficiently good instruments at our disposal to preserve this and to counter the efforts of all groups, such as the AfD, who want to undermine and destroy it.

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