Quote:
Germany 'sees rise in far-right extremism'
Police note a significant rise in far-right extremism, as anti-Islam marches in Dresden draw high numbers.
15 Dec 2014 02:38 GMT | Europe
http://bc05.ajnm.me/665003303001/201...d=665003303001
German police have noted a significant rise in far-right extremism and attacks targeting foreigners, a news report said on Sunday, amid a growing debate about a new Islamophobic movement.
"We're seeing a significant nationwide increase in xenophobic offences," Federal Criminal Police Office chief Holger Muench told an interior ministers conference last week, the newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported, citing participants.
The trend is seen as a backlash against a sharp increase in refugees arriving in Germany, Europe's biggest economy and a top destination for asylum seekers and other migrants.
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/ima...7206580_20.jpg The houses which were planned to be used for asylum seekers [Reuters]
In the latest attack, three buildings reserved to house asylum seekers were set ablaze in the southern town of Vorra last Thursday, with Nazi swastikas and racist slogans scrawled on the walls.
Germany's domestic security agency estimates there are almost 22,000 far-right extremists in the country, more than a quarter of them neo-Nazis.
In the eastern state of Saxony, the number of anti-foreigner crimes has reached 179, up from 152 the previous year and the highest level in over a decade, the newspaper reported.
The state capital of Dresden has seen a rise in anti-Islam "Monday marches" under the slogan PEGIDA, "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident", which drew over 10,000 people last Monday.
Neo-Nazi links
The marches have been dominated by disenchanted citizens with a host of grievances, many waving German flags and chanting nationalistic slogans.
News magazine Spiegel, however reported that three PEGIDA organisers have criminal records and that the group has drawn support from the neo-Nazi and far-right football hooligan movements.
A poll for Spiegel by the TNS institute, found a majority of Germans were at least open to some of the views voiced by PEGIDA and the right-wing party - Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has voiced sympathy for the demonstrators.
RELATED: INTERACTIVE - THE RISE OF EUROPE'S FAR RIGHT VOICES
Over a third, 34 percent, believed Germany was undergoing a process of "Islamisation", while 65 percent said the chancellor's right-left coalition was not taking current record levels of immigration and asylum seekers seriously enough.
Germany has an estimated 4 million Muslims, in a total population of nearly 81 million.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokeswoman on Friday condemned PEGIDA and its smaller clones in half a dozen German cities, saying: "There is no place in Germany for Islamophobia or anti-Semitism, hatred of foreigners or racism."
Merkel argues that Germany, whose population is ageing and shrinking, needs immigrant workers to avoid a chronic shortage of skilled labour.
[COLOR=#8e8e8e !important]Source:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#212121 !important]Al Jazeera and agencies[/COLOR]
Police note a significant rise in far-right extremism, as anti-Islam marches in Dresden draw high numbers.
15 Dec 2014 02:38 GMT | Europe
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http://bc05.ajnm.me/665003303001/201...d=665003303001
German police have noted a significant rise in far-right extremism and attacks targeting foreigners, a news report said on Sunday, amid a growing debate about a new Islamophobic movement.
"We're seeing a significant nationwide increase in xenophobic offences," Federal Criminal Police Office chief Holger Muench told an interior ministers conference last week, the newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported, citing participants.
The trend is seen as a backlash against a sharp increase in refugees arriving in Germany, Europe's biggest economy and a top destination for asylum seekers and other migrants.
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/ima...7206580_20.jpg The houses which were planned to be used for asylum seekers [Reuters]
In the latest attack, three buildings reserved to house asylum seekers were set ablaze in the southern town of Vorra last Thursday, with Nazi swastikas and racist slogans scrawled on the walls.
Germany's domestic security agency estimates there are almost 22,000 far-right extremists in the country, more than a quarter of them neo-Nazis.
In the eastern state of Saxony, the number of anti-foreigner crimes has reached 179, up from 152 the previous year and the highest level in over a decade, the newspaper reported.
The state capital of Dresden has seen a rise in anti-Islam "Monday marches" under the slogan PEGIDA, "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident", which drew over 10,000 people last Monday.
