Becuase Everything Else Sucks

Germany’s Political War on Islam

By Manila Ryce
Published Tuesday, December 11th, 2007, 2:51 am
Filed under: World: Europe, Society/Culture: Religion, Society/Culture: Law/Order, World Issues, Society/Culture

As you may or may not have learned from the History Channel, Germany does not have a very good track record when it comes to respecting the rights of religious minorities. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, daughter of a Lutheran pastor and head of the right-wing Christian Democratic Union, decided to carry on that great tradition of state-sanctioned intolerance when she told a congress of fellow conservatives that “we must take care that mosque cupolas are not built demonstratively higher than church steeples”.

Mosque building has become a sensitive subject for residents of Berlin, Munich, and Cologne, who range anywhere on the vast spectrum of humanity from xenophobes to outright bigots. Bekir Alboga, spokesman for the Coordination Council of Muslims, an umbrella organization for Muslims in Germany, said mosques could become a campaign issue in the upcoming state elections. Anti-Muslim sentiment is also prevalent in other European countries like Switzerland, where a nationwide initiative was proposed to ban minarets completely.

In a related story, a regional court ruled yesterday that a headscarf ban, introduced by Merkel in 2004, does not violate the German constitution. The ban forbids public servants (including teachers) from wearing articles of clothing that “could endanger confidence in the neutrality of their carrying out their official duties.” That sure seems a bit hypocritical to me. Merkel doesn’t want Muslims to be identifiable as such, yet she’s the leader of a fucking party called the “Christian Democrats”? Am I missing something?

By the way, Mary wears a headscarf too you twits.

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5 Responses to “Germany’s Political War on Islam”

  1. As a German I’d like to add that Germany at least is an equal opportunity discriminator. I really wouldn’t call Germany Anti-Muslim, especially given the large Turkish population in Germany (3.2 million).

    For a more complete picture then this post, see wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Germany

    istrebitjel
    12/11/07 at 7:34 pm

  2. Thanks, but the numbers of any one specific group do not tell us anything about the attitude from the general population towards that group. Colorado has nearly the same percentage of undocumented workers within their borders that Germany has Muslims, yet somehow the state is still able to produce bigots like Tancredo and ferment xenophobia amongst its citizens. Amazing, I know.

    Manila Ryce
    12/11/07 at 8:20 pm

  3. “Mosque building has become a sensitive subject for residents of Berlin, Munich, and Cologne, who range anywhere on the vast spectrum of humanity from xenophobes to outright bigots.”
    “the numbers of any one specific group do not tell us anything about the attitude from the general population towards that group”

    Numbers don’t tell you much, but having lived in Germany for 2 years, and in particular near Cologne, and having met, known and established friendships with Germans, and having worked in a German office everyday, painting the residents of three whole cities of several million people as “xenophobes to outright bigots” doesn’t tell me much about the general attitude of the population. In fact Germany’s one of the most liberal places I’ve seen in terms of attitudes from people I met.
    Also, telling your readers that they’ve “decided to carry on that great tradition of state-sanctioned intolerance”, just helps foment intolerance towards a nation that has been constantly shamed about its past and continues to be so even into a time when the last of the generation that lived in the war is dying out. Added to the fact that recent reports show more Jews migrating to Germany than Israel shows that they’ve moved on from the past, perhaps you should consider moving on.

    And as for Angela Merkel, she’s is a fucking politician, so she doesn’t embody being German anymore that Bush embodies you as an American.

    As for the headscarf ban, Turkey (where I’m living now) has had a headscarf ban since 1922, and this is the political war waged against a fucking headscarf, not a way of life and not the religion itself. Britain has also had a headscarf ban and dismissed people in the public service who have worn a full niqab.

    Vay Nadarajah
    12/13/07 at 1:55 am

  4. @vay
    I did not intend to state that all the residents of those three cities were xenophobes or bigots. I now see how it could have been interpreted that way and apologize to anyone who was offended by such a misinterpretation. What I meant is that the particular issue of minarets was only of major concern to a narrow spectrum of bigots and xenophobes within those three cities.

    As for state-sanctioned intolerance, it’s a fact and it continues. I’ve noted the same about countless other countries on this blog. No one frankly gives a shit when I criticize the US in the same manner.

    I also never said Merkel embodies being German.

    Lastly, a ban on headscarfs is ridiculous no matter what country you’re talking about, and must be taken within context of the political climate to understand why such a ludicrous law is in place. I’ve previously criticized Egypt’s ban on the hijab for anchorwomen and Britain’s as well. Turkey is also no shining beacon of liberty that I would use as an example of what is acceptable.

    Again, injustice and inequality are deserving of criticism no matter which country is committing the offense. That being said, you ought to know that I am much harder on my own nation than I have ever been on Germany or the aforementioned countries.

    Manila Ryce
    12/13/07 at 2:18 am

  5. The thing I don’t get is Bekir Alboga says “mosques could become a campaign issue in the upcoming state elections.”
    But to be honest I seriously doubt minarets on a mosque and headscarves are considered real issues to Germans… at the moment. But it’s a blatant attempt to shift focus away from real issues that voters really care about. It’s like the debate on gay marriage in the US. People (better known as sheep) will pick up on these emotional issues, where manipulation through the biased media is more effective in swaying votes, and they’ll turn against voting for their better rational interests, following the crowd on these kinds of things.

    Vay Nadarajah
    12/13/07 at 8:06 am

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