A Would-Be Paul Revere in Germany: "The Muslims Are Coming!"

Victor Grossman

Berlin Bulletin:  No. 11, 2010 
September 2 2010

submitted to portside by the author

The "mosque menace" is not confined to Lower Manhattan or
the USA. In many European countries similar alarms are
sounded, usually in tones recalling Paul Revere: "The
Muslims are coming!" Although according to Sarkozy in
France, Berlusconi in Italy and the militarized neo-fascist
Jobbik party in Hungary the danger is more from the Roma
people (also called Gypsies), more often than not it's those
scary Muslims who are seen as the most menacing threat. Yes,
we better watch out!  Switzerland had its referendum against
minarets, bleached-blond rabble-rouser Wilders won third
place for his "Hate Islam" party in the Netherlands and now
bar-room battlers  in Germany are being called to struggle
against the Turks and any or all of their Islamic fellow-
religionists.

The best-known crusader for Germanic purity at the moment is
Thilo Sarrazin, no typical rabble-rouser but a finely
dressed, proper looking Prussian-type banker, with bristly
mustache and a slightly drooping right eye.  To the
embarrassment of some of its leaders he has long been a
member of the Social Democratic Party, and for years was
minister of finance in the city-state of Berlin.

In those days his righteous anger was not focused against
immigrant groups but against "lower castes" in general, and
he wielded sharp scissors against social programs. Since
Berlin has been heavily in debt for years, this was long
accepted as unpleasant necessity. His notoriety began with
comments that the jobless should be satisfied with the dole
money they got, or even less; a sausage and some sauerkraut
made a good, inexpensive dinner, he pointed out, and as for
heating, he found that "people should consider whether they
can't get along at home quite sensibly with 15-16 degrees
(c. 60 degrees Fahrenheit) by putting on a heavy sweater."

He insisted that pensions should really be cut not raised,
and people should take care of pension problems privately,
with as little government aid as possible. As for families
he inquired: "How can I arrange things so that only those
people get children who can manage with them. Some women get
two, three or more children even though they lack the
'where-with-all' or the 'personal characteristics' to see to
their education.  That means that the social system must be
altered "so people are not able to improve their standard of
living simply by having children, as is the case today."

All too gradually, Sarrazin became impossible as a Social
Democratic minister in a city-state government, especially
when the Left Party joined to form a coalition. Therefore he
was kicked upstairs into an extremely remunerative job on
the top floor of the Federal Bank, a cousin of the American
Federal Reserve bank. Before leaving he fired off a final
salvo indicating his new field of endeavor. In an interview
targeting especially the three to four million people in
Germany with a Turkish background, he asserted: "I don't
have to recognize anyone who lives off this state, but
rejects this state, and who doesn't properly care for the
education of his children while constantly producing more
little girls to wear headscarves."

Quite understandably, the Turkish population, citizens and
non-citizens, of first, second or third generation, pointed
out indignantly that it was they who had done much of the
heavy, dirty work in rebuilding West Germany, often at low
pay, and who now, in countless cases, were moving into a
wide variety of trades and professions. The fact that all
too many were still caught in semi-slums, received only
second or third class education and were rejected when job-
hunting, with all the consequences, was not completely their
fault. And many were making real contributions to society.

But Sarrazin stepped up his attacks: "The Turks are
conquering Germany, just like the Kosovars conquered Kosovo,
with a higher birthrate." He extended his attacks to the
many more recent Arab immigrants: "Since Arab boys can't
make out with their Arab girls they use easier-to-get lower-
class German girls whom they then despise for being so easy
to make out with." At the same time he attacked Turkish men
for not marrying in Germany but instead importing illiterate
Turkish women. He insisted that Muslims were less
intelligent, and their increase a threat to the general
intelligence level in Germany. All of this clearly aimed at
building on and increasing existing prejudices and getting
groups to look down upon or hate each other.

The unions opposed him, his Social Democratic Party also
picked up the criticisms, though an attempt to expel him
from his Berlin party group was unsuccessful. His new
institution, the Federal Bank, cautiously criticized him for
engaging in political statements which had nothing to do
with banking, but kept him on in his high managerial
position.

Now Theo Sarrazin has published a book, "Deutschland schafft
sich ab" (Germany Does Away with Itself) which warns in dire
terms that unless German women hurry up and have more
children, the country will be overrun and ruled by Muslims
in a number of decades. He claims that there are such things
as Jewish genes, which he praises, and Turkish genes, which
are responsible for the lower intelligence rates. Most
leaders of the Jewish Congregation objected to any such
references to "Jewish genes" and were highly critical, but
some members joined in attacks against the Muslims.

The book was publicized in the entire media with talk shows,
reprints, debates. Some, as in the Springer press (similar
to Murdoch's media empire), were highly appreciative and
reprinted long excerpts, others were highly critical. But
the result was that the first edition sold out immediately.

The Social Democratic Party is still thinking over what to
do about him (while one of its most prominent "wise men",
former chancellor Helmut Schmidt, expressed barely-disguised
affirmation: "If he had expressed himself a little less
crudely I could have agreed with much of what he said."
Therein lay the true danger connected with Thilo Sarrazin:
Not in any imagined Muslim rule some day, a totally
ridiculous idea when confronted by the facts, but rather
that so very many Germans have been infected by the bacteria
of nationalism and xenophobia, fearing or hating anything
new or strange to them. Such feelings, all too common all
over Europe and North America, but have an especially
sinister tradition in Germany, especially in times of
depression, which can occur or re-occur almost anytime.
Seventy years ago the menace was supposedly the "Jewish
danger". Now it's Muslims.

Two very different reactions should not be overlooked.
Gesine Lötzsch, co-president of the Left party, insisted
that a man with such views was "intolerable in such a public
position." The same party's delegate in the Bundestag, Sevim
Dagdelen, herself from an immigrant background, denounced
Sarrazin's "racist tirades." "It is unacceptable that a
managing member of the Federal Bank spreads such poison
which splits society," she said and called on the Social
Democrats to "do something at last and expel Sarrazin from
their party" while comparing his views with those of the
neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD).

Sure enough, the neo-Nazi internet bloggers were quick to
voice support for Sarrazin. With an anti-Muslim group called
PRO Berlin making plans to enter next year's elections in
the capital city, and with growing ties between racist,
anti-Muslim groups in many countries, the call for
opposition to Thilo Sarrazin and his propaganda gained
dramatic urgency.

_____________________________________________

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