Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the West

The slogan on PEGIDA's logo reads 'Away with all the radical trash!' and depicts the flag of Islamic State, the Anti-Fascist network logo, the Communist hammer and sickle, and the Nazi Swastika being thrown in the trash together.

Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the Occident (PEGIDA) is a far-right populist movement in Germany which emerged in late 2014 in Dresden. It opposes what it calls ‘the Islamisation of the West’ and calls for tough immigration policy.

The name is an acronym derived from the German name Patriotische Europäer Gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes ('Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the West').

Its name and message bears a strong resemblance to the 'alliance of European patriots against Islamisation' called for by Geert Wilders in a speech at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York on 25 September 2008, prior to the Facing Jihad conference in Jerusalem.

History

Emergence

PEGIDA began holding weekly demonstrations on Mondays at Schlossplatz square in Dresden in October 2014. Initially attendance figures were in the dozens or hundreds but by December 2014 its rallies were attracting over 10,000 people. The movement’s Facebook page had 44,000 ‘likes’ at the end of 2014. By 7 January 2015 it had over 113,000 'likes'.

Germany takes in more asylum seekers than any other EU country but PEGIDA’s protests have centred around the east German city of Dresden, the capitol of Saxony, home to neither a large proportion of immigrants (about 2.5%, or 100,000) or a significant Muslim minority (just 0.1%). Der Spiegel linked the emergence of PEGIDA to a general rise in far right protests in Germany in 2014, including 86 attacks on asylum seekers’ hostels between January and September.

Writing in mainstream newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, German journalist Peter Carstens drew attention to Dresden's unique historical symbolism, noting that at the end of World War II an Allied air attack killed up to 100,000 people in February 1945. One German scholar noted that neo-Nazi demonstrations had for years taken place on the anniversary of the bombing in the city and argues it is no coincidence that the new movement emerged in Dresden. Other observers say the movement's emergence in Dresden may also be connected to its Communist past and the rapid transformations of recent decades.

Attendees

Attendees at PEGIDA demos appear to include far right activists and football hooligans but reportedly also include members of the public concerned about immigration. Most media outlets called the PEGIDA marches ‘anti-Muslim’, others as ‘anti-immigrant’. The organiser claim to only be against ‘extremism’ but demonstrations have been supported by neo-Nazi groups. Far-right elements identified as having links with PEGIDA include Fist of the East a far right Dresden hooligan group, Hooligans Elbflorenz (Florence on the Elbe, a nickname for Dresden), Skinheads Sächsische Schweiz, a banned far-right organisation and Hooligans Against Salafists (HoGeSa).

One German journalist characterised the attendees as reminiscent of 'a gathering of Saxon craftsmen' and wrote that they were 'Mostly middle-aged men, sturdy types, dressed in outdoor jackets and solid shoes — dressed for all the tasks in construction. Here and there a few older men, all kinds of women, few young people.' A different journalist writing in the same paper suggested the movement was 'deeply middle-class' and the protests themselves 'took a middle-class form (a walk)', also referred to as a 'stroll'.

Leadership

According to Der Spiegel, PEGIDA has a ‘middle class leadership’ and at least three key organisers, including founder and leader Lutz Bachmann have prior criminal convictions, including burglary, drug crimes and fraud charges. A translation of a German press agency article on the counterjihad website Gates of Vienna states that Lutz has a 'twelve-person organizational team'. According to some sources, it key organisers were not political active prior to the emergence of the movement.

It lost two leaders in one week after Lutz Bachmann resigned over photographs of him posing as Adolf Hitler and the announcement that he was being invetogated by the authorities, and then his replacement Kathrin Oertel quit days later.

Ideology

Slogans

According to The Independent newspaper, PEGIDA’s slogan 'wir sind das Volk' (we are the people), harks back to protests before the fall of the Berlin Wall but ‘Volk’ and ‘Vaterland’ also retain connotations of the Nazi-era. . But the group has made efforts to distance itself from the far right, stating that it is against ‘preachers of hate, regardless of what religion’ and ‘radicalism, regardless of whether religiously or politically motivated’.

