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Far-right AfD says Islam not welcome in Germany

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Religion not compatible with constitution, says anti-immigration party which also proposes banning minarets and burqas.

Anti-immigration parties which regard Islam unwelcome in Germany have been buoyed by Europe's refugee crisis [Reuters]

Anti-immigration parties which regard Islam unwelcome in Germany have been buoyed by Europe’s refugee crisis [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Members of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) have backed an election manifesto that says Islam is not compatible with the constitution.

Delegates at the party’s conference on Sunday also supported a call to ban minarets on mosques and the burqa.

Set up three years ago, the AfD has been buoyed by Europe’s refugee crisis, which saw the arrival of more than one million, mostly Muslims, in Germany last year.

The party has no MPs in the federal parliament in Berlin but has members in half of Germany’s 16 regional state assemblies.

Opinion polls give AfD support of up to 14 percent, presenting a serious challenge to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and other established parties in the lead-up to the 2017 federal election.

Most mainstream parties have ruled out any coalition with the AfD.

‘Islamic symbols’

In a noisy debate on the second day of a party congress, many of the 2,000 members cheered calls from the podium for measures against “Islamic symbols of power” and jeered a plea for dialogue with Germany’s Muslims.

“Islam is foreign to us and for that reason it cannot invoke the principle of religious freedom to the same degree as Christianity,” said Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, an AfD lawmaker from the state of Saxony-Anhalt, to loud applause.

Merkel has said freedom of religion for all is guaranteed by Germany’s constitution and has said on many occasions that Islam belongs to Germany.

Up to 2,000 leftwing demonstrators clashed with police on Saturday as they tried to break up the first full AfD conference.

About 500 people were briefly detained and 10 police officers were lightly injured, a police spokesman said.

The chapter of the AfD manifesto concerning Muslims is entitled “Islam is not a part of Germany”.

The manifesto demands a ban to minarets, the towers of a mosque from where the call to Muslim prayer is made, and the burqa, the all-encompassing body garment worn by some conservative Muslim women.

Germany is home to nearly four million Muslims, about five percent of the total population.

Many of the longer established Muslim community in Germany came from Turkey to find work, but those who have arrived over the past year have mostly been fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last month the head of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims compared the AfD’s attitude towards his community to that of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis towards the Jews.

Germany: Town bans fireworks at refugee hostels

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Fire brigade also recommends locals don’t use fireworks as it may awaken memories in people who have fled war.

Firecrackers and rockets are huge business in Germany [EPA]

Firecrackers and rockets are huge business in Germany [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Refugees in a German town have been banned from setting off fireworks to mark the New Year, apparently out of concern that loud blasts could traumatise people who have fled war zones.

The town of Arnsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia has issued directives in several languages banning the sale of rockets and firecrackers to residents of refugee shelters, a spokesman told the Neue Westfaelische daily.

The Arnsberg fire brigade also recommended that townspeople consider not launching any fireworks “to avoid reawakening memories in people who have fled war and conflict of the horrors that threatened them”.

Setting off fireworks at midnight to welcome the start of the new year on January 1 is traditional and a spectacular show at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate is broadcast live on television.

Last year, Germans spent 120 million euros ($130 million) on New Year’s Eve fireworks, according to the pyrotechnics industry.

However, “people who come from a war zone connect loud bangs more with shots and bombs than with New Year’s Eve fireworks”, the spokesman was quoted as saying.

No one was immediately available in Arnsberg to comment to the Reuters news agency, which carried the story.

Posters in refugee homes have been put up explaining the ban, imposed partly for fear of fires breaking out in buildings used to house refugees.

Gymnasiums, unused hotels and empty buildings such as Berlin’s defunct Tempelhof airport have been turned into shelters for some of the million people who have sought asylum in Germany this year, many fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

Temporary buildings have also been erected.

Germany expects 1.5 million asylum-seekers, report says

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German paper quotes confidential document containing estimates that are far higher than publicly released figures.

refugees

by Al Jazeera

Germany could receive up to 1.5 million asylum-seekers this year, according to a newspaper quoting a confidential document containing estimates that are far higher than publicly released official figures.

