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Pegida: what does the German far-right movement actually stand for? Pegida: what does the German far-right movement actually stand for?
(35 minutes later)
What started out just over three months ago as little more than a Facebook page with a few hundred members has grown into a group with thousands of supporters, who are invited by the organisers to meet for “evening strolls” through German cities. On Monday, a record 18,000 people took to the streets of Dresden.
From the man carrying a banner calling for the abolition of the television licence to the woman campaigning against battery-hen farming, at first glance it seems a Pegida rally has something for everyone.From the man carrying a banner calling for the abolition of the television licence to the woman campaigning against battery-hen farming, at first glance it seems a Pegida rally has something for everyone.
This also applies to its fashions – from middle-class protestors in wax jackets and cashmere bobble hats to thirtysomething hooligan types in Lonsdale sweatshirts (the NSDA letters in Lonsdale recalling the initials of the Nazi party, NSDAP, making it long since a label of choice for neo-Nazi sympathisers). Even the name of the organisation – Pegida, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, is rather flexible. In Bonn, it goes by the name Bogida; in Cologne, it’s Kögida; in Berlin, it’s Bärgida, managing to embody the “Bär”, or “bear”, the symbol of Berlin, which gives it such a cuddly ring.This also applies to its fashions – from middle-class protestors in wax jackets and cashmere bobble hats to thirtysomething hooligan types in Lonsdale sweatshirts (the NSDA letters in Lonsdale recalling the initials of the Nazi party, NSDAP, making it long since a label of choice for neo-Nazi sympathisers). Even the name of the organisation – Pegida, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, is rather flexible. In Bonn, it goes by the name Bogida; in Cologne, it’s Kögida; in Berlin, it’s Bärgida, managing to embody the “Bär”, or “bear”, the symbol of Berlin, which gives it such a cuddly ring.
Many of the slogans held aloft by participants are hard to disagree with, such as “If you go to sleep in a democracy, you wake up in a dictatorship”. Others, such as “Beware Ali Baba and his 400 drug dealers”, seem to be trying hard to make the point that drug-dealing and immigrants are synonymous.Many of the slogans held aloft by participants are hard to disagree with, such as “If you go to sleep in a democracy, you wake up in a dictatorship”. Others, such as “Beware Ali Baba and his 400 drug dealers”, seem to be trying hard to make the point that drug-dealing and immigrants are synonymous.
This is perhaps a dodgy thing to do if your leader, 41-year-old Lutz Bachmann, has a criminal record for drug dealing, as well as breaking and entering. Bachmann, who as a boy sold his butcher father’s sausages on Dresden’s Christmas markets and now runs an advertising agency, has not lost any support over the revelations, and has even sought to turn them to his advantage – particularly the detail of how South Africa swiftly deported him after he had fled there to escape German justice. “At least they have a deportation system that works!” he quipped at a recent rally, to much laughter.This is perhaps a dodgy thing to do if your leader, 41-year-old Lutz Bachmann, has a criminal record for drug dealing, as well as breaking and entering. Bachmann, who as a boy sold his butcher father’s sausages on Dresden’s Christmas markets and now runs an advertising agency, has not lost any support over the revelations, and has even sought to turn them to his advantage – particularly the detail of how South Africa swiftly deported him after he had fled there to escape German justice. “At least they have a deportation system that works!” he quipped at a recent rally, to much laughter.
What Pegida stands for is hard to ascertain, especially if you ask Pegida, largely because demonstrators have been urged not to talk to what they call the “Lügenpresse”, or liar press (a term of condemnation also used by the Nazis, by the way), and its organisers rarely give interviews. Some speak, but only through gritted teeth. They mention a desire for tighter immigration controls, for keeping war refugees in their homelands, for forcing foreigners in Germany to speak German at home (also a proposal made recently by the CSU, the sister party of the president, Angela Merkel) and for the swifter deportation of criminal asylum seekers (such as Bachmann, presumably).What Pegida stands for is hard to ascertain, especially if you ask Pegida, largely because demonstrators have been urged not to talk to what they call the “Lügenpresse”, or liar press (a term of condemnation also used by the Nazis, by the way), and its organisers rarely give interviews. Some speak, but only through gritted teeth. They mention a desire for tighter immigration controls, for keeping war refugees in their homelands, for forcing foreigners in Germany to speak German at home (also a proposal made recently by the CSU, the sister party of the president, Angela Merkel) and for the swifter deportation of criminal asylum seekers (such as Bachmann, presumably).
Often their sentences begin “I am not racist, but” or “It is unfair to bunch us together with Nazis”, despite neo-Nazis being visibly in their midsts. Commentators refer to them as “Wutbürger” or “Frustbürger” – citizens angry and frustrated at everything from a higher cost of living to Greek bailouts. Their supporters despise these terms.Often their sentences begin “I am not racist, but” or “It is unfair to bunch us together with Nazis”, despite neo-Nazis being visibly in their midsts. Commentators refer to them as “Wutbürger” or “Frustbürger” – citizens angry and frustrated at everything from a higher cost of living to Greek bailouts. Their supporters despise these terms.
What started out just over three months ago as little more than a Facebook page with a few hundred members has grown into a group with thousands of supporters, who are invited by the organisers to meet for “evening strolls” through German cities. On Monday, a record 18,000 took to the streets of Dresden. Merkel’s New Year’s address, in which she urged Germans not to join those who had “prejudice, a chilliness, even hatred in their hearts”, clearly has done little to deter them. Some at Monday’s demonstration said the admonition by Mutti, as she is known, had even spurred them on. Merkel’s New Year’s address, in which she urged Germans not to join those who had “prejudice, a chilliness, even hatred in their hearts”, clearly has done little to deter them. Some at Monday’s demonstration said the admonition by Mutti, as she is known, had even spurred them on.