Another PEGIDA slogan, Lügenpresse (lying press), used to articulate a mistrust of the media and deflect allegations of racism, is reportedly 'seen as harking back to the Nazi era' because it was used by Adolf Hitler in 1922 and later by his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

According to an article in the Guardian, one speaker at PEGIDA rally spoke 'about fear of Überfremdung – a word that had its heyday under the Nazis and suggests a native culture becoming tainted by too many foreign influences'.

Counterjihad rhetoric

PEGIDA seems to exhibit a counterjihad ideology since organisers reportedly played on fear of Isis and al-Qaedas and it emphasises the preservation of what it calls 'Judeo-Christian Western culture' instead of 'Islamisation' and 'parallel societies with Sharia police'.

Its manifesto also lists policies including integration, 'sexual self-determination' and stopping the 'almost obsessive' movement against gendered German language. It reportedly also calls for the immediate deportation of asylum seekers with criminal convictions. Many people on demonstrations waved German flags. Some PEGIDA banners bore the slogan ‘Non-violent and United Against Faith Wars on German Soil’ (‘Gewaltfrei & Vereint Gegen Glaubenskriege auf Deutschem Boden'). Der Spiegel reported that many of those involved in the PEGIDA protests don't believe the official statistics regarding the numbers of Muslims or immigrants but ‘are convinced that a cartel of politicians and "main-stream media" are audaciously misleading the public over the true state of affairs’.

Participants' voting preferences

An Economist straw poll suggested that 9 out of 10 PEGIDA supporters would back the euro-skeptic Alternative for Germany party.

Activities

<youtube size="medium" align="right" caption="German protests against growing 'Islamisation'">tz_SfJz-ztM</youtube> PEGIDA began holding weekly demonstrations in Dresden on Mondays in October 2014.

Weekly demonstrations

• A protest in Dresden on 8 December attracted approximately 10,000 people. An anonymous PEGIDA speaker reportedly invoked Martin Luther King Jr., beginning his speech with the words ‘I have a dream’, saying he hoped for ‘peaceful coexistence’ but calling for acceptance of what he described as ‘the hard reality that we are in a state of war’.

• A protest in Dresden on 1 December 2014 attracted approximately 7,500 people.

• A protest in Dresden on 15 December 2014 attracted between 10,000 and 15,000 people. Around 5,700 attended a counter-demonstration.

• A protest in Dresden on 22 December 2014 attracted more than 17,000 people; some estimates put the number at as many as 20,000.

• A protest on 5 January 2015 attracted about 18,000 people.

• A protest in Dresden on 12 January 2015 is thought to have attracted a record 25,000, perhaps due to the reaction to the 7 January 2015 murders in Paris including at the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo.

• What would have been the group's 13th demonstration on 19 January 2015 was cancelled, after German intelligence services reportedly identified founder Lutz Bachmann as a target for potential assassination

• A protest on 26 January 2015 saw numbers drop to 17,000, perhaps due to revelations about founder Lutz Bachmann posing as Hitler which led to his resignation.

• Following the resignation of two leaders (Lutz Bachmann and Kathrin Oertel) in a week, no demonstration was held on 2 February 2015

• Just 'a few thousand people' attended the 9 February demo according to a video produced by Erik Olsen for the New York Times but significantly Lutz Bachmann returned despite his 'tarnished image'

• Support for Pegida's weekly marches later dipped 'to only several hundred' following its leadership crisis but according to the New York Times, by Monday 9 March the group's Dresden demonstration 'again mobilized several thousand people'.

Press conference

At reportedly the movement's 'first ever press conference' on 19 January 2015, then leaders Lutz Bachmann and Kathrin Oertel are said to have 'insisted that the group was not racist and later in a heated television discussion distanced themselves from footage showing Pegida demonstrators delivering racist remarks'.

Scandals and resignations

2015

PEGIDA founder Lutz Bachmann stepped down as leader of the group on 21 January 2015, after a photograph of him posing as Adolf Hitler was published by in German newspapers and it was announced he was being investigated for describing immigrants as 'cattle, 'scumbags' and 'trash' in Facebook posts from September 2014. The New York Times noted that despite claiming to have quit the group, Bachman soon reappeared and spoke at Pegida's 9 March demonstration.

