Debating ‘neutrality’: Conflict surrounding Berlin’s controversial law on religious symbols enters new round

In flashy advert campaigns, Berlin, Germany’s capital city, vaunts itself as the world’s “capital of freedom” defined by the coexistence of the widest possible array of diverse lifestyles.1 On a more mundane level, however, successive city administrations have struggled to come to terms with the implications of ethnic and religious diversity. Berlin’s ‘laic exceptionalism’ Unsurprisingly,…

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German Turks gear up for upcoming election

As Germany prepares to go to the polls on September 24th, the public debate has zoned in on questions of immigration, integration, and Islam. Consequently, German Muslims are under particular scrutiny in the run-up to an election that will most definitely hand a good number of parliamentary seats to the openly Islamophobic AfD party. German…

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French Green municipal councillor wishes constituents happy Islamic new year

Dozens of posters were hung recently in the Paris suburb of Grigny, in which Christian Le Bras, Greens municipal councilor, wished a New Year to the residents on behalf of his party: “Europe Ecologie Grigny’s best wishes for this new year 1432-2011”. The Muslim Year 1432 started December 6th. His party was very upset by…

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“The new minister will notice she is not with the Greens”: Interview with Cem Özdemir

In an interview, Cem Özdemir calls for an international Islam conference in Germany. The leader of the Green Party, who currently participates in a similar conference in Washington, calls for an intensive exchange of Europe with civil representatives from the Islamic world. On the topic of the new Turkish-German minister, Özdemir welcomes that more migrants…

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Council broods over funds for “Islam seminars”

The Grants Council of the Party Academies has not yet reached a definitive conclusion with respect to the controversial “Anti-Islam Seminars” of the FPÖ Educational Institute. The members of the council decided first to consult more information concerning the debated seminars, while a motion by the Greens demanding the return payment of funds used for…

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