Authorities have so far predicted that Europe’s biggest economy would record between 800,000 and one million new arrivals in 2015.

But Bild paper quoted the document saying that the authorities were now expecting to receive 920,000 new arrivals in the coming three months alone, bringing the total number of asylum-seekers this year to 1.5 million.

“The migratory pressure will increase. For the fourth quarter, we expect between 7,000 and 10,000 illegal entries a day,” according to extracts of the document, although Bild did not specify its source.

The document said: “The significant number of asylum-seekers risks becoming an extreme burdenfor the regions and communes.”

The newspaper also quoted the document estimating that each asylum-seeker who successfully obtained refugee status could bring on average “four to eight” family members to Germany.

On the basis of the preliminary forecast of 920,000 refugees, some “7.36 million people” could therefore have the right to move to Germany due to family ties.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been lauded worldwide for her decision to open Germany’s doors to refugees fleeing war and misery.

But within Germany, her popularity is starting to wane as local authorities struggle to cope with the massive task of hosting the record surge in refugees.

Many of those who come to Germany and other EU state arrive after arduous trips that can involve being on overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean.

Children bodies found

Nearly 3,000 others have died or disappeared during the crossing.

On Sunday, decomposed bodies belonging to a baby, estimated to be 6-12 months old, and a child, about four years old, were found on the shore of the Greek Kos island, on the frontline of the refugee influx coming from Turkey.

According to Greek media reports, authorities believe the children belonged to refugee families trying to reach Kos in a dinghy.

The grim discovery recalls the case of three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi whose body was found face down on a Turkish beach last month.

In September, at least 15 babies and children drowned when their overcrowded boat capsized in high winds off the Aegean island of Farmakonisi.

According to a Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung report on Sunday, the EU and Turkey have agreed in principle to a plan of action to help ease the flow of refugees into the bloc.

Under the plan, Turkey would agree to stepped-up efforts to secure its frontier with the EU by taking part in joint patrols with the Greek coastguard in the eastern Aegean Sea coordinated by EU border protection agency Frontex.

Merkel visit: 18 MoUs inked, India to fast track system for German firms

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German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, ileft, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose for a photograph before a meeting in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. Merkel is on a three-day visit to India. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose for a photograph before a meeting in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. Merkel is on a three-day visit to India. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

New Delhi: India and Germany on Monday gave a major boost to their bilateral ties, especially in the economic field, by inking 18 MoUs, including one for setting up a fast-track system for German companies in India, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks here.

The range of MoUs includes one on security cooperation, and another for promotion of German as a foreign language in India and for the promotion of Modern Indian languages in Germany.

Modi, in his speech, termed the bilateral mechanism of Inter-Governmental Consultation (IGC) as unique, saying it had helped bring growth in relations.

“We see Germany as a natural partner in achieving our vision of India’s economic transformation. German strengths and India’s priorities are aligned. And, so is our mutual goodwill,” he said, after holding the 3rd IGC with Merkel here.

He said both sides have convergence of views and rapidly growing cooperation in the field of clean energy and combating climate change.

Both agreed on the India-Germany Climate and Renewable Alliance for combating climate change, Modi said, and thanked Germany for its over one billion euro aid each for India’s Green Energy Corridor project and for solar projects in India.

“We look forward to a concrete outcome at COP21 (Conference of Parties) in Paris,” Modi said.

He said both sides will see a boost in partnership in areas of defence manufacturing, trade in advanced technology, intelligence, and countering terrorism and radicalism.

He thanked Germany for its strong support for India’s membership of the international export control regimes.

“As we discussed in the G4 Summit in New York, Chancellor and I are committed to pursue reforms of the United Nations, especially the Security Council,” Modi said.

He also thanked Merkel for the return of a 10th century statue of Durga in her Mahishasurmardini avatar from Jammu and Kashmir.

Modi said the statue is a symbol of the victory of good over evil.

He said: “This also suggests that in this age of transitions and turmoil, India-Germany partnership will be a force of good for the world.”

Merkel, in her media statement, said both sides held very good IGC and bilateral talks. She said the IGC mechanism has underscored the intensity of bilateral ties with India.