He was replaced as leader by Kathrin Oertel, who reportedly told a German newspaper that Bachmann’s resignation was the 'only possibilty' and said:

We reject the Facebook postings made by Lutz Bachmann in September which have now come to light in the strongest possible terms. They do nothing to nurture trust in Pegida’s goals or its protagonists.

But within a week she had also resigned, citing 'hostility' and 'threats'. Four other PEGIDA leaders reigned at the same time: they were Alternative for Germany member Achim Exner, Thomas Tallacker, a municipal politician from the city of Meißen, Bernd-Volker Lincke and René Jahn. One of these four others reportedly told the newspaper Bild that 'Bachmann's continuing influence and the role of a separate, sister movement in Leipzig known as LEGIDA' had contributed to their decision. The Independent also noted that prior to the departure of Oertel and the other four, PEGIDA’s leadership committee had been 'immersed in a bitter dispute over whether to join forces with LEGIDA'.

The group of five announced they were founding a new movement called Direct Democracy for Europe, expected to 'move away from the anti-Islam stance' of PEGIDA.

2016

In was alleged in October 2016 that Lutz Bachmann had used money from the group's coffers to pay off €5,000 court costs of two cases brought against him as an individual. On his private Facebook page last year, Bachmann had insulted two mayors who were photographed helping refugees with their suitcases. He argued on Facebook that 'if a Pegida member posts something on a site belonging to the group' - including on his own personal page - 'then it is the most normal thing in the world that the association would pay for the court case.'

After appealing a court decision in May 2016, the Dresden state court confirmed on November 30th 2016 that Bachmann would have to pay the fine of 9,600 euros for 'inciting hatred against foreigners'. According to reports, Bachmann called the refugees 'cattle,' 'garbage' and a 'dirty bunch' in his Facebook in 2014.

Copycat movements

How the PEGIDA movement spread across Europe (click on image to enlarge)

Copycat movements in Germany

Der Spiegel reported that the PEGIDA movement spawned ‘many clones’. Small copycat protests took place in 2014 other German cities such as West Dusseldorf, Chemnitz Kassel and Würzburg but these only had a few hundred supporters.

In December 2014 the newspaper that PEGIDA protests were planned Cologne, Düsseldorf and Unna in 2015. On 5 January 2015 there were protests in Dresden, Berlin and Cologne. The protests in Berlin and Cologne drew only a few hundred supporters.

The Berlin variant called itself BAERGIDA (also spelled BÄRGIDA or BERGIDA)

The Cologne demonstration using the name KOEGIDA (or KÖGIDA).

A Düsseldorf demonstration and Facebook group used the name DÜGIDA.

In Kassel, a Faecbook group with the name KAGIDA and similar variants appeared in Bonn, Darmstadt and elsewhere.

In Leipzig a first protest was planned for 12 January 2015 under the name LEGIDA. When five PEGIDA leaders including Kathrin Oertell resigned, they distance themselves from LEGIDA, regarded as 'a militant far-right grouping'

In Duisburg, a PEGIDA-offshoot calling itself DÜGIDA has organised at least one demonstration.

Copycat movement in France

The PEGIDA protest also inspired French anti-Islam activists to take to the streets. On 1 January 2015 the Gates of Vienna blog reported that 18 January 2015 was the date organisers in France has chosen to call for ‘anti-Islamisation’ rallies across the country. A PEGIDA France facebook page which may or may not be connected was set up in December 2014 and had over 6,000 'likes' by 7 January 2015.

Copycat movement in the UK

On 1 January 2015 a Pegida UK facebook page was set up. It had over 3,000 'likes' one week later. The page claimed to be for Europeans who 'dislike radical Islam' but the tag given to the page was 'Patriots of Europe against Islam'. A post on 6 January 2015 stated that 'ultimately the aim is to organize (sic) peaceful protests' but no date or located had been announced. Following a poorly attended gathering in Manchester on 11 January 2015, Pegida UK held what it described as its 'first' demonstration in Newcastle on 28 February 2015. It attracted up to 400 people and far-right groups were clearly present but they were outnumbered by up to 3,000 counter-protesters.

