In defense of liberty, freedom and the rule of law.
Explaining Pegida to the World
Before coming to the point I have to make sure that you will not take me for a part of Pegida or authorized by their leaders. I am not. I am just a concerned citizen sharing some of the goals of the movement and am deeply concerned about what is going on in Europe and therefore feeling a strong need to make clear why Pegida is and what it is for.
(By Iuvenal)
First I have to send my dearest apologies to the English reader. I am neither British nor American, so my English might be insufficient to exactly express my thoughts. And I have to declare my apologies to the German reader, too. This article is in English only, because it is for the World, this time.
What I call the Pegida-phenomenon is an unexpected flash of patriotism. After World War II and the Holocaust the Germans were educated to hate their country and to hate themselves. Now they suddenly developed a feeling of Germany a place worth living there and of themselves as creatures worth living. And they have worked hard for it. To make that point absolutely clear: Their patriotism is not hatred against those coming from a place somewhere else; it is deep-rooted love for their homeland.
The Pegida-people are not against Europe, they are for Europe. They do not even call themselves Germans in the first place, they call themselves Europeans. And they are standing up for the preservation of the Judaeo-Christian tradition they believe to be the core of what we call the West.
Therefore they are honestly concerned about millions of people coming to Europe – whether they are coming as refugees or as conquerors – when it has to be feared by certain evidence that not all of them are sharing the values of the Western Civilisation and possibly are about to import other values strongly opposing the Judaeo-Christian tradition. They are not ignoring the fact that Muslims are a part of modern Europe, but they are doubtful that Islam could ever be a part of it.
Those people are seeking the dialogue with politicians unaware even of the obvious problems and unwilling to listen to them. So the Pegida-people were remembering the Greek roots of the word Democracy, that it should be, speaking with Abraham Lincoln, a government of the people and by the people and for the people, and not an elitist club of politicians and journalists deciding for the commoners as parents would do for their children. Pegida-people don´t want to be treated as children but as citizens; and they want the people to be respected as the sovereign again.
Unfortunately the government is not taking them seriously. Back in the 90s many professors of economy warned the European governments that the Euro – one currency for many countries with very different economies – is a stupid idea. Politics was not listening. In the 10s we have to face a serious and devastating crisis that shows: Politicians should listen.
Since the 60s governments imported people from Islamic countries to European countries and hoped them to be turned into good citizens without any efforts of a well thought-out policy of migration and integration. Many of them found a new home – but others are still at war with the countries they are now living in. Those protesters felt the question arose whether that is an accident or possibly has to do with the religion of Islam that is not quite a religion but a political system potentially regulating all aspects of individual lives and of a society. Especially after the events in Paris they will not stop asking these inconvenient questions.
