Anti-Islam rightists target German youth

Identitäre Bewegung

Seeking a bigger support among German youth, a rightist group is using Facebook, YouTube and other social media websites to spread its racist, anti-Islam message.

“They are clearly racist,” Alexander Häusler, an expert on right-wing extremism at University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf, told Deutsche Welle.

“They are making a major affront on Germany’s multicultural society, composed of immigrants,” he said. “They mostly criticize the alleged Islamization of Germany.”

Häusler was talking about a German right-wing movement, die Identitäre Bewegung (The Identity Movement), which has been gaining attention through its so-called “fun campaigns” recently.

Putting identity, or the alleged German identity, as its fixed point, the movement focuses on spreading its message mostly on the Net, via Facebook and YouTube.

“We are the identity-generation,” the site states, while declaring itself a protector against the threat of Islam.

“100 percent identity – 0 percent racism,” its website states, while calling for “the protection of the [its] continent from infiltration by foreigners, mass immigration and Islamization.”

These posts on the Identity Movement’s homepage, however, revealed a racist agenda. “Here, they spread scenarios of a racial apocalypse,” Häusler said. “The message is, ‘We are the last generation which can avert the risk of the so-called German identity dying out’.”

OnIslam, 23 March 2013