Islamist demonstration: Then go over there! (Opinion)

Opinion

“Then go over there if'”It doesn’t suit you here” – that was a sentence that one could often hear in the old Federal Republic when people criticized the conditions.

I have to admit that I immediately thought of him again when I saw the pictures of the Islamist demonstration in Hamburg. On Saturday, around 1,200 people followed the call of a group called “Muslim Interactive”. The video footage of the demonstration is shocking. Young men shout hate slogans against the “German dictatorship” and hold signs demanding the introduction of a caliphate, i.e. an Islamic theocracy. There are no women to be seen. According to media reports, they stood isolated on the edge, separated from the men and covered up.

Do we have to accept something like this? Yes, says the Hamburg police. Demonstrations can only be banned if violence is to be expected. That was apparently not the case here.

Freedom of expression is at the heart of our democracy. And that means, as bitter as it is sometimes, you have to endure when Islamists loudly dream of a caliphate, just as we had to endure Pegida’s “Germany dictatorship” chatter. But you would like to shout to them all: If things are so bad here, no one is stopping you from going “over there”. To a country where you see your longings for the state fulfilled. But then you shouldn’t complain that many of the things you enjoy here – the welfare state, freedom of expression, tolerance – will no longer be available there.

Part of democracy is that it shows resistance. Against those who want to destroy them. And it doesn’t matter at all whether the protests come from the right, the left or from religious fanatics.

What does that mean specifically? The police should consistently punish any violation of rules and requirements during such demonstrations. Groups that engage in such agitation must be closely monitored. Anyone who constantly spreads hate slogans will sooner or later leave the democratic framework. Then the state has to take tough action.

Our country, our rules

It’s our country, it’s our rules. Anyone who lives here has to accept that the commitment to Israel’s right to exist is part of our reason of state. Anyone who doesn’t commit to this has no place in the civil service. The head of “Muslim Interaktiv” is a young man who, according to media reports, is studying to become a teacher and at the same time radicalizes his followers via social networks. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has to look closely here.

The Islamists and Pegidists are a minority

We are not alone in the fight against fanaticism and extremism. The Islamists in Hamburg are just as much a minority in the Muslim community as the “Reich Citizens” and Pegida supporters are for other parts of society. Even if images from such demonstrations sometimes give a different impression.

The majority of people here know how lucky they are to be able to live in a democracy. This also applies to the approximately 5.5 million Muslims in Germany. Let’s not allow Islamists to convince them that they are only seen as “second-class citizens” by the majority of society. Let’s show in everyday life that we value their work, respect their culture and that their children must have the same educational opportunities as those of “bio-Germans”. Those who want to be part of this society must feel invited and respected. Those who do not do this must feel that we will not tolerate it. Neither as a society nor as a constitutional state.

Almost no one went “over there” – for good reason

By the way, almost none of those who thought everything was bad in the old Federal Republic back then went “over there” to the GDR. Despite their slogans, most were very aware of the privileges they enjoyed in the West. And they probably also suspected that their comfortable life would be over as soon as their ideology was subjected to a reality check.