She said the inking of so many agreements is a “testimony to the dynamic relations”. She said more than 1,500 German companies are in India and more would be glad to open up in India. She commended the inking of the fast track agreement on German companies. “The speed at which you grant licences has increased, which is a good thing,” Merkel said.

She said Germany can help India in the area of sustainable development in the villages.

On expansion of the UN Security Council, Merkel referred to the meeting of the G4 countries of India, Germany, Japan and Brazil last week in New York and said the members of G4 are trying to seek permanent seat at the UNSC.

Both sides inked an agreement on security cooperation; an MoU on Solar Energy Partnership; for cooperation in the field of Skill Development and Vocational Education and Training; on Security Cooperation; railways and for cooperation in disaster management.

(IANS)

Backed by popular mandate, Greece submits new deal for dignity and debt relief

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Meanwhile, dueling rallies are taking place in Athens on Thursday and Friday

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reportedly told the Greek Parliament on Thursday to brace for 'compromise'. (Photo: Martin Schulz/flickr/cc)

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reportedly told the Greek Parliament on Thursday to brace for ‘compromise’. (Photo: Martin Schulz/flickr/cc)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

The Greek government on Thursday evening approved a package of specific reform measures it will present to foreign creditors in an effort to break an impasse that has raised questions about austerity and democracy across the European continent.

While details were not immediately made public, early news reports suggested the reform plan could include “punitive” measures such as at least €12 billion of cuts and tax increases—all in exchange for debt relief.

According to the Guardian:

Parliament is expected to endorse the package after a frantic few days of negotiation that followed a landmark referendum last Sunday in which Greek voters backed the radical leftist Syriza government’s call for debt relief.

Syriza, which is in coalition with the rightwing populist Independent party, is expected to meet huge opposition from within its own ranks and from trade unions and youth groups that viewed the referendum as a vote against any austerity.

Panagiotis Lafazanis, the energy minister and influential hard-leftist, who on Wednesday welcomed a deal for a new €2bn gas pipeline from Russia, has ruled out a new tough austerity package.

Lafazanis represents around 70 Syriza MPs who have previously taken a hard line against further austerity measures and could yet wreck any top-level agreement.

As the Guardian‘s Helena Smith argued: “The irony has not been lost on anyone… that after the Greeks’ resounding rejection of further biting austerity at the weekend, prime minister Alexis Tsipras has with lightning speed now agreed to put his name to the most punitive austerity package any government has been asked to implement during the five years of economic crisis in Greece.”

Indeed, the UK’s Telegraph adds that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras “has now reportedly told his parliament to brace themselves for ‘compromise’.”

Still, “[t]he concession would allow Mr. Tsipras to sell the deal as a face-saving measure after the Greek people delivered a ‘No’ to the previous bail-out terms, which provided no explicit promise to debt relief,” Telegraph journalist Mehreen Khan wrote on Thursday.

Tsipras and his Syriza government have long said that easing the country’s debt would restore “dignity” to impoverished Greeks.

The new proposal will be studied on a technical level by the so-called Troika—the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—on Friday, followed by further discussions among Eurozone finance ministers on Saturday and a full EU summit on Sunday.

It is not yet clear how these stakeholders will respond to Greece’s pitch. European Council president Donald Tusk said Thursday that any “realistic proposal from Athens needs to be matched by realistic proposal from creditors on debt sustainability to create [a] win-win situation”—suggesting he, like the IMF, supports the idea of debt relief.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was in Bosnia on Thursday, continues to rule out slashing the face value of Greece’s government debt, saying a so-called “haircut” on Greek loans was out of the question.

The BBC‘s Hugh Schofield argues that “at this dramatic juncture Greece looks to France as its last remaining hope.”

Schofield continues:

As one by one other EU governments have accepted the likelihood of an impending Greek departure, France cleaves to the imperative of compromise.

On Wednesday, even as Mr Tsipras addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Manuel Valls was telling a debate in the French National Assembly that keeping Greece in the EU was of “utmost geostrategic and geopolitical importance” and that a deal was “within grasp”.

