Streetwork against Salafism: German civil society counter-radicalisation activism

In recent years, civil society-led efforts to prevent Muslim youths’ turn to Salafism have intensified. Often described in terms of ‘preventing violent extremism’ (PVE) or ‘preventing radicalisation’, many of these projects have attracted generous funding by state agencies. Germany is perhaps the paradigmatic case of this development: through successive government funding initiatives, the country has…

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Ahmadiyya mounts new campaign ‘We are all Germany’

With roughly 10 to 20 million members, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat (AMJ) comprises only one per cent of the worldwide Muslim population. The Ahmadiyya’s growth in Germany In Germany, too, the Ahmadiyya represents roughly 1 out of every 100 Muslims, counting approximately 45,000 members. This still makes the German Ahmadi community the largest in Europe,…

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Divided by politics, united by the concept of ‘integration’: Two authors’ books cause debate in Germany

For years, ‘integration’ has been an omnipresent concept in Germany’s public debates on immigration and Islam. Even more so than in other European countries, this notion reigns hegemonic in the German context – even if it is mobilized for a range of very different political diagnoses and projects. Public broadcaster ZDF brought together two of…

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Nearly a quarter of a million people protest against racism in Berlin – yet Muslim participants remain under suspicion

Under the tagline #Unteilbar – which translates as #Indivisible – close to 250,000 men and women took to the streets on a warm and sunny October day in Berlin. Long expected as “the climax of a summer of protests”1, the demonstration sought to address a number of progressive social causes; yet it was race and…

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As the far right seeks to co-opt the Jewish vote, uncomfortable questions about Germany’s culture of memory arise

On October 7, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party welcomed the creation of its newest inner-party pressure group: up to 20 Jewish AfD members gathered in the Hessian city of Offenbach to form a circle aiming to represent Jewish interests within and through the AfD. The move has been trumpeted by a number of…

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