The new Monday protests: Dresden and Germany’s PEGIDA problem
One month after Germany's magnificent 25th anniversary celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the slogans of that famous era are being can once again be heard in the former East. However, whereas "Wir sind das Volk!" ("We are the people!") was once used to signify the unity of the German people against an oppressive state, the latest incarnation has an altogether different meaning.
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Photo: Gilly Berlin; Licence: CC BY 2.0 Demonstration against Pegida in Berlin, on January 5, 2015
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Throughout December increasingly large crowds have gathered in Dresden every Monday to protest against the swelling number of asylum seekers and perceived changes to German society, chanting these famous refrains from 1989. What is particularly striking about the movement, which calls itself PEGIDA, translated as "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamicisation of the West", is the way it has mobilised large groups of seemingly "normal" people. The sheer number of people involved (estimated at over 10,000 for the latest protest) shows that these ideas have gained currency beyond traditional neo-Nazi groups. This article on Der Spiegel’s English language site provides a neat run-down of the events, the background to the movement, as well as what it means for German democracy.
Iran's young people get more and more European
As is the tradition on British local news, after so much doom and gloom it seems appropriate to share a more positive story at this point. Unfortunately I struggled to find a story about a hamster that has learned to water ski. What I did find, however, was a lesson in hope from an unlikely source.
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran's young people have essentially been living in a police state not dissimilar to the above-mentioned German Democratic Republic. Nevertheless, despite the obvious hindrances of night-time curfews and strict controls on music, alcohol and Western-influenced lifestyle choices, Iran born Hossein Fatemi's stunning photo collection shows that Iranian youth culture has flourished behind closed doors. My particular favourite photo by Hossein, who is now living in Chicago and has been internationally awarded, shows a rock band practising in private (presumably with the sound turned very low), deliberately flaunting the strict guidelines lain down by the ruling clerics.
I wish you all a very happy New Year and look forward to a successful year for E&M.