9 people are killed in germany in the latest racially motivated attack the interior minister is adding a fight against what he calls the poison of extremism so how will the government tackle this growing problem this is inside story. However and welcome to the program im the stasi attain germanys leaders are promising a strong response to these latest racially motivated attacks a gunman killed 9 people the 2 sheesha cafes on wednesday night in the city of hama and he chose places that are popular with turkish and kurdish communities the 43 year old suspect who was later found dead with his mother had posted documents with racist and far right views online politicians are calling this a terrorist attack now more police are being sent to protect mosques and synagogues as well as airports and train stations the interior minister says such attacks are in mind of what he calls the growing threat of extremism in germany. Look sudden i want to say and repeat clearly once again far right extremism anti semitism and racism poisons that confuse peoples minds and causes evil to emerge so thats what we need to acknowledge of the far right actions. Therefore we must oppose racism in society and politicians must work shoulder to shoulder to combat the consequences. Now the German Government says there were more than 8 and a half 1000 attacks by far right supporters in the 1st half of last year thats an increase of almost a 1000 on the year before in 28 1005. 00 states reported at least 3 right wing racist and anti jewish attacks a day one such attack on a synagogue and how that last year left 2 dead and last june a pro migrant politician was shot dead outside his home the government says its stepping up efforts to tackle the problem last week they arrested 12 men for planning attacks one was a Police Officer but its a problem that germanys been struggling to contain for decades from 2000 until 2007 a near nazi group mudded 10 people mostly immigrants at the time police deny the attacks were racially motivated. Well now lets bring in our guests in wreaths stat thats near frankfurt we have at the summit he is the secretary general of the Central Council of muslims and gemini in berlin we have hunted hes senior director of the counter extremism project and in oslo evian light egg from the center for research on extremism at the university of oslo thanks for joining us and welcome to the program mr cd i do want to start with you because youve been involved with the Muslim Community in germany and one out by my understanding is a working Class Community but its been ethnically diverse for decades long before immigration became such a divisive issue and jemma politics so a lot of its residents even the ones from turkish backgrounds were born in germany and so did this come as a surprise yes yes. Theres a texan not to big surprise for us because unfortunately that hate speech against the muslims against the people who looks like me or has get the raising it has going bigger and bigger and were always. Be saying that what happened in Christ Church for example can also have here in germany and the government and the autoroute did not take this think were very serious and now we find out that the far right extremists in germany and began to change their strategy from from from just speaking just giving hate speech to acting against it against muslims and and and killing killing people we had a lot of attacks in germany attacks against mosques again. Women wearing his dad in the in the streets and we. It was a limousine it was it was it was very very very hard and we did not see that there would have been. The authorities the security. Did not see it but take theres this thing very very seriously well you raise an issue there around hate speech and i see that this phrase curtain terror at kurdish tara has been cropping up around the place how widespread opposition that is its use in general politics and Mainstream Media there. Well look i mean we obviously do have a massive driving problem at the moment but the terrorism like happened 2 days ago doesnt grow in isolation it needs a permissive environment and unfortunately what my organization has been documented for for many years is that there is a very permissive environment in cyberspace and on the internet frankly less today when we were looking at the attacks and how now within minutes we had access to all the material that this individual has posted online news is good for our analysis of the event but frankly shouldnt be that easy sold that there is work cut out for the government as well as the industry but phone providers should not shy away from their responsibility that they have induced to distributing this material it cannot just be left up to the Security Forces or government regulation they need to do more as well so im looking at some figures here and i say roughly a quarter of germanys population are immigrants or their descendants evian and im going to come to you to ask you how europe is reflecting on these latest attacks and not only the attacks themselves but also the response from general politicians and the media right so my colleagues at the center for research and extremism have been documenting the rise of far right terrorism and violence across europe and since the 1990 s. We actually see the figures have remained generally stable however germany has always been an exception in terms of the number of foreign exchanges detracts and its history of course with india even with neo nazis. But we saw a significant increase after 2015 with the refugee crisis and most notably since 2018 we saw the nature of foreign terrorist attacks changed so they used to be more of a small scale but now we see a significant increase in the number of mass casualties and of course as dr shah. Its been rightly pointed out this isnt just to National Cases but its a phenomenon that we see over around the world from new zealand to the u. S. To europe well i do want to take a look at the broader tone of the conversation here particularly lets use this example in germany this was an attack on a ship and i guess if you want to think about it stereotypically thats potentially where youd go to try to find people of middle eastern origin and i want to take a look at this particular picture here lets bring it up its some from a coloring book that was distributed just this week by Regional Branch of the far right if tea party in germany and if you take a closer look youll see its the muslim Crescent Moon and star and its surrounded by men with guns mr l u z d how representative is this of the way that people speak about race in islam in germany. Yes today we have been in the hano our chairman mr massey act as being in the plane from but until one of the better with our. With our president ial and my other and they have been him in the house now. They visited the victims they have been or saw in the market place and a big bet there been a demonstration and what we saw hold that nobody off the put it this happens has used the good that has used the speaking about about islamophobia or about about anti islamic at tech stay there or what i have been speaking about trespassing but no one wanted to use the word anti islamic attacks we dont know why because because this business this people and how we can so see in the many fist images station of them they are fighting at 1st against muslims in germany and in europe and all of the word and still in there in the government side and also and some kind of media dont want to to speak seriously about the main problem the main problem is. Islam it. Hate speech and hunted and islam phobia in general and generally and this is what. Is making us. We dont know how to deal with with with this saying because. When we dont use the right words we cannot change the situation in there we arent well lets talk a little more than about the government response i say that the interior Ministry Said that in 2800 percent if i began and just a mess a criminal acts and germany increased by nearly a 