Reporting from Athens, the Guardian‘s Smith adds: “Officials here are saying that all hope now rests with the French connection. Paris has dispatched a team of technocrats to help finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos draft the new proposal in an effort to ensure it is as convincing as can possibly be.”

Meanwhile, dueling rallies are slated to take place in Athens on Thursday and Friday, amidst ongoing negotiations between Greek officials and foreign creditors over debt relief and austerity, and ahead of the weekend meetings that could decide Greece’s future in the Eurozone.

Declaring “We’re staying in Europe,” Greeks who favor a harsh, Troika-proposed bailout deal—albeit at the cost of more cuts and austerity—will converge outside Parliament at 7:30 pm local time on Thursday.

The following day—same time, same place—”No” supporters, who won a landslide victory in Sunday’s referendum, will hold an anti-austerity rally under the slogan “Hands off democracy.”

A Guardian analysis published Thursday offers an indication of who might be in attendance at each demonstration. The Guardian‘s interactive map shows that while last week’s vote indeed reflected divisions between the old and young, it also split along class lines, with the nation’s poor voting overwhelmingly against the austerity package, and rich people voting “Yes.”

Four arrested in Germany over 'plot against Muslims'

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Three men and a woman held for possession of explosives and for planning attacks on mosques and leading Muslim figures.

A report links the increase in anti-immigrant attacks to the rise of right-wing groups in the country [Reuters]

A report links the increase in anti-immigrant attacks to the rise of right-wing groups in the country [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

German authorities have conducted raids across the country, seizing explosives and arresting four people accused of founding a right-wing group to attack mosques and housing for asylum seekers.

Police arrested three men and a woman accused of leading the group during raids by some 250 investigators on homes in Saxony and four other states, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Prosecutors allege the four helped found the “Oldschool Society” (OSS) group and were planning to attack asylum-seeker housing, mosques and well-known members of the Islamic community in Germany.

The four arrested, identified only as Andreas H, 56, Markus W, 39, Denise Vanessa G, 22, and Olaf O, 47, in line with German privacy laws, are being held on terrorism charges and are also accused of having procured explosives.

The statement identified Andreas H and Markus W as the group’s president and vice president.

The North Rhine-Westphalia state interior ministry said Olaf O was from the western city of Bochum and had been under observation since November as “a leading member of the OSS”.

“According to current investigations, it was the group’s goal to conduct attacks in smaller groups inside Germany on well-known Salafists, mosques and asylum-seeker centres,” the statement said.

“For this purpose the four arrested procured explosives for possible terror attacks by the group.”

Inquiries made by the Associated Press news agency to an apparent cell phone number and email address for the group were not immediately returned.

Attack plans

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the Oldschool Society appeared to be a newly formed group.

Rhineland-Palatinate interior minister Roger Lewentz, at the same news conference, held up what appeared to be the group’s logo – a white skull on black background framed by bloody butcher’s cleavers with lightning bolts resembling the runes of the Nazi SS.

“The SS rune is in there – that’s not for nothing,” Lewentz said.

Prosecutors said they are still trying to determine whether the group had concrete attack plans and refused to comment beyond their written statement.

There have been conflicts in recent years between far right groups and the Muslim community in North Rhine-Westphalia that have escalated into violent street fights.

In 2013, authorities said they foiled a plot to assassinate a high-ranking member of a far-right party in the state.

Right-wing groups have been a renewed focus for German intelligence agencies after it came to light that a neo-Nazi group calling itself National Socialist Underground, or NSU, allegedly killed eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007. It is also believed to be behind two bombings and 15 bank robberies.

De Maiziere said statistics released Wednesday showed a sharp increase of 22.9 percent in violent crimes by right-wing extremists in 2014 to 1,029, three times the number in 2013.

Anti-Semitic attacks have also reportedly increased.

The report suggested the rise could be linked to months of non-violent anti-Islam protests by a group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, or PEGIDA.

Germany accused of spying on France and engaging in industrial espionage on behalf of NSA

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germany-accused-of-eavesdropping-on-top-french-officials-and-engaging-in-industrial-espionage-on-behalf-of-the-nsa

by Melodie Bouchaud, Vice

Remember German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s outrage at having her cell phone tapped by the NSA, after whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked the evidence? She accused the NSA of being “like the Stasi.”

