Icon: enlarge
Flowers and candles at the scene of the fatal knife attack in Dresden
Photo: Sebastian Kahnert / dpa
Again there was an apparently Islamist murder, and the suspect is a refugee Syrian.
It has just been announced that the man killed in Dresden was the victim of an assassin.
What will follow on social media in the next hours and days is a sad, because ritual-like spectacle.
I don't mean the right hatred that escalates as a result.
Rather, it is how left and liberal civil society dealt with this alleged terrorist murder, which is based on a fascist ideology: largely silence.
Kevin Kühnert has already written down, thankfully, that the left in Germany must deal with this "probably the blindest spot" and loudly take a stand against the murderous Islamism.
That is absolutely correct, but it can only be the beginning.
A form of belittling racism
The diagnosis: The German left - and also the liberals and bourgeoisie - have undoubtedly failed to develop a non-racist criticism of Islamism.
That is catastrophic enough.
But after the murder in Dresden - as is usual after Islamist attacks - another dimension, namely an emotional one, will unfold in social media.
After the bitter silence described by Kühnert, the hesitant left-wing requests to speak consist of a peculiar, embarrassed sadness.
Comparable to the reactions to a natural disaster, against which unfortunately, unfortunately, nothing can be done.
You can see the absurdity in a direct comparison: Right-wing extremist murder is followed by left-wing outrage, Islamist murder is followed by quiet, left-wing contrite, as is the case with earthquake victims.
Sometimes even supplemented by relativizations.
Somebody wrote seriously about the murder in Paris: "Isn't capitalism and its dealings with poor people and countries to blame for Islamist extremism?"
It's not just bizarre, forgotten and dull.
It is also a form of belittling racism to deny Muslim people and entire countries in toto responsibility for their own actions and instead apparently believe that
everything
that happens in the world is solely a reaction to the evil capitalism of white Europeans and Americans .
more on the subject
Farewell to murdered teacher Samuel Paty: "A martyr for freedom of speech"
The murder of Samuel Paty shocked France: the teacher who defended freedom of expressionBy Tanja Kuchenbecker, Paris
After Islamist attacks like in Dresden, I regularly observe
concern about the resulting right-wing hatred
as the
first
left reaction.
The Islamist hatred is hidden in passing.
I think this difference results from a secret hierarchization: For many leftists there seems to be first class and second class hostility.
Bitter to understand, for example, with Muslim anti-Semitism, which is
surprisingly rarely addressed
from the left
in Germany and sometimes even benevolently classified as "criticism of Israel".
Disinterest and moral laziness
Most of the left (me too) hoped otherwise - but there is an Islamist radicalization process among refugees.
And it almost certainly takes place with and in social media and in existing Islamist structures.
It is not an option to elegantly omit these facts in the debate from the left and possibly to make common cause with Islamists, because one takes their alleged advocacy against racism at face value.
Some claim that the silence stems from the fact that leftists are afraid of being branded as "racist" in any criticism of Islamism.
That may be true sometimes.
In my opinion, it is more about disinterest on the one hand and moral laziness on the other.
The lack of interest consists in the fact that the left rarely or not at all interested in the actual immigrant spheres, which are infinitely diverse, independent and complex.
Instead, one defines, practically without further inquiry, people who are primarily influenced by migrants, and especially Muslims, exclusively as a minority to be protected, as a kind of compassionate migrant monolith.
The lack of left interest is complemented by a lack of dialogue, which is precisely why a gigantic, almost 20,000-strong Turkish right-wing extremist movement could emerge in Germany.
A surprising number of otherwise vocal leftists have not even heard of.
The moral laziness is even worse.
Too many left-wing minds have no place for an actually simple realization: people can be victims of (structural) racism
and
perpetrators of hostility
at the same time
.
display
Title: Reality Shock: Ten Lessons from the Present
Editor: Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Number of pages: 400
Author: Lobo, Sascha
Buy for € 22.00
Price query time
October 21, 2020 6.44 p.m.
