What Are the Repercussions of Germany’s Far-Right Victory on Islamophobia?

Germany is navigating a pivotal moment that could reshape both its national identity and its global standing.

As the far-right gains significant electoral momentum, the country finds itself grappling with an identity crisis amidst severe economic and social challenges.

Scapegoats Strategy

A sense of unease is sweeping across the nation, and, as history has repeatedly shown, scapegoats are quickly identified.

A century ago, during the Weimar Republic, demagogues and populists capitalized on the fears of the German populace, often targeting Jews. Today, immigrants, particularly those of Muslim origin, have become the new "other."

Over the past decade, far-right rhetoric, largely propagated by the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has seeped into the mainstream.

Narratives and imagery that would be condemned as hate speech in many other democracies have become disturbingly normalized.

A glaring example of this toxic shift is a video recently released by the Bavarian Interior Ministry titled "The Salafist Trap."

The video, which has since been removed, begins by showing a man in Islamic attire engaging a young woman in a conversation about makeup on social media.

It soon takes a dark turn. The man is portrayed as an “evil” figure whose malevolent smile and actions lead the young woman down a path from dancing in a nightclub to wearing a hijab, then a niqab, and ultimately performing household chores under the control of a domineering husband. Her transformation is marked by a shift from joy to despair.

The imagery in this video echoes the anti-Semitic caricatures once spread by the Nazi publication Der Stürmer in the 1920s and 1930s.

The sinister smiles, the devilish gestures, and the ominous laughter are all designed to cast the "other" as inherently malevolent.

Meanwhile, the young Muslim woman is depicted as helpless, naive, and submissive—her autonomy stripped away under the influence of a man who forces her into traditional Islamic dress, thereby reinforcing anti-Islamic stereotypes.

Conspiracy Theories

Anti-Islam conspiracy theories have deep roots, tracing back to early 20th-century Orientalist thought.

In 1913, Albert Edwards penned an essay titled "The Menace of Islamic Unity," which painted a grim picture of a global Islamic conspiracy aimed at undermining Western powers. Edwards depicted political activism inspired by Islam as an existential threat to the West.

This narrative, long discredited in many circles, has nonetheless found renewed traction in Germany, much like in other European countries.

The idea that any form of Islamist activism could serve as a “gateway” to extremism has entered into the mainstream, where political Islam is often viewed through a lens of suspicion and fear.

This perspective is vividly illustrated in the controversial video released by the Bavarian Interior Ministry.

The video suggests that even minimal exposure to Islamist rhetoric can set an individual on an irreversible path from moderate beliefs to extreme terrorism, echoing the discredited "conveyor belt" theory.

This theory, popularized by certain Israeli and Emirati Islamophobic networks, has been repeatedly debunked but persists as a tool to securitize and stigmatize political Islam in all its forms.

In reality, the narrative of an Islamist threat serves as a convenient and simplistic tool for populist fear-mongering.

Despite Germany’s Muslim population of approximately 5.5 million, only about 12,000 are identified as radical Salafists—merely 0.2 percent.

Yet, whenever a disenfranchised individual commits an act of violence in the name of Islam, as occurred recently in Solingen, the response from mainstream German politics and media is often to amplify Islamophobic sentiments, further entrenching the narrative of an Islamic menace.

Government Failure

On another hand, the German government is failing to adequately protect Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims from rising racism and discrimination, according to Human Rights Watch.

The absence of a clear definition of anti-Muslim racism, a lack of comprehensive data on incidents, and insufficient institutional support for victims are significant barriers to an effective response.

Human Rights Watch highlights that the government's shortcomings begin with a failure to recognize that Muslims experience racism, not just religious hostility.

Without a proper understanding of anti-Muslim hate and frequent data collection, the government's response will remain ineffective.

By September 2023, Germany had already recorded 686 Islamophobic crimes, surpassing the total of 610 for all of 2022.

Yet, the Interior Ministry has been unable to provide data for the final months of the year. Civil society groups have warned of a surge in anti-Muslim incidents since October, coinciding with the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Germany's federal commissioner for anti-racism, Reem Alabali-Radovan, recently acknowledged the growing concern, echoing a broader EU-wide alarm over increasing incidents. This recognition is a step forward but underscores the need for stronger protections for Muslims in Germany.

Rima Hanano, head of the Alliance Against Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate (CLAIM), described 2023 as a year marked by a disturbing rise in anti-Muslim incidents, with the Alliance documenting an average of three such cases daily.

One involved a man, perceived to be Muslim, who was called a "terrorist," assaulted, and hospitalized.

While groups like CLAIM gather data on these incidents, the German government has yet to establish a national infrastructure for monitoring and data collection.

The current hate crime classification system, in place since 2017, categorizes hate incidents against Muslims under "anti-Islamic" motives, dissociating them from ethnic-based hostility.

A government-commissioned study published in June 2023 recognized the widespread nature of anti-Muslim sentiments in Germany and recommended linking anti-Muslim hate to racism.

However, the Interior Ministry has not engaged with the report's findings or implemented its recommendations. The ministry's vague acknowledgment of the missing racial lens in their approach does little to inspire confidence in effective policy changes.

Germany, home to one of Europe's largest Muslim populations, has a duty under international law to protect Muslim communities.

The failure to investigate, prosecute, and punish all racist hate incidents, as highlighted by recent reviews, only exacerbates the problem.