Anti-Semitism row over Muslim rappers dominates German headlines

Internationally, Germany has often been lauded for its reckoning with the Holocaust – its so-called Erinnerungskultur, or culture of remembrance.1 Whether this at times gushing praise of Germany’s historical conscience is fully warranted is another matter.2 (The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party has, for one, always demanded that the country stop banging on about…

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Killing of 15-year-old girl lays bare the dilemmas surrounding crimes committed by refugees in Germany

The death of a 15-year-old girl, stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend in a drugstore in the German town of Kandel, has not only sparked a public outcry but also become a case of high political salience – because the suspected killer was an Afghan refugee. The case The girl’s death occurred on December 27,…

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Anti-Semitism rows highlight challenges of religious pluralism in Germany

Germany is often perceived as a country that has dealt exceptionally well with the ghosts of its past, most notably with respect to the reflection on the Holocaust. Yet upon closer inspection, the old demons do resurface and intermingle with contemporary political predicaments. Nothing shows this more clearly than a series of ongoing rows that touch…

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Sexual violence, criminality, and immigration: Germany discusses how to report on immigrants’ criminal offences

With the Berlin Christmas market attack, security questions have become dominant on the German political scene. Especially the domain of immigration law is becoming more securitised by the day as politicians propose more restrictive immigration policies, as well as greater scope for surveillance operations on the part of intelligence agencies. Beyond the Berlin attack, however,…

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Boris Johnson says radicalisation should be treated as child abuse

March 2, 2014   Muslim children who are at risk of being “radicalised” by their parents should be taken into care, according to the London mayor Boris Johnson. Defining young people being “taught crazy stuff” at home as effectively child abuse, Mr Johnson said the efforts of counter-terrorism officers and social care workers were being…

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