No guarantee
Icon: Info
Order at AmazonIcon: amazon
Order from ThaliaIcon: thalia
Product reviews are purely editorial and independent.
Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase.
More information here
Tara "sternenrot", a German-Iranian observer as precise as she is smart, of the political scene from a left-wing perspective, tweeted about the Islamist murder in Paris:
"In France a teacher was
executed
after discussing the Mohammed cartoons in class. And I understand that not everyone can and does not like to write something about it. But it was surprisingly quiet on this subject in my [timeline] too. I can only say that political Islam and right-wing extremism are very similar in their ideology, their will to annihilate and therefore also their dangerousness. A left that does not stand up against both is worth nothing. A dispute is a must. "
It hits an essential point, namely the unwillingness of too many German leftists to view Islamism as the fascist threat to liberal democracy that it is.
The victim attitude often serves as a justification for violence
Interestingly enough, some left-wing statements coincide with the patterns used by Islamists themselves on the Internet.
After the Paris attack, thousands of people spread claims on French social media that the attack was orchestrated by the West to "discredit Islam".
Or to "distract from the real problems".
It is an Islamist perpetrator-victim reversal that is also popular with right-wing extremists.
On the one hand, it goes hand in hand with close proximity to conspiracy theories and, on the other hand, it is also extremely dangerous because the victim attitude often serves as a justification for violence.
Because victims are still allowed to defend themselves according to almost any moral feeling.
"Those who desecrate the prophet should be aware of the consequences," is a sentence * from a German-language social medium, followed by the equation of the Paris murder victim Samuel Paty with an animal.
This not only suggests a fascist worldview, there is also a defense against responsibility: You are to blame that the poor, poor assassin couldn't help but behead Samuel Paty.
Because the Islamist killer was shot dead by the police, French social media used terms such as "martyr" and even without any knowledge of the situation, complaints of police violence against the bomber.
more on the subject
Icon: Spiegel PlusIcon: Spiegel PlusThe murder of a teacher shakes France: The mess of othersAn essay by Nils Minkmar
If you look at the genesis of the monstrous act of terrorism in Paris, it also becomes clear how relevant the communication in social media is.
That it is not just individual Islamists who have called for Paty to be ostracized, but broader outrage plays an essential role.
The Muslim father of a student of Samuel Paty recorded a video that must be viewed as the basis for the ultimately fatal incitement.
He also published Teacher's personal contact information.
The clip spread via social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp and other messengers and caused an uproar far beyond clearly Islamist circles.
This anger was fueled by false rumors, allegations and deliberately escalating lies in further videos and comments.
The imam Abdelhakim Sefrioui, an Islamist extremist who has since been arrested, played a central role together with the schoolgirl's father.
In some areas of French, Muslim social media, a willingness to be aroused can be discerned, which, according to the findings on social media, probably functions as a breeding ground for violence.
Even if the vast majority of the people below do not approve of the murder.
The left must revolt
The parallels to the right-wing extremist narratives that contribute to attacks on refugees, for example, are unmistakable: In both cases, social media act as a kind of lens, where broad indignation, often sparked by false reports, is condensed and violent extremists feel that they are act on some sort of mandate from the majority.
What is wrong, as you can see from the overwhelming number of utterances by French and German Muslims who are characterized by empathy and honest shock.
It is precisely these people who are part of the necessary resistance to such Islamist attacks: Muslim civil society.
Like the brutal German civil society, it bears a joint responsibility to meet its extremist foothills with constant, hard demarcation and ostracism.
Another part of the resistance is that precisely those German leftists who are - fortunately!
- otherwise indignant about any misanthropy, give up their restraint towards Islamism - and indignant about Islamist terror.
Outrage!
Otherwise you can smear your morals into your hair washed with a fair-trade, microplastic-free shampoo.
* Note: Thanks to the psychologist
Ahmad Mansour
for pointing out various Islamist statements.
Icon: The mirror
