Episode 145 - Germany has a terrorism problem.

Germany's foreign minister says the  country has a terrorism problem. But it's not what you think.  We'll look into it on this episode of the Hot Zone.

 

Hi Folks, well the political establishment in Germany is struggling, and the country's leadership is under attack, seemingly from all sides.  In fact, Germany's voters seem to be moving in two directions, to the left and to the right, leaving a big hole in the center and making it increasingly difficult for the current leader, Angela Merkel to hold her coalition together.

 

One thing is for sure:  voters are unhappy with the way things are.  The green party environmentalists are clashing with police and taking over coal mines, and at the same time the nationalist, or some would say anti-immigrant party is gaining traction in parliament.  But this is very concerning for the current leadership, who blame their anti-immigrant rhetoric for the assassination of a prominent pro-migrant politician in recent days.  

 

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is even calling for weekly protests against right-wing extremism, claiming in an op-ed published in the Saturday edition of Bild newspaper that Germany "has a terrorism problem."

 

But he's not talking about the sixteen people who have been killed this decade in ISIS-inspired terror attacks across Germany.  He's not referring to the several attacks by left-wing socialist groups.  He's specifically targeting right-wing groups or individuals, which have been responsible for exactly one death this century.  

 

Now it is a problem.  And terror is terror, whether it comes from a lone-wolf jihadi or some weenie wannabe nazi.  It's all bad.  But in this case, as in most cases, politics intrudes on rationality and can blow things out of proportion.  Here's what I mean.

 

Germany has seen a huge wave of migration since about 2015, and is now the world's second largest immigrant destination.  Three guesses which country is the first largest.  I won't give it away but it's initials are USA.  Germany is now looking at about 15 percent of it's total population as foreign born.  This has had a profound effect on the crime rates in that country, and so it should come as no surprise that it's affecting the politics as well.  

 

Last week eleven men, most of them from Syria, went on trial in Germany over the gang rape of an 18-year-old woman last October.

 

The defendants, aged between 18 and 30, were charged with raping the young woman outside a nightclub in Freiburg.

Only one of the suspects is an actual German citizen, however.  with the rest being eight Syrians, two Algerians and an Iraqi.

 

When I was in Germany last year I looked into these reports of a spike in sex crimes by migrants, and interviewed one member of a right-wing movement trying to draw attention to the problem.

 

[120db movement]

 

But the rise in sexual assaults isn't the only problem they're seeing with mass migration.  I was personally offered drugs by a group of migrants while walking through a park in Berlin.

 

[berlin drugs]

 

Now there are definitely some very bad elements of the far right in Germany, but as usual, the media overstates it's case when it comes to people who believe in conservative values.  Heck, Angela Merkel's party is called the conservative party in Germany.  If you were to take your average church-going homeschool family in the United States, and dropped them in Germany, they'd be considered just to the right of Attilla the Hun.  And I'm not joking. Homeschooling in Germany has been illegal since 1919, and the government there has been known to forcibly remove children from their homes when the parents dare to try and school their own kids.  So when you hear "far right" from the media, always take that with a grain of salt.  The skinhead white supremacists do exist in Germany, but don't let the media fool you into thinking that of most of the people to which the label is given.  

 

I met with a leader of the AFD or "Alternative For Germany" party to find out what they really stand for.

 

[AFD party]

 

Okay, so let's recap:

 

1. There are problems in Germany relating to immigration
2. Those problems are leading to a schism in the politics of the country.
3. Said Schisms are causing more problems.  The politicians try to fix those problems be consolidating control over the people.
4. those suffering most from this consolidation are the everyday citizens of the country.

 

There are lots of lessons in this for America.  That's why I'm talking about it today.  We see many of the same issues cropping up on U.S. Soil, and it's important to see what's futher down the road if we let it get away from we, the people.

 

Okay that's all I have for today folks.  Thanks for watching.  I'm, traveling all next week so I'll have some fun stuff from on the road.  So stay tuned.  And have a great weekend.  I'm Chuck Holton and this has been the Hot Zone.