GERMANY'S ULTRA RIGHT DISCOVERS ITS SOFT SPOT FOR MUSLIMS
NPD and other groups try to capitalise on the war
By Pitt von Bebenburg
Berlin - The first bombs had barely hit Kabul and already three dozen rightwing extremists were marching in the streets of Berlin.
Chanting anti-imperialist slogans that often have a distinctly radical leftist ring, Germany's National Democratic Party (NPD) and other ultra-rightwing groups are currently attempting to make political capital out of the war.
One rightwing extremist party, the Republikaner, is distancing itself from this trend, however, and has come out in support of the American air strikes in Afghanistan.
The German ultra Right's conception of the world is on a roller-coaster ride. The xenophobic NPD, for instance, has just discovered its "solidarity with the Afghan people" and a newfound solidarity with Muslims living in Germany to boot. At present it seems their racism is in second place behind their anti-Americanism.
According to Germany's extreme Right, the US military strikes constitute a "war of retribution against the Islamic world": "The participation of the German government is thereby also an open declaration of war against the some two million Muslims who live here." Just last week people at NPD rallies were shouting "long live national solidarity." At the beginning of this week it was "international solidarity" they were celebrating.
With slogans reminiscent of the radical Left, Che Guevara t-shirts and a protest march to the Axel Springer Press , the rightwing extremist scene is changing its line of attack under the influence of former Red Army Faction terrorist Horst Mahler and other activists with a radical leftist past.
The far Right's responses to the war are making this development particularly conspicuous. Udo Voigt, the NPD's soldier-like leader, is now talking about placing his party at the fore of a new German peace movement and the entire anti-globalisation camp. The "Reps" plan to highlight their new focus on Saturday with a "demonstration for peace" in Flensburg.
A critique of "US imperialism" belongs to the basic vocabulary of Germany's extreme Right. The relevant websites make it seem as if the groups' own ideology were heir to that of the student Left of the late 1960s. It seems odd that Horst Mahler would agree with police to march on what his page calls "a popular demonstration target from back then": the Axel Springer building. Then, in another passage, the rightwing extremists slam Germany's ruling Social Democrat-Green coalition as "1960s converts." The pro-Muslim slogans the neo-Nazis are peddling right now are rooted in good old-fashioned anti-Semitism. At a press conference this week, Horst Mahler railed against the alleged "Judaeo-American occupying power" in the Middle East. On the one hand, he credited the terrorist strikes in the US to the "fight against globalisation" - a fight he said he supported. On the other, he made vague references indicating that Mossad, the Israeli secret service, might have been behind the attacks.
This crude mix of ideological cliches is not going down well with all quarters of the ultra-rightwing scene. The Republikaner are going their own way and have said they are "basically agreed" with the American military strikes.
While extremists close to the NPD are shouting "no German soldiers for foreign interests", Republikaner boss Rolf Schlierer emphasises that "effectively fighting Islamic fundamentalist terror is in Germany's interest". Critical solidarity with the US is what is called for, he says. Schlierer's comments are marked by the familiar chauvinistic tone. The Taliban, he explained, are endangering Germany's domestic peace "by producing refugee waves and heroin".
Schlierer further called the rising number of Afghans seeking political asylum in Germany "an alarming signal".