5th so not just an anti islamic that but broadly xenophobic and nearly 90 percent for kerry. It out by the far right and even more worrying i see samia police seize more than a 1000 weapons 61 percent increase from the Previous Year so weve been hearing these warnings of a massive rearmament of near not seek roups dot tisha is that happening well yes but 1st of all let me make one additional point it really is important to look at the discourse here the attack. Victims if you look at the biographies they were not foreigners they were germans as much as it can be germans their families came to germany 2 sometimes 3 generations ago so this was an attack on germ society cinephile pretty motivated by this very just individual but this these are germans these are not my friends theres also no for the devils no refugee crisis there was a civil war in afghanistan there was a civil war in syria that forced people to flee so its really important to to highlight the humanity of those individuals who came to germany and talking about a refugee crises unfortunately feeds into this kind of you know rhetoric from the from the far right so and i will come to that shortly in terms of refugee policies but everyone i do want to discuss with you how this is being policed and get your take on that because it does seem that not only in germany but elsewhere that previously resources were i guess disproportionately focused on islamic extremism and now since Christ Church since the finsbury most attacks im charlottesville were seeing the rise of the far right here and i see that German Authorities announced not long ago that they would increase the number of agents dealing with the far right by 50 percent and then theres now these draft measures to prevent online hate speech is all of that enough. Well there certainly has been a double standard when it comes to government responses towards islamist terrorism as you have mentioned and the growing threat of far right terrorism certainly governments can steps towards and working with Tech Companies and working with Civil Society organizations were to address the growing rise of far right terrorism most recently in 2002 the German Government did the stop which regulations to counter and regulate people in extreme speech online and this is a particular space which has been a hub for on for radicalization of far right terrorist ideas and agendas so while the German Authorities have certainly take you through preventative measures in order to counter the threat of foreign terrorism there does need to be more Community Based initiatives with Civil Society organizations as well as Regulatory Frameworks established with Tech Companies to challenge the threat far right so im ok at this point i want to take a bit of a step back here and reflect more broadly on the rise of the far right both in germany and beyond now while the right wing has always had a strong presence and germany for decades its seen a surge of support since the 2015 refugee crisis in that year alone nearly a 1000000 migrants and refugees sought asylum chose to accept them and many of those people as weve been talking about were fleeing war in syria and elsewhere as well as poverty in africa the middle east and asia but right wing Political Party scenes on the backlash that followed support for the far right in the 27000 election and its now the Largest Opposition Party in parliament so mr elie is 80 do you think that 2015 was the rail watershed moment then for germany in terms of turning the tide here. I think that the 25th team was at the hague for political or for the for this. Politicians to to get sheer and to to spread fear in our society in our community in germany like my colleague bill berlin already said this people at which had been attacked in high now there are germans there were have been born here in germany and they speak german better than that then the legs were just of their parents and still this far right parties and. Groups and this terrorists dont want to accept them as german citizens so yes 2015 was the vehicle for the sport is people but the the people which came from from from all over the word they if theyre in the in the main in the main courses they didnt. Have any problems for us a lot of them the most of them are very integrated and r r r r very happy to be to be here in germany and they love germany and want to be to be accepted to accept it here but the fire of ideology used this business of business think to to spread some kind of fear in the community and they won a lot because of that well lets talk a little bit more than about the german Political Climate domestically so dr sandler it does feel like there was another watershed moment will any of this month enter entering here when we saw the f. T. Joining with the ruling parties in order to get a Regional Governor elected and i mean of course the national uproar felt obvious reasons after wild war to the. When there was a taboo against involving the far right seemingly in mainstream politics has that to be now been entirely schatzs does that open the pathway for more involvement by the far right now i still hold out the hope i mean if you saw the reaction to events in terrain if you saw the reaction yesterday to the events in hono you do see that the majority of society is nowhere near holding these kind of really strange for big and frankly harmful fumes what happened in the last couple of years and i dont think that 2015 is by itself the real watershed moment is the combination of 2008 in the financial crisis an actual economic fears within germany in combination with what happened in 2015 that allowed populist politicians who ruthlessly exploit fear and division to really rice rise to political influence but i dont think this is an irreversible situation in germany and frankly this is not just the situation in germany if you look around europe you do you do see that populist politicians all over europe gained traction in the last couple of years but none of this is irreversible if the majority and the middle of the political spectrum clearly stands up and says this is not the society we can live in this is not compatible with article one of our constitution which says that david it is mentioned is when on process bob be the owner and the integrity of a human being is and cannot be touched this is what needs to be strengthened in the discourse both in the media as well as in the political discourse to demonstrate that es individuals do not actually present German Society unfortunately what happened in parallel to all of this is that the extreme right got very much more professional in the way they present their views it was easy and the 990 s. Where they had a very crude a very violent rhetoric now you have concepts like the great replacement we might ration all terminology which really frankly is a cover for very extreme racist views but some. Very much more agreeable than the old neo nazis in germany and everything so i want to throw this to evian are we seeing a Seismic Shift here in german politics i ask because there was always going to be political tabula nce when i got a medical deposit and now weve seen. Karrenbauer she has resigned and now the frontrunner i believe is frederick matts and he has already been critical of michaels refugee policy has already spoken out about potentially wanting to court the far right vote is this the end of the German Center well i think this is a phenomenon thats reflective of what a whole space is in europe more probably receive the mainstream far right ideas from the extreme true torrence these radical right parties like youve the. Enter into coalitions and receive the far right then take ownership over issues like immigration certainly the discourse around immigration has shifted significantly since weve seen the far right and power theres also. Other issues here of looking at National Representation of far right parties 1st local representation of arent Political Parties and too often we focus at the National Level but