Copycat movement in Norway

A facebook group for Norway called Pegida Norge was set up on 27 December 2014. It's tag line reads: 'PEGIDA is a protest movement with a humanistic basis demonstrating against Muslim immigration and the influence of Islam' ('PEGIDA er en protestbevegelse som på humanistisk grunnlag demonstrerer mot muslimsk innvandring og påvirkningen fra islam'). A rally in Oslo on 12 January 2015 attracted just under 200 people but the following week, 19 January 2015, only 70 people attended.

Copycat movement in Sweden

A facebook group for Sweden called Pegida Swerige was set up in December 2014 and had over 5,000 'likes' by 7 January 2015. Henrik Rönnquist was reportedly a key organiser.

The administrators of the page also promoted a Scandinavia-wide Pegida page.

Copycat movement in Denmark

There is also a Pegida Denmark, and at least three associated social media accounts (a Pegida Danmark facebook page and a PegidaDK facebook page and PegidaDK twitter accounts. A protest take place on 19 January 2015, led by Nicolai Sennels.

Copycat movement in Austria

In the Austrian capital Vienna, Pegida Österreich held a demonstration on 2 February 2015 that drew just 200 people and reportedly 5,000 counter-protesters. Similarly, an 8 February 2015 protest in Linz, northern Austria, attracted only 150 people and was dwarfed by a counter-protest of around 2,000 anti-racism demonstrators.

Copycat movements elsewhere

Right wing media outlet Breitbart reported on 6 January 2015 that groups in Italy and Spain had also vowed to launch the movement there.

Responses

Political responses in Germany

According to The Independent newspaper, the leaders of PEGIDA have reportedly been labelled ‘Nazis in pinstripes’ by opponents (this quote has variously been attributed to Thomas Opperman of Germany’s Social Democrat SPD party [3] and Ralf Jäger of the same party) .

Meanwhile Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) were said to have offered ‘mixed’ responses with some urging understanding for the march’s motivations . Saxony Interior Minister Markus Ulbig of the CDU said: ‘We cannot label 10,000 people as right-wing extremists. That creates more problems than it solves’, adding that there were many "middle-class citizens" among the demonstrators, ‘and you can't toss them all into the same Neo-Nazi pot’. However Merkel herself strongly criticised the movement in her New Year's speech, saying 'their hearts are cold and often full of prejudice, and even hate'.. However her Vice-Chancellor, the Social Democrat leader Sigmar Gabriel in late January 'admittted he had attended a Dresden forum and talked with Pegida supporters'.

However, Alexander Gauland, one of the leaders of the ‘fast-growing’ Eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany (AfD) however, declared his party ‘the natural allies of this movement’ and announced his intention to attend a Dresden protest on 15 December 2014. Another MP, Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, spoke at a rally in May 2016, and in November 2016 Lutz Bachmann even invited AfD co-leader Frauke Petry to do the same, adding 'these are your voters, Frauke, and you have to be here'.

The far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) also appeared to welcome the protests which, according to Der Spiegel, it saw as ‘a chance to take their worldview directly to the middle class’.

Security establishment response in Germany

One the eve of one PEGIDA march, Germany’s most senior policeman is reported to have noted 'a visible rise in xenophobic crime countrywide', including growing number of anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish incidents. Germany’s domestic security agencies were said to be monitoring a number of groups including Hooligans Against Salafists (HoGeSa).

Bans

On November 8 2016 it was announced that Lutz Bachmann and his deputy leader, Siegfried Däbritz, had been banned from leading weekly PEGIDA rallies until 2021. Bachmann still expressed his intention to attend them despite the ban.

Grassroots responses: anti-PEGIDA protests

Anti-PEGIDA protests have taken place or been planned in Würzberg, Nuremberg, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Dresden, Munich and Cologne. Thousands of anti-fascist protesters on the counter-demonstrations have used the anti-Nazi slogan “nie wieda” - never again . When on 5 January 2015 the PEGIDA protests spread to Berlin and Cologne (drawing only a few hundred supporters in these cities) they were opposed by much larger anti-PEGIDA protests which also took place in Stuttgart and Dresden. In Cologne the famous cathedral turned off its lights to show it did not support the 'anti-Islamisation' protest.

