Racists in pinstripes

Muslims are the largest minority in Germany, making up about 5% of the country's 82 million population. About one-third of Germans have an unfavourable view of the Muslims in their country, according to a Pew Research Centre survey, higher than in France and the United Kingdom. In the first six months of 2014, there were more asylum seekers in Germany - about 65,700 - than any other country worldwide. Twenty-nine percent of Germans said immigrants are a burden because they take jobs and social benefits. Germany is Europe's biggest economy, and has become the continent's top destination for asylum seekers, and the world's number two destination for migrants after the United States. The Federal Office for Migration revealed that the number of asylum seekers coming to Germany may rise next year. "So far next year we expect 200,000 first-time applications, plus 30,000 follow-up applications," said Manfred Schmidt, President of the Federal Office for Migration. That compares with 200,000 for 2014, up from 127,000 in 2013. The influx of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and several African and Balkan countries has strained local governments, which have scrambled to house the newcomers in old schools, office blocks and army barracks. A recent survey on the website of the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit found that over half of Germans (49 per cent) sympathise with PEGIDA’s stated concerns. 30 per cent of respondents said they “fully understood”, or backed the demonstrations against the “Islamisation of the West”.

According to Schirin Amir-Moazami, a professor at Berlin Free University's Institute of Islamic Studies. "Muslims are becoming increasingly visible in many different ways, and people are disturbed by that. A lot of people have difficulty to accept pluralism in the broader sense."

Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA),  a growing political protesting for "the right to preserve and protect our Christian-Jewish dominated West culture", and against parallelgesellschaft - a German term used to describe immigrant communities that maintain their cultural norms and don't integrate in local society, are trying to benefit from attitudes, fears and prejudices towards Muslims and immigration and diversity in general.

Ralf Melzer, who monitors extremism for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a German non-profit, said hostility towards immigrants exists throughout Germany, but it is more widespread in the eastern part of country. "The number of people with migrant background in the east is much lower than in the west. There is much less diversity," Melzer said. "And we all know from different surveys that the less diversity - less people with migration background - means more prejudices, more anti-attitudes towards migrants."

Germany's Central Council of Jews (ZdJ) has come to the defense of Muslims in Germany when chairman of the council, Josef Schuster,said that fear of Islamistic terrorism is being "exploited" to vilify an entire religion. "This is completely unacceptable." Schuster expressed his deep concerns over the demonstrations led by PEGIDA and warned against underestimating the movement. They are "immensely dangerous," he said, "Here, neo-Nazis, parties from the far-right and citizens who think that they can finally let out their racism and xenophobia are all mixed together. " 

PEGIDA marchers' main slogan is "We are the people!" and those in Northern Ireland and Scotland are very familiar with its particular usage by protestant loyalists who feared their “Orangeism” was being threatened by Catholicism.

Gereon Flümann from the German Federal Agency for Civic Education explained there are smaller similar movements in other parts of Germany, such as the Hooligans Against Salafists in the city of Cologne. "PEGIDA say they do not promote xenophobia," Flümann told Al Jazeera. "But if you look at the protests and how they make use of particular information, you see there might be xenophobia behind it."

Henrik, from Bremen, held a sign saying "No Sharia in Europe", because he said he does not want to see Christian traditions disappear. "I am a nationalist. My first interest is not the situation in Afghanistan or in Cuba. My main interest is the situation of the people in Germany... I am a patriot."

Jorg, from Dresden said Islam dictates hatred and violence, and endangers peace in German society.

Paul  said "I say we don't want so many Muslims that our culture will be changed. We want to be Germans, we want to be Europeans, we don't want too many people to come here and try to get money from our social system."

Leif Hansen, from Hertzberg, felt there are many Germans who fear foreigners so it is better to have an open discussion about it. "That is their fear and that is their opinion, and I am really happy that they have the courage to voice it, and not hold it inside - the feeling of resentment." Hansen said he felt constructive public discussion on migration and minority issues is missing from the public sphere. It is a suppressed topic because of the legacy of World War II, and there are many Germans who fear foreigners, he explained, so it is better to have an open discussion about it. The only problem is, PEGIDA doesn't want to discuss anything. At protest marches, participants are advised not to talk to journalists and the organizers reject invitations to the most important television talk shows and give interviews only very rarely. It is hard to seek a dialogue with people who are fuelled only by resentment.

Dieter Rucht, an expert on social movements in Germany said it was necessary to get PEGIDA's representatives to stop being "naysayers" - for example, by asking them what form the integration law the group's 12-member organization team had called for should take. "Once you start such a discussion, it also generates an internal debate - and then this amorphous mass splits into different camps," he said. However, Rucht said this approach is unlikely to have much effect on discussions on the Internet. "These are often communication communities that provide mutual encouragement, but do not enter into dialog with each other. This is even more true, he said, when official bodies such as an interior ministry become involved: "A hallmark of the movement is so that their followers no longer trust the political class - and do not pay close attention to what they have to say." 

When renowned scientific institutions present studies proving that immigration is good for Germany, PEGIDA supporters think there's a conspiracy behind it. If the media, established politics and science cannot reach PEGIDA supporters with these arguments, how can they be convinced they are on the wrong path and that the right-wing is using them as vessels to carry their xenophobic vitriol into the middle of society ? PEGIDA has no political affiliation as such, but the Alternative fur Deutschland party (AfD) has given it tacit support. Dan Hough is a Professor of politics at the University of Sussex. He says the AfD began with a different political agenda, but has taken on elements of the immigration debate. “It was initially formed to go against the euro, which it saw as unsustainable. They’ve branched out into an anti-immigration party. They are a curious, quirky German version of UKIP,” hesays. 

Düsseldorf researcher Alexander Häusler who focuses on right-wing extremism told Der Spiegel PEGIDA’s demonstrations are particularly attractive “to those on the fringe right” because “A movement that wants to be broadly effective with the demonization of Islam cannot be openly associated with the radical right. It has to have the have the appearance of the middle class, of the serious, on the outside.”

Andreas Zick, a director of studies at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Conflict and Violence Research at the western GermanyUniversity of Bielefeld, told the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle: “Now, a populist, right-wing movement has formed that’s far more difficult to protest against, since they’re less vulnerable to extremist labels. Though a counter-demonstration last Monday succeeded in stopping Dresden’s PEGIDA demonstration, counter-demonstrators were the minority, numbering just a thousand.”