Face to face with German realities

Face to face with German realities

December 12, 2016
Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel

Angela MerkelIN 2005, one Muslim lady wearing face veil came to British MP Jack Straw’s Constituency Advice Bureau with a problem. Straw who was a minister felt uncomfortable about talking to someone “face-to-face” who he could not see. Later writing in his local newspaper, he said he preferred talking to women who did not wear a niqab (face veil) as he could see their face.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel advanced the same argument last week while proposing a ban on face veil in her country. Echoing Straw, she said it is essential to show our face in interpersonal communication. Unlike the British MP, Merkel did not mention any incident where she had to talk to a Muslim woman with a covered face. But she has more compelling reasons to set her face against the veil. Elections to Bundestag (Parliament) will take place next year. Merkel who came to office in 2005 is seeking a fourth term. But the regional elections, held in September, have revealed a sharp drop in her popularity. Voters are angry at her decision to allow large numbers of Syrian refugees. This has also led to a fight between her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

CDU members feel that Merkel has lost touch with the public mood. Why risk a further erosion in her popularity by defending a small piece of cloth vehemently opposed by the German public and some members of her own party?
By adopting a tougher stand on both immigration and integration as demanded by the most conservative factions within CDU, Merkel may think she has solved a part of her problem.

But Germany’s 4.7 million Muslims comprising 5.8 percent of the country’s population feel this will only create more problems for them. They may not be unduly worried over the fate of the face veil, but they fear that center-right parties will try to implement other parts of the far right’s agenda even if it is only to defeat them at their own game. For example, the government is preparing legislation to outlaw child marriage, an accepted practice among the country’s more than one million Muslim refugees. Both the Social Democrats and the Christian Democratic Union, the majority parties in the ruling coalition, back this move. In another worrying development,

Germany’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that ultra-conservative Muslim girls must take part in mixed swimming classes at school, finding against an 11-year-old pupil who had argued that even wearing a burkini, or full-body swimsuit, breached Islamic dress codes.

All this is happening when Germany is seeing a rise in Islamophobia. According to a study which highlights the tensions surrounding the recent influx of refugees, more than 40 percent of residents said they believe Muslims should be forbidden from coming to Germany.

Meanwhile, there has been an increase in acts of violence directed against Muslims. According to a government report, hate crimes soared by 77 percent between 2014 and 2015, with 1,050 recorded cases of arson against refugee homes in 2015. Riots between local residents and refugees have broken out in eastern Germany. Arson attacks on refugee shelters have skyrocketed. Support for far-right parties has surged.

Germany is in the grip of a heated public debate about the role of Islam in society as the government tries to integrate Muslims into German society. Muslims need to act cautiously, avoiding knee-jerk reactions to each and every development they don’t like. Germany is still wrestling with its Nazi past so even the most extremist parties have to soften their inflammatory rhetoric to maintain a veneer of respectability. Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred is a criminal offense in that country. All this should reassure Muslims. Less than 300 Muslim women in Germany are thought to wear niqab. To cry hoarse over inessential things will only undermine the efficacy of their fight for things that are essential.


December 12, 2016
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