On 12 January, when PEGIDA drew its biggest number yet (25,000) following the Charlie Hebdo and other killings in Paris, around 100,000 people took part in counter-demonstrations 'for tolerance and openness', across Germany.

Divisions

On September 27 2016, Deutsche Welle reports that Germany's PEGIDA is 'descending into chaos as internal divisions have resulted in conflicting demonstrations' and as founder Lutz Bachmann has moved to a Spanish island. The former leader, Tatjana Festerling, staged her own counter-demonstration of 60-100 participants, against the regular event led by the current leader Lutz Bachmann. Both sides reportedly jeered the other during the demo, as insults, threats, and mutual accusations of splitting the movement were heard among demonstrators.

These scenes are allegedly 'the latest episode in what has become a meandering saga for PEGIDA'. the Facebook pages of the two leaders are full of accusations and counter-accusations towards one another, with Festerling repeatedly claiming that Bachmann stole 100,000 euros from the group's coffers and hoarded cash in his private home. Bachmann has claimed that she deliberately publicised his home address, where there were 'four break-in attempts' subsequently, and a manipulation of his car that resulted in its engine 'blowing up' on a highway.

People

Germany

• Lutz Bachmann – founder and leader, quit 21 January 2015 but reportedly retained influence and reappeared the 9 March demonstration.
• Kathrin Oertel - co-founder, quit 28 January 2015
• Dr Karl Schmitt, a former CDU activist, reportedly organised the copycat 'BAERGIDA' demonstration in Berlin
• Udo Ulfkotte - spoke at Bonn demonstration
• Heidi Mund - addressed 26 January 2015 demonstration
• Rotem Avitu - an 'Israeli psychologist' who also addressed the 26 January demo
• Bernd-Volker Lincke - former organiser, quit with Oertel 28 January 2015
• René Jahn - former organiser, quit with Oertel 28 January 2015
• Achim Exner - former organiser, quit with Oertel 28 January 2015
• Thomas Tallacker - former organiser, quit with Oertel 28 January 2015

Sweden

• Henrik Rönnquist - founder and leader of the Swedish branch who denies the organisation is racist and says he wants thousands upon thousands of Swedes to vocally oppose the 'Islamisation' of the country.
• Dan Park - organiser

Norway

• Max Hermansen - organiser

Denmark

• Nicolai Sennels - leader

Austria

• Immanuel Nagel - former spokesperson

United Kingdom

• Donna Treanor - a veteran former member of the fascist British National Party and subsequently a member of ex-leader Nick Griffin's new party, British Voice
• Ronnie Alte - until recently the leader of the Norwegian Defence League, a street movement modelled on the EDL said to have influenced mass murdered Anders Behring Breivik
• Craig Farnsworth - a member of several far right groups in the Bolton area including the English Defence League, the Infidels (a National Front spin off), the British National Party and its splinter group the British Voice.
• Steven Barker - member of the English Volunteer Force, a splinter group of the English Defence League who model themselves on paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.
• Billy Charlton - a long term member of the English Defence League’s Sunderland Division.
• Matthew Pope - reportedly a devout Christian, a fan of the British national Party, the English Defence League and Britain First on facebook and formerly the administrator of a page called 'Ban Islam'. Described as official spokesperson for 28 February 2015 demonstration
• Marion Rogers - reportedly 'Proprietor of JR Flat Roofing in Redruth'. Described as a spokesperson for 28 February 2015 demonstration

Resources

• Ingo Shulze, Pegida: Germany’s useful idiots, The Guardian, 1 February 2015.
• Who goes to German Pegida 'anti-Islamisation' rallies?, BBC News, 13 January 2015, accessed 3 February 2015.
• POSITIONSPAPIER der PEGIDA, PEGIDA position paper [in German].

Affiliations

• Alternative for Germany (AfD)
• National Democratic Party (NPD)
• Hooligans Against Salafists (HoGeSa)
• Fist of the East
• Hooligans Elbflorenz
• Skinheads Sächsische Schweiz
• BAEGIDA | KOEGIDA | DÜGIDA | KAGIDA | LEGIDA
• Pegida UK | Pegida Norge | Pegida Swerige | Pegida Danmark | PEGIDA France | Pegida Österreich