The establishment of a “Documentation Centre for Political Islam” in Austria can already be considered a success, although it only started work in July 2020. For the first time in Europe, there is an institution that deals with the phenomenon of political Islam scientifically and, above all, completely independently. It can even be interpreted as one of the most important measures to date in the fight against political Islam by a Western government.In Germany, on the other hand, such success seems far away when a circle of experts against Muslim hostility is founded, staffed by a suspected Islamist and academics who harbour sympathies for Islamists out of false tolerance. Not to forget: The idea of this expert circle was imposed by Islamists. The fight against our neutrality law is also steered by Islamist stakeholders. In Germany, political Islam is currently enjoying success, not the fight against it.The Austrian documentation centre is headed by integration expert Lisa Fellhofer. The scientific advisory board, chaired by the renowned Islamic scholar Mouhanad Khorchide, also consists of: the German ethnologist Susanne Schröter, the historian Heiko Heinisch, the American extremism researcher Lorenzo Vidino, the German jurist Mathias Rohe, the religious scholar Handan Aksünger-Kizil, the jurist Herbert Kalb, the integration expert Kenan Güngör and the Swiss political scientist Elham Manea.This independent, renowned team and the documentation centre aim to scientifically research and document political Islam and religious-political extremism. In this way, associations, structures, networks and backers as well as influences from abroad are screened and analysed. However, the goal is particularly important: to inform the Austrian public about political Islam. Because it is a question that has never been asked before: Why haven’t politicians done any educational work so far? Politicians and governments have not managed, or never had the goal, to inform, educate and thus also protect the public regarding Islamist phenomena.The Austrian Documentation Centre will now provide information on the development of parallel societies and the status quo on the characteristics of political Islam in an annual extremism report. This is the first time that the danger of Islamism can be elucidated by state support and the knowledge about it can be spread into society.In Germany, such education about political Islam has been missed to a large extent. Instead, German politicians and the government work together with Islamist stakeholders and make them appear popular by joint appearances – German politicians have legalised Islamists in the first place. Islamists who try to pursue their goals through legal means could only become “legalistic” through bad and wrong policies. So far, the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution even sees legalistic Islamism as the biggest problem. How would this look today if Germany had also founded a documentation centre a few years ago that could have screened strategies and networks? And how big would the problem of legalistic Islamism be if society were more enlightened about legalistic Islamist strategies? Germany seems to be going in a different direction: last year, the secretary general of the Central Council of Muslims (ZMD), which can be located close to the Muslim Brotherhood, the AKP government and the Turkish right-wing extremist Grey Wolves, was hired as an advisor in the Foreign Office – thus legalistic Islamism in Germany has climaxed.
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Antisemitism, Antizionism, Jihadism and the Reunited Germany. News by Fred Alan Medforth