Now, it’s been revealed that Germany’s foreign intelligence agency BND spied on senior French and European officials on behalf of the US’s National Security Agency (NSA), according to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ).

SZ reports that the BND used its satellite tracking station in Bavaria — which famously resembles a field of oversized golf balls — to eavesdrop on members of the French foreign affairs ministry, the office of the French presidency, and the European Commission.

But leaked reports that surfaced in the German media this week indicate that the NSA also relied on Germany to conduct industrial espionage on a number of European firms, as early as 2008. According to the BBC, Washington was checking for violations of trade agreements.

Germany first started sharing data with the US in 2002 under Frank-Walter Steinmeier, then chief of staff to former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The aim of the 2002 Memorandum of Agreement between Germany and the US was to strengthen cooperation on intelligence in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and to combat global terrorism.

Asked to spy on companies like European aerospace and defense corporation EADS or helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter, BND employees apparently didn’t take long to figure out they were engaging in industrial espionage rather than the war on terror.

According to German news weekly Der Spiegel, BND employees alerted German higher-ups as early as 2008, and again in 2010, that the NSA’s intelligence requests exceeded the counterterrorism mandate of the original agreement.

Der Spiegel claims that, of the 690,000 phone numbers and 7.8 million IP addresses cleared for surveillance, 40,000 fell outside of the counterterrorism remit of the German-American intelligence pact. The US was not “solely interested in terrorism,” wrote the German weekly, but “used [Germany’s] technological resources to spy on western European companies and firms.”

German media has reported that the government turned a blind eye to NSA spying so that it might continue to receive US counterterrorism information.

On Wednesday, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere — who was responsible for the BND at the time — denied the government had lied to the German parliament about supposedly known breaches to the agreement. De Maiziere, who has been accused of lying by the German media, was pictured Wednesday on the cover of German tabloid newspaper Bild with an elongated Pinocchio nose.

The spying allegations are particularly embarrassing for Merkel, who commented at the time it was revealed that her cell phone was tapped that “spying between friends is simply unacceptable.” She’s been branded hypocritical, particularly in light of Germany’s political collaboration with France, which is also known as the “Franco-German Friendship.” Merkelhas vowed to “bring everything out into the open.”

Indian growth engine re-energised: Modi

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narendra-modi-angela-merkel

Hannover: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said his government had “re-energised” the Indian growth engine and that the country wants to become a manufacturing hub to serve its domestic market as well as exports.

“We have re-energised the Indian growth engine. The credibility of our economy has been restored. India is once again poised for rapid growth and development. It is the only emerging economy where growth rate is rising. The prospects are even better,” Modi said in an Op-Ed piece in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

He said that “Make in India” requires urgent creation of new infrastructure. “The substantial enhancement in financing in the federal budget for highways, railways and energy is a step in this direction. Work has begun on the development of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.”

Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Germany, said that through “our ‘Act East’ and ‘Link West’ policy, India has the potential of becoming the middle ground for East and West as a manufacturing hub that serves both our vast domestic market and becomes a base for global exports and general well-being”.

He said: “My government has pledged a stable and transparent tax regime, reducing corporate taxes and implementing a single Goods and Services Tax in 2016.”

The prime minister said he visualised India as a “key engine of global growth”.

Modi said: “Our democratic principles and practices are guarantors of stability. We have a free media and an independent judiciary that allows all opinions to be aired without fear.”

The prime minister said that India believed in “Rahein Saath Badhe Saath” (stay together-grow together).

“There is no other way forward. Mankind’s progress in this century depends on cooperation and collaboration. Conflict is unthinkable. So is poverty which (Mahatma) Gandhi called the worst form of violence,” he said.

The Indian prime minister, who is in Germany as part of his three-nation sojourn, said: “Our focus is not merely economic growth but an inclusive development.”

Observing that international support and collaboration are equally critical to achieving India’s objectives, he said: “I have therefore sought to build a foreign policy which is an integral part of our national development strategy.”

