For Germany’s head of the domestic intelligence service, the caliphate is a “conceivable form of state!”

Yesterday, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser presented the 2023 Report on the Protection of the Constitution together with Thomas Haldenwang, Head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Nothing new in terms of content: the real danger comes from the right, left-wing extremism and Islamism are of secondary importance. However, one statement by Haldenwang shocked the public: the caliphate is “a conceivable form of state”.
“What else is the introduction of the caliphate? It is one of many conceivable forms of government that exist around the world. There is communism, socialism, there are religiously-run systems, there are monarchies. (…) We have a system that also permits very radical statements. As soon as the demand is that we want to overthrow it all together and then we take up arms, then that is not acceptable,” Haldenwang said verbatim during the press conference.

For the head of the domestic intelligence service, calling for an Islamic theocracy therefore belongs to freedom of opinion and is therefore not a reason for surveillance by intelligence services or attempts at containment, such as a ban on groups with precisely this aim. The same Thomas Haldenwang, however, has been fighting the peaceful and constitutionally loyal patriotic opposition for years and portrays them as extremist. In order to be targeted by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a right-wing extremist, it is not necessary to commit acts of violence. Publicly calling for remigration measures or “belittling the state” by making jokes about Ricarda Lang’s appearance or the embarrassing lapses of the German Interior Minister are sufficient.

Such scandalous behaviour is proof time and again of the complete lack of reality in the German ivory tower. While knife attacks on completely innocent people in parks in broad daylight now make the headlines and hundreds of radical Muslims in Hamburg are calling for a caliphate – the main speaker at the event is a trained teacher at Hamburg University – the top constitutional protector declares such events to be covered by freedom of speech. At the same time, the right-wing opposition, which does not stand out either through organised violence or any plans to overthrow the government, is labelled the greatest danger to the state and society.
To make matters worse, a whistleblower in the Saxon Ministry of the Interior has come clean about the conditions at the agency. Employees are inadequately equipped in the fight against actual extremists and are therefore exposed to great danger. At the same time, citizens who are critical of the government and make harmless statements are targeted by the authorities and monitored using intelligence service methods. Communications are intercepted, movement profiles are created and even people’s surroundings are scrutinised. Disciplinary proceedings are underway against the employee for his comments.

Skandalsager von Haldenwang: Kalifat sei „denkbare Staatsform!“ (heimatkurier.at)