Neo-Nazi links
The marches have been dominated by disenchanted citizens with a host of grievances, many waving German flags and chanting nationalistic slogans.
News magazine Spiegel, however reported that three PEGIDA organisers have criminal records and that the group has drawn support from the neo-Nazi and far-right football hooligan movements.
A poll for Spiegel by the TNS institute, found a majority of Germans were at least open to some of the views voiced by PEGIDA and the right-wing party - Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has voiced sympathy for the demonstrators.
RELATED: INTERACTIVE - THE RISE OF EUROPE'S FAR RIGHT VOICES
Over a third, 34 percent, believed Germany was undergoing a process of "Islamisation", while 65 percent said the chancellor's right-left coalition was not taking current record levels of immigration and asylum seekers seriously enough.
Germany has an estimated 4 million Muslims, in a total population of nearly 81 million.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokeswoman on Friday condemned PEGIDA and its smaller clones in half a dozen German cities, saying: "There is no place in Germany for Islamophobia or anti-Semitism, hatred of foreigners or racism."
Merkel argues that Germany, whose population is ageing and shrinking, needs immigrant workers to avoid a chronic shortage of skilled labour.
[COLOR=#8e8e8e !important]Source:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#212121 !important]Al Jazeera and agencies[/COLOR]
Quote:
Germany faces a wave of racist rhetoric
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have been on full display in Germany this year, revved up by ISIL and events in Gaza.
Yermi Brenner | 14 Nov 2014 09:44 GMT | Politics, Germany, Europe, Racism
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/ima...1510734_20.jpgFootball hooligans and neo-Nazi groups organised an October 26 demonstration against Islamic extremism [Reuters]Cologne, Germany - Several thousand people gathered on October 26 in Cologne to demonstrate against the violence of Muslim extremists in the Middle East. The rally, organised by a group called "Hooligans against Salafists", quickly deteriorated. Protesters started rioting and shouting anti-Muslim and neo-Nazi slogans, such as "Germany for the Germans, foreigners out!"
Three months earlier, thousands of Berliners took part in a series of protests against the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. Their stated aim was to show solidarity with Palestinians and express criticism of Israel's actions. But anti-Semitic slogans were also vocalised by hundreds of protesters.
In a society still very much shaped by the horrors of World War II, this reappearance of racist rhetoric in Germany's public sphere has touched a nerve. Authorities were quick to respond. Berlin's senator for interior affairs, Frank Henkel, said last week he would do whatever he can to ban a large, far-right demonstration planned for November 15 in the German capital. In September, Chancellor Angela Merkel participated in a rally organised by the Central Council of Jews, and vowed that fighting anti-Semitism is a national and civic duty.
But the situation has remained tense, especially in diverse metropolises such as Berlin. In August, a mosque was set on fire. And a Muslim religious institution is under police investigation after a visiting imam was filmed preaching inflammatory remarks against Jews.
We deal with anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at the same time. They are simply too strongly connected to deal with them apart.
- Armin Langer, co-founder of the Salaam-Schalom Initiative
These tensions should be viewed in the context of world events, said Dr Ralf Melzer, who monitors extremism for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a German non-profit organisation. Melzer said xenophobic right-wing groups, such as Hooligans against Salafists and the Pro Movement, are holding more events because they recognise the public's resentment of groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is fertile ground for spreading anti-Muslim sentiment.
"Islamic radicalism is used by German right-wing groups in order to devaluate Islam and Muslims in general," Melzer said. "What these right-wing extremists are doing - like in this manifestation in Cologne - is trying to use the threat of militant, radical, terroristic Islam for their purposes."
A similar wave of anti-Muslim racism in Germany took place after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, according to Carsten Koschmieder, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University.
Koschmieder said prejudice towards Muslims in Germany is not limited to the far right, but exists across all social classes and backgrounds. A recent Pew Research Center report found that 33 percent of Germans have an unfavourable view of Muslims in Germany, a rate higher than those recorded in France and the United Kingdom.
"The numbers show this is really a problem," Koschmieder said. "Many people think Muslims are all dangerous, they are not belonging to us and so on. You have even more prejudices against Muslims than, for example, against Jews."
