18 May 2016

Germans Want Islam Out of Their Country

Germany Wants Islam Out
A few Days ago Chancellor Angela Merkel called for tolerance and inclusivity. The general public responded overwhelmingly against her pronouncements and it appears that her pleas fell on deaf ears. This appears the price of Merkel's moral preening.

A new poll about German's attitude shows almost two-thirds think Islam does not "belong" in their country. In a marked increase from a similar survey conducted six years ago in which a minority of Germans (47 per cent) thought Islam had no place in their nation, the latest poll shows the figure is now at 60 per cent.

That survey was provoked by then-President Christian Wulff's assertion that Islam was a part of the German nation, which sparked a furious backlash from social commentators.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeated Wulff's line on several occasions, but she has been undermined by her own interior minister', who publicly stated that Islam "does not belong" in Germany.Nationalist and far-right parties are garnering support on Islamophobic platforms, buoyed by anti-refugee sentiment against the 1.1 million people who have arrived in Germany to seek asylum since the start of the current crisis.

There were 1,000 attacks on refugee shelters in Germany last year, a five-fold increase compared to 2014. In one incident, people in the town of Bautzen allegedly clapped and cheered as a refugee shelter burned following an arson attack.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) is an anti-immigration party, whose representatives recently refused to applaud Germany's first Muslim speaker of a state parliament. A portion of their manifesto is titled "Islam is not party of Germany", in a direct response to Chancellor Merkel's public stance.

They write: "An orthodox form of Islam that does not respect our laws or even resists them, and makes a claim to be the only valid religion, does not correspond to our legal system and culture." The document also calls for a ban on minarets, burkhas and other "Islamic symbols of power".

Ninety-four per cent of AfD supporters responding to the survey said Islam did not belong in Germany, an opinion shared by 76 percent of those who support the centre-right Free Democratic Party.