Muslims in Germany

I may never have the time to read the entire 500-page report Muslime in Deutschland (pdf) which was commissioned by the German ministery of the interior and prepared by the Institute of Criminology at the University of Hamburg, but it is interesting to read the reception in the German media. Apparently both Islamophobes and Muslims alike can find data in the report to support their position.

The tone of the reception has been strongly influenced by interior minister Wolgang Schäuble's foreward to the report: "Liebe Leserinnen und Leser, der weltweit operierende islamistische Terrorismus ist heute eine der größten Gefahren für unsere Sicherheit." (Dear Reader, the worldwide-operating Islamic terrorism is one of the greatest threats to our security today) Schäuble has been sounding the alarm of homegrown terrorism in Germany for years, using this as a pretext for systematically dismantling civil liberties (Stasi 2.0).  The report showed that 6% of the approx. 3 million Muslims living in Germany would consider violence as an acceptable solution. The right-wing noise machine immediately kicked in: "180.000 Muslims in Germany are willing to commit violence in the name of Islam" was the headline in the right wing Pajamas Media. Politicians immediately began to exploit the report's finding, with Bavaria's interior minister Joachim Herrmann demanding that all Muslims in Germany sign a Pledge renouncing violence (Gewaltverzichtserklärung ).

Those that actually read the report came away with a different conclusion.  The vast majority of Muslims reject violence; the number of violence prone Muslims is no greater than the right-wing extemists who routinely carry out attacks on foreigners in Saxony. Indeed, Eberhard Seidel, writing in the Tageszeitung, sees uncomfortable similarities between Muslims and non-Muslims in Germany:

"(the report's) results show that considerable similarities exist between the attitude of a minority of Muslims and the authoritarianism, intolerance, xenophobia and extreme right wing mentality among young Germans. The sole difference: in the one case the ideology of inequality is based on religion, in the other on nationalism. This data and the questions raised could open a new chapter in the social sciences."

The report does expose a huge problem for Germany with respect to the integration of its Muslim population. Even third generation Muslims in Germany feel socially excluded, even though they were born in Germany, attend German schools and speak German as their first language. They are German, but they feel like foreigners in their own country and consequently turn to Islam.  Especially students, the report shows, see themselves as collective victims of global anti-Islamic sentiment, increasing the risk of radicalization. Hopefully this report will initiate a new national discussion in Germany on the persistent barriers to integration of its minorities.

For German readers, Telepolis has a good and objective analysis of the report.

Comments

[erphschwester]

schon allein die tatsache, daß eine derartige studie in auftrag gegeben wird (impliziert nicht bereits die fragestellung entsprechende vermutungen? und - da wir einmal dabei sind - haben wir eine vergleichbare studie zur "rechten" gewaltbereitschaft deutscher?), spricht für sich.

allerdings beklage auch ich die fehlende integrationsbereitschaft vieler ausländischer mitbürger, die nicht damit zu begründen ist, daß die deutschen sie nicht akzeptieren würden. die grenzen, so empfinde ich das im alltag, werden von den zuwanderern oft selbst gesetzt. mit amerikanischen zuständen dürfte das schwerlich vergleichbar sein. der amerikanische staat setzt bei einwanderern eine gewisse grundhaltung voraus, die in nicht unerheblichem umfang auch "abgeprüft" wird. in deutschland ist dies nicht der fall.

[Hattie]

Well, I might have some choice words with which to condemn Germans for their treatment of Muslims if I thought we in the U.S. were any better.
And the anti-Muslim propaganda is no more subtle here than it is in Germay, either.