Category Archives: Germany

Four mosques attacked in Germany in 10 days

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic associations in Germany have said that four mosques were attacked on 10 consecutive days after the trial of the terrorist National Socialist Underground (NSU) group began and called for stronger measures and a more determined fight against Islamophobic attacks in the country.

The issue of Islamophobia in Germany came to the surface once again with the trial in which neo-Nazi suspect Beate Zschäpe and four alleged supporters of the NSU terrorist group stand accused of 10 murders.

Eight of the victims were Turks, one was a Greek immigrant and the final victim was a German policewoman. The first session of the trial, was held on May 6.

Despite the trial, Islamic associations in Germany claim that attacks against the Muslims in the country have not ceased. The Coordination Council of Muslims in Germany (KRM) has announced that mosques in Bullay, in the Rhineland-Palatinate state, as well as its capital, Mainz; the town of Lengerich in the Steinfurt district and the town of Düren in the district of the same name in North Rhine-Westphalia were attacked between May 10 and May 20.

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UN condemns Germany for failing to take action against Sarrazin’s racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sarrazin with bookA UN anti-racism committee is accusing Germany of breaking an international agreement by allowing the controversial ex-politician Thilo Sarrazin to spread inflammatory ideas about Muslims in 2010 with impunity.

Four years after the former central banker sparked public outrage with his book Deutschland schafft sich ab – Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen (“Germany does away with itself – How we’re putting our country at jeopardy”) Sarrazin’s views have been officially recognised as racist by the United Nations.

The UN says Germany broke an international anti-racism accord by shrugging off Sarrazin’s anti-Turkish and anti-Muslim statements, wrote the Tagesspiegel newspaper on Thursday. At the time, many had defended Sarrazin’s right to express his views.

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Muslim communities successfully integrating

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Despite anxiety from the public and politicians, Muslim ethnic minority communities have been integrating into British and German cities for some time, according to research by Dr Sarah Hackett.

She compared the level of integration of the South Asian community in Newcastle-upon-Tyne with that of the Turkish community in Bremen from the 1960s onwards, looking specifically at employment, housing and education.

She found that employment and housing patterns have often led to cohesion, integration and multiculturalism within both cities’ neighbourhoods. According to the study’s findings, Muslim migrants in both cities have long been able to achieve their employment and housing ambitions – often in the form of running businesses, owning their own homes and forming neighbourhoods. Their success has often been the result of interaction and in-depth understanding of their local surroundings and the indigenous population.

“The debate on the integration of Muslims in Europe is marred by claims of incompatibility and conflict,” comments Dr Hackett. “Yet this research strongly suggests that Islam should not be seen as a barrier to integration, and that European anxiety regarding Muslim communities is greatly exaggerated. It shows that not only is integration possible, but that in Newcastle and Bremen it has been underway for some time.”

ESRC, 11 April 2013

Anti-Islam rightists target German youth

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Identitäre Bewegung

Seeking a bigger support among German youth, a rightist group is using Facebook, YouTube and other social media websites to spread its racist, anti-Islam message.

“They are clearly racist,” Alexander Häusler, an expert on right-wing extremism at University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf, told Deutsche Welle.

“They are making a major affront on Germany’s multicultural society, composed of immigrants,” he said. “They mostly criticize the alleged Islamization of Germany.”

Häusler was talking about a German right-wing movement, die Identitäre Bewegung (The Identity Movement), which has been gaining attention through its so-called “fun campaigns” recently.

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German spies accused of racism, Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

verfassungsschutzGermany’s domestic intelligence agency is a hotbed of “institutional racism,” where Islamophobic, racist and offensive remarks are an everyday occurrence, a newspaper reported on Friday.

Germany’s security service the Verfassungsschutz is a hornet’s nest of conflict, envy, jealousy and inappropriate insults, wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung, citing inside sources.

And they aren’t just innocent office jokes. Employees of the department tasked with observing militant Islamists reportedly throw around deeply offensive, Nazi-affiliated words in private of the kind which would be unthinkable in a public setting.

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Germany bans Salafi groups for advocating sharia law

Posted on by Bob Pitt
Stop Islam rally Cologne 2008

Cologne 2008: far right rallies against Islam

Germany on Wednesday banned three ultra-conservative Salafist Muslim groups which the Interior Ministry said wanted to overturn democracy and install a system based on sharia, or Islamic law.

The ban, which took effect in the western states of Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia in the early morning, is the latest step taken by German authorities who have increased surveillance of Salafists who espouse a radical version of Islam.

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Islam takes another step to German recognition

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bremen is the third German state to recognize Islamic organizations as official religious bodies. Holidays, funerals and pastoral care will be regulated by state contracts. Other states will likely follow suit.

For Erol Pürlü, spokesman for the German Muslim coordination council, the signing of the contract with the city-state of Bremen marked a “day of joy”. Three Muslim associations were officially recognized as religious bodies. “That sends a clear signal that Islam belongs to Germany,” said Pürlü.

Bremen is the third German state to confer this status on Islamic organizations. Hamburg made a similar agreement last November, while Hesse officially recognized two Islamic organizations and allowed them to offer their own religious classes in schools in December.

Deutsche Welle, 29 January 2013

German bigotry shifting from race to religion

Posted on by Bob Pitt

German anti-mosque placardA new study warns that Islamophobia in Germany is becoming culturally acceptable, as bigotry leaves the confines of ethnicity and moves towards religious bias against Muslims.

“It’s no longer ‘the Turks’ but ‘the Muslims’,” Wilhelm Heitmeyer, head of the institute for research of interdisciplinary conflict and violence at Bielefeld University told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Monday. Research has led him to be concerned general xenophobia had given way to a growing rejection of Islam in Germany.

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