Because a carnival group in Saarland outlined the Islamisation of the West as a bleak future scenario for women and girls, the state security service is now investigating. That is precisely what carnival is all about – openly criticising the regime in power. The carnival clubs last failed to do this between 1933 and 1945.
During the Shrove Monday parade in Nonnweiler, Saarland, a group of marchers carried signs through the village reading: ‘What lies ahead for our girls?’ The answer: ‘Caliphate, Sharia law, burqa, forced marriage, niqab, child marriage’. A clear warning against Islamisation and the oppression of women – classic carnival. However, the state security service is investigating possible hate speech or incitement to hatred.
“We learned about this parade group in Nonnweiler from the newspaper SZ article. The state security service, which is generally responsible for assessing such extremist behaviour, is now looking into whether the whole thing is covered by freedom of expression or whether there could be a criminal offence involved.” The investigation is expected to take a few days, according to the spokesperson for the state security service of the state police department.
The carnival society, the organiser of the parade, also distanced itself submissively: ‘As an association, freedom of expression is very important to us, especially during the carnival season. However, we distance ourselves from the opinion expressed on the parade float and would like to emphasise that it was the opinion of the respective group.’ As an association, we stand for – blah blah blah – openness, equality and tolerance.
At the same time, it is acceptable – and that is a good thing – to drag the Catholic Church through the mud with impunity for decades. In Cologne, a float with a priest and altar boy in a confessional, bearing the inscription ‘Jesus loves you’ – an open allusion to abuse scandals. State security? Not at all. No investigations, no review of complaints. Jacques Tilly – every year he serves up the same old stuff: anti-Putin, anti-Trump, anti-AfD – has been building floats against the Church, the Pope and Catholicism for years. State security? Not a chance.
The double standard is disgustingly obvious: Christianity is fair game. You can mock it, insult it, caricature it – it’s considered courageous satire. With Islam, on the other hand, a list of real-life practices (child marriage, forced marriage, compulsory burqa in some countries) is enough to trigger state security. This is no coincidence; it is raison d’état 2026: criticism of Islam is dangerous, criticism of Christianity is harmless.
Carnival, the last bastion of bawdy freedom, is being castrated.