Breaking a taboo
Muslims in Germany make up about five percent of the country's total population of 82 million, making them Germany's largest religious minority. Jews account for a little more than 0.1 percent of the country's population. Koschmieder, whose field of research includes both right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism, explained that public hate speech towards Jews is taboo in German society, or at least it was - until this summer.
"They don't know or they don't care for this taboo," said Koschmieder of the pro-Palestinian protesters who shouted anti-Semitic slogans on the streets of Berlin. "This taboo is more often challenged these days."
The boundary between legitimate political criticism and projection of Jewish hatred are very narrow and easily crossed, according to Daniel Alter, a prominent rabbi in Berlin's Jewish community. Alter said most anti-Semitic acts were carried out by people with a Christian background - which was confirmed by Berlin police spokesperson Stefan Redlich. However, Alter added, the anti-Semitism of young Muslims much more openly perpetrates acts of hatred against Jews.
"There are areas in Berlin in which it is definitely not wise if you are identifiable as a Jew," Alter said. "Unfortunately, it is in the regions where young Muslim people congregate and hang out. If I pass by there, and if somebody can identify me as a Jew, I get at least verbally harassed."
Two years ago, Alter was a victim of anti-Semitic violence. A group of young men of Arab descent attacked the rabbi on the street as he was walking with his seven-year-old daughter. They asked him if he was Jewish, and when he replied yes, they beat him up and threatened his daughter. He was hospitalised that evening with a fractured cheekbone.
'No-go areas' in Berlin
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/ima...7262734_20.jpg Armin Langer (right) co-founded the Salaam-Schalom Initiative [Yermi Brenner/Al Jazeera] Berlin police recorded eight other instances of anti-Semitic violence in 2013, and five since the beginning of 2014.
In an interview last year with a German newspaper, Alter suggested that parts of Neukoelln, a Berlin district with a large Muslim population, are "no-go areas" for Jews wearing visible religious symbols like the kippah because they would be under threat.
That statement triggered Armin Langer, a 24-year-old Jewish resident of Neukoelln, to reach out to others in his neighbourhood. Langer co-founded the Salaam-Schalom Initiative, an inter-religious dialogue group whose members include Muslims, Jews, Christians and atheists.
The group meets on a regular basis in Neukoelln and organises community events, panels and open discussions - all aimed at creating direct communication between people from different religions and backgrounds. Langer is convinced the best way to eliminate racism is to take on all sorts of it at once.
"We deal with anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at the same time," he said. "They are simply too strongly connected to deal with them apart."
Follow Yermi Brenner on Twitter: @yermibrenner
[COLOR=#8e8e8e !important]Source:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#212121 !important]Al Jazeera[/COLOR]
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have been on full display in Germany this year, revved up by ISIL and events in Gaza.
Yermi Brenner | 14 Nov 2014 09:44 GMT | Politics, Germany, Europe, Racism
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http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/ima...1510734_20.jpgFootball hooligans and neo-Nazi groups organised an October 26 demonstration against Islamic extremism [Reuters]Cologne, Germany - Several thousand people gathered on October 26 in Cologne to demonstrate against the violence of Muslim extremists in the Middle East. The rally, organised by a group called "Hooligans against Salafists", quickly deteriorated. Protesters started rioting and shouting anti-Muslim and neo-Nazi slogans, such as "Germany for the Germans, foreigners out!"
Three months earlier, thousands of Berliners took part in a series of protests against the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. Their stated aim was to show solidarity with Palestinians and express criticism of Israel's actions. But anti-Semitic slogans were also vocalised by hundreds of protesters.
In a society still very much shaped by the horrors of World War II, this reappearance of racist rhetoric in Germany's public sphere has touched a nerve. Authorities were quick to respond. Berlin's senator for interior affairs, Frank Henkel, said last week he would do whatever he can to ban a large, far-right demonstration planned for November 15 in the German capital. In September, Chancellor Angela Merkel participated in a rally organised by the Central Council of Jews, and vowed that fighting anti-Semitism is a national and civic duty.
