Internationally, a case at the Federal Constitutional Court surrounding German authorities’ ability to prohibit Friday prayers in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak has caused a bit of a stir. At issue is the question as to whether public authorities have the legal right to ban Friday prayers and other religious services during the so-called…
In many ways, German politics is notable for its lack of diversity. For instance, no minister in the current government is non-white; none of them possess what in Germany is referred to as a ‘migration background’ – a slippery term that in politico-administrative parlance refers to everyone with at least one parent born outside of…
Germany has been rocked by one of the worst far-right attacks in its recent history: at around 10pm local time on the evening of Wednesday, February 19, a gunman opened fire on two Shisha bars in the town of Hanau, around 25km from Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt. Racially motivated gun attacks on two hookah establishments…
North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), the most populous of Germany’s 16 federal states, has rolled out a new anti-terrorism programme: a satirical YouTube channel called Jihadi Fool. Run by the state’s domestic intelligence agency, the Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz, the channel’s videos are supposed to “fight fire with fire” and drive home “the absurdity of radicalisation, terrorism and…
Adherents to the Islamic faith across the world are currently celebrating Ramadan – including millions of Muslims who live in Germany. In many respects, German Muslims’ experience is hardly unique. Ramadan in Germany also comes with its specificities, however – and these are not only due to lengthy daytime hours in northern Europe, forcing believers…
