If immigration politics fueled by Islamophobia are divisive in the U.S., they are far more pronounced in the European country which has borne the brunt of the latest wave of immigration from the Middle East and North Africa.
A new documentary focusing on immigration and the growing militancy of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident [in German: Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes, or PEGIDA] reveals the depth and breadth of a crisis with deep historical resonance.
Tatjana Festerling, PEGIDA’s number two, bears a haunting resemblance to American Islamophobe Sarah Palin, and many of the words shespeaks could as easily be voiced by the former Alaska governor.
The arguments voiced by PEGIDA also mirror those of Donald Trump and most of the Republican Presidential field, and we suspect we’ll be hearing them in increasing numbers and volume in the months ahead, as well as an offshoot of the Germany group, PEGIDA USA..
From Polygooi Productions via Journeyman Pictures:
Pegida On Rise As Germany Divided Over Refugees
Program notes:
The PEGIDA movement is spreading across Germany, accelerated by Merkel’s decision to open the country’s borders. This report travels between PEGIDA, aid volunteers and refugees to explore a widening political division.
In Dresden, the birthplace of PEGIDA, protesters convene at a square once named after Adolf Hitler to rally against the open-door policy of Angela Merkel. “She has no right to mix the German people, to create a new people, influenced by Islam”, explains Tatjana Festerling, the party’s second in command. “Merkel is the most dangerous woman in Europe.” Around 40,000 refugees came to Germany in just 6 weeks, but now German society appears to be increasingly polarised. Extensive support has been provided to refugees in Germany by the army, the Red Cross and volunteers. “It’s just humanity. It has nothing to do with being a German”, explains one volunteer. Yet even volunteers are becoming wary of the mass influx: “We do not know who is coming, that’s frightening”. Mikko Stübner-Lankuttis, who grew up in West Berlin, describes the collective German guilt that has been passed down to his generation: “For this reason alone we cannot refuse these refugees with a clear conscience”. As German TV presenter Anke Plättner describes, “It is engrained in us Germans: the cry of ‘never again’”. As past and present collide, Germany’s multicultural future hangs in the balance.
eats shoots 'n leaves 