But the situation has remained tense, especially in diverse metropolises such as Berlin. In August, a mosque was set on fire. And a Muslim religious institution is under police investigation after a visiting imam was filmed preaching inflammatory remarks against Jews.
We deal with anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at the same time. They are simply too strongly connected to deal with them apart.
- Armin Langer, co-founder of the Salaam-Schalom Initiative
These tensions should be viewed in the context of world events, said Dr Ralf Melzer, who monitors extremism for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a German non-profit organisation. Melzer said xenophobic right-wing groups, such as Hooligans against Salafists and the Pro Movement, are holding more events because they recognise the public's resentment of groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is fertile ground for spreading anti-Muslim sentiment.
"Islamic radicalism is used by German right-wing groups in order to devaluate Islam and Muslims in general," Melzer said. "What these right-wing extremists are doing - like in this manifestation in Cologne - is trying to use the threat of militant, radical, terroristic Islam for their purposes."
A similar wave of anti-Muslim racism in Germany took place after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, according to Carsten Koschmieder, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University.
Koschmieder said prejudice towards Muslims in Germany is not limited to the far right, but exists across all social classes and backgrounds. A recent Pew Research Center report found that 33 percent of Germans have an unfavourable view of Muslims in Germany, a rate higher than those recorded in France and the United Kingdom.
"The numbers show this is really a problem," Koschmieder said. "Many people think Muslims are all dangerous, they are not belonging to us and so on. You have even more prejudices against Muslims than, for example, against Jews."
Breaking a taboo
Muslims in Germany make up about five percent of the country's total population of 82 million, making them Germany's largest religious minority. Jews account for a little more than 0.1 percent of the country's population. Koschmieder, whose field of research includes both right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism, explained that public hate speech towards Jews is taboo in German society, or at least it was - until this summer.
"They don't know or they don't care for this taboo," said Koschmieder of the pro-Palestinian protesters who shouted anti-Semitic slogans on the streets of Berlin. "This taboo is more often challenged these days."
The boundary between legitimate political criticism and projection of Jewish hatred are very narrow and easily crossed, according to Daniel Alter, a prominent rabbi in Berlin's Jewish community. Alter said most anti-Semitic acts were carried out by people with a Christian background - which was confirmed by Berlin police spokesperson Stefan Redlich. However, Alter added, the anti-Semitism of young Muslims much more openly perpetrates acts of hatred against Jews.
"There are areas in Berlin in which it is definitely not wise if you are identifiable as a Jew," Alter said. "Unfortunately, it is in the regions where young Muslim people congregate and hang out. If I pass by there, and if somebody can identify me as a Jew, I get at least verbally harassed."
Two years ago, Alter was a victim of anti-Semitic violence. A group of young men of Arab descent attacked the rabbi on the street as he was walking with his seven-year-old daughter. They asked him if he was Jewish, and when he replied yes, they beat him up and threatened his daughter. He was hospitalised that evening with a fractured cheekbone.
'No-go areas' in Berlin
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/ima...7262734_20.jpg Armin Langer (right) co-founded the Salaam-Schalom Initiative [Yermi Brenner/Al Jazeera] Berlin police recorded eight other instances of anti-Semitic violence in 2013, and five since the beginning of 2014.
In an interview last year with a German newspaper, Alter suggested that parts of Neukoelln, a Berlin district with a large Muslim population, are "no-go areas" for Jews wearing visible religious symbols like the kippah because they would be under threat.
That statement triggered Armin Langer, a 24-year-old Jewish resident of Neukoelln, to reach out to others in his neighbourhood. Langer co-founded the Salaam-Schalom Initiative, an inter-religious dialogue group whose members include Muslims, Jews, Christians and atheists.
The group meets on a regular basis in Neukoelln and organises community events, panels and open discussions - all aimed at creating direct communication between people from different religions and backgrounds. Langer is convinced the best way to eliminate racism is to take on all sorts of it at once.
"We deal with anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at the same time," he said. "They are simply too strongly connected to deal with them apart."
Follow Yermi Brenner on Twitter: @yermibrenner
[COLOR=#8e8e8e !important]Source:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#212121 !important]Al Jazeera[/COLOR]