“My interactions with leaders of United States, Russia, France, Japan and China have all aimed at creating enduring partnerships with shared stakes in global development and well-being.”

(IANS)

Student denied internship in Germany over 'rape problem' in India

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Leipzig University

New Delhi: A professor from Leipzig University in Germany denied internship to an Indian male student citing the “rape problem” in India, but later offered an apology when Germany’s ambassador to India intervened and suggested the professor needed to “learn more about the diverse, dynamic and fascinating” country.

The screenshots of email replies to the Indian student by professor Annette Beck-Sickinger of Leipzig’s Institute of Biochemistry had gone viral on various social networking websites with many questioning their authenticity.

“Unfortunately I don’t accept any Indian male students for internships. We hear a lot about the rape problem in India which I cannot support. I have many female students in my group, so I think this attitude is something I cannot support (sic),” read the screenshot of an email sent by the professor.

“Many female professors in Germany decided to no longer accept male students for these reasons, and currently other European female association are joining. Of course, we cannot change or influence the Indian society, but only take our consequences here in Europe,” read another email Beck-Sickinger wrote to the student.

But soon after the German embassy in India on Monday uploaded a letter by Germany’s ambassador to India Michael Steiner on its website, there was no doubt about the authenticity of the emails.

In a scathing letter to the professor, Steiner wrote: “I would encourage you to learn more about the diverse, dynamic and fascinating country and the many welcoming and open-minded people of India so that you could correct a simplistic image, which — in my opinion — is particularly unsuitable for a professor and teacher.”

Later, Beck-Sickinger said she was sorry about the emails.

“Of course I have nothing against male Indians and I have accepted several Indian students in the past,” The Huffington Post reported her as saying.

“However my lab is full and I currently cannot take any student. This led to an unpleasant discussion with one of the Indian students,” she said.

(IANS)

The anti-Islamic far-right is spreading in Europe—and going mainstream

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(Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke)

(Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke)

by Kabir Chibber, Quartz

In recent months, a street movement called Pegida—Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident—has emerged from nowhere in Germany, seeking to “protect Judeo-Christian culture” and halt to what it calls the spread of Islam. Though it denies being xenophobic or racist, its leader quit after being pictured dressed as Hitler. Pegida’s rallies have attracted tens of thousands of people in Germany.

And now the group is spreading abroad. Pegida held its first march in Vienna and is to hold its first British rally in the city of Newcastle on Feb. 28, with more planned in the UK. Britain already has anti-Islamic groups such as the English Defence League, a small but vocal force. Only this weekend, the EDL attracted as many as 1,000 people to a march against the building of a mosque.

Time will tell how popular Pegida will be outside of Germany—only a few hundred people showed up in Vienna—but its rising profile is a small part of the growing shift into the mainstream of far-right groups that would have once been shunned.

Britain is also coping with the rise of the anti-immigration UK Independence Party, whose leader has blamed immigrants for his being late to his own campaign events. In France, the Front National is a more organized and established version of much the same sentiment. In 2002, the Front National’s overtly-racist leader at the time, Jean-Marie Le Pen, shocked many by getting to the run-off in the presidential election, and the whole of the French establishment united against him. His daughter, Marine Le Pen, now runs the Front National, which was the most popular party in the last nationwide elections held in France and has become so prominent that she was invited to speak at the Oxford University student union last week (link in French)—her speech was delayed by three hours due to protests. She even gets to write editorials in the New York Times now.

Even Britain’s Prince Charles, who rarely speaks on political matters, is worried about the radicalization of Muslim youths within his future kingdom. The growing acceptance of far-right subject matter as part of political discourse in Europe may just be a sign of our more polarized times—similar things are happening on the far-left in Greece and Spain, for example.

But it could also mean that Europe will have to come to accept voices like Pegida in the mainstream for the foreseeable future. If nothing else, it is a test of the region’s tolerance for dissent. As Germany’s vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel suggests:

Whether you like it or not, people have a democratic right to be right-wing or nationalist. People also have a right to spread stupid ideas, such as the notion that Germany is being Islamicized.

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