'Schein und Sein' or Is Germany really willing to combat Islamism?

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Jan 3, 2006 at 15:09

I live in Poland but I spent some time in Germany and talked to many Germans and am afraid Dr Pipes' article arouses hopes that are hardly borne out by the German reality which is hidden behind the official facade.

First of all, in Germany like everywhere else Muslims tend to form closed communities that are hardly accessible to outsiders. Hence any Muslim living in such a community is protected by other Muslims and it will be realistically speaking almost impossible to control his behaviour and find out whether he acts inconsistently with his "correct" answers or not . To do this the authorities will have to employ only people from the given community who can be as reliable as the person whose reliablity they can't check.

Let's take the example of Kreuzberg in Berlin where one can walk for hours and see and hear only Turks. My friends from Berlin have told me that almost no Germans live in Kreuzberg as no one can live there in peace any longer . No German would willingly go there after dusk. "Honor killings" ('Blutrache') is quite common among Turks and other Muslims there. In many cases , however, the police tend to present the facts so as to avoid any mention of 'Blutrache' not to be themselves accused of 'biased' or 'racist' leanings or simply they make the facts unknown to the public.

They are in fact instructed not to inform the public of what is going on in these Muslim communities. I learned about this 'ingenious' official tactics last summer during my trip over the Baltic sea. I met an older man from Germany, born in East Prussia and on a trip from his town of birth in Lyck to Norway ( if necessary I can disclose his identity) and he told me that a close relative of his working in the police department had told him about an unofficial circulary ('Rundschreiben') issued by the former minister of the interior Otto Schilly on publishing crime cases . If a crime is committed by a foreigner (especially a Muslim) the police is advised not to make it public and never disclose the identity of the criminals. If , however , the crime is committed by a German - especially a neonazi - the police is ordered to made the case public and give as many details as possible so as to create the impression foreigners/Muslims are innocent and it is only the racist Germans that are to blame. "Look at the 'facts'! ..." - is a phrase I have often heard in public discussions on the issue. As far as I know Wolfgang Schaeuble - the now minister of the interior - has not changed this tactics in any visible way.

It seems that the tactics works as you can hardly find any cases in German press or on German TV where Muslims - known for their criminality to most Germans who speak about it openly in private conversations, which is impossible in public - are involved . It also makes any realistic discussions on Islam in Germany so hopeless. You're at once a neonazi if you dare criticize Islam too openly and that's the end of any discussion.

True, some Laender ministers may propose a seemingly effective means to control Islamists. At the same time they treat in a heavy-handed manner any real anti-Islamists. The most outrageous case in Germany is that of Manfred van Hove . After the terror attacks in London in July he had the idea of making people aware of what Islam stands for and of its responsiblity for terror worldwide. He produced toilet paper rolls with Quran inscrpitions which he advertised and distributed to a number of organizations and private and public persons. He called the Quran 'the cookbook for terrorists' (dieses Kochbuch fuer Terroristen) .

"That is why we are going to establish a memorial for all the victims of Islamic terror in the past and in the future. It shall be financed by donations. We have ordered toilet paper rolls with Quran quotations printed on them which can be bought . There is a pattern on them. The price is 4 Euro and from this 2 Euro go to finance the monument. We are asking you to support our effort. (...)

[ Deshalb beabsichtigen wir, eine Gedenkstätte für alle Opfer des islamischen Terrors der Vergangenheit und der Zukunft zu errichten. Sie soll durch Spenden finanziert werden. Wir haben deshalb Klopapierrollen mit dem Koranaufdruck versehen lassen, die käuflich zu erwerben sind. Ein Muster ist angefügt. Der Kaufpreis beträgt 4 Euro. Davon werden 2 Euro für die Errichtung des Mahnmahls verwendet. Wir bitten Sie, unser Anliegen zu unterstützen.]

As a result of the campaign Manfred van Hove was intimidated and death threats were announced to him both by mail and on the telephone.

Even the Islamic Republic of Iran made it known by official ways that it was alarmed by the denigration Islam in Germany.

And what do you think the authorities did? They did not look for those who wanted to kill van Hove! No! They stopped him instead and prosecuted him. They are going to stage soon a trial against him in Lüdinghausen (Nordrhein-Westfalen) . They use the German Penal Code (§ 11. 3 ; §§ 166. 1, 74 ) . [ not only the Kemalist Turks use that trick to silence people like Orhan Pamuk] to the effect that van Hove "in Senden and in other places by spreading written texts defamed the religious confession in a way that it is appropriate to disturb the peace of the land" .

( in Senden und anderen Orten öffentlich und durch Verbreiten von Schriften den Inhalt des religiösen Bekenntnisses anderer in einer Weise beschimpft zu haben, die geeignet ist, den öffentlichen Frieden zu stören. )

Besides,

"The behaviour of the accused person ruins the framework of the open society built on the principles of tolerance and respect for personal dignity and threatens the stability of the peaceful social existence of people as it was using the disguise ( 'Deckmantel' ) of freedom of speech and liberty of art".

[Das Verhalten des Angeschuldigten sprengt den Rahmen einer auf Toleranz und Achtung der personalen Würde ausgerichteten offenen Gesellschaft und droht unter dem Deckmantel der Meinungs- bzw. Kunstfreiheit das friedliche Zusammenleben zu gefährden.]


http://www.gwg-koeln.com/text_vanhove.html

The mention of Iran in this context is of particular interest. It was an official note from the friendly Shi'ite regime in Teheran to its proudly democratic and freedom-loving German counterpart to stop ' immidiately the public defamaition of the Sacred Quran' [sofortige Unterbindung der öffentlichen Beleidigung des heiligen Koran] that brought about swift German reaction against van Hove.

Why ? - a nive observer might ask. This medieval regime , despising and downtreading all human rights in its country , contemplating seriously a second holocaust of the Jews , itself on the way to produce its own atomic bomb ... Well , let's look into the refreshing economic realities :

" At present Iran is the most important market for the German companies in the whole of the Near and Middle East. In 2004 Germany imported to Iran commodities in the value of more than 3, 5 billion Euro. Since 2000 their size had doubled. The most important goods included - as was the case in the years before - machines, cars, spare parts for cars , iron and metal products and chmistry products. Also the Iranian exports to Germany grew by 35 % . The most important goods included carpets, foodstuffs and oil. "

[ Schon heute ist Iran für deutsche Unternehmen der wichtigste Markt im gesamten Nahen und Mittleren Osten. Im Jahr 2004 lieferte Deutschland Waren im Wert von über 3,5 Mrd. EUR nach Iran; das Volumen hat sich seit 2000 verdoppelt. Wichtigste Exportgüter waren -wie schon in den Vorjahren- Maschinen, Kraftwagen und Kfz-Teile, Eisen- und Metallerzeugnisse sowie chemische Erzeugnisse. Auch die iranischen Lieferungen nach Deutschland stiegen 2004 um 35%. Wichtigste Exportgüter waren Teppiche, Lebensmittel und Erdöl.]

From the official site of the German Foreign Office

http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/de/laenderinfos/laender/laender_ausgabe_html?type_id=14&land_id=63#2

Let's add that it was Germany that sold the former weaponry of the German People's Rebublic to Turkey with which Turkey quenched in blood the Kurds' uprising. Thus it earned much favour from its own growing Muslim Turkish minority.

To expect from such a country any real will to defeat Islamism and serve as an example to other countries struggling desperately to free themselves from the mortal grip of imported Islam, seems to me to be a little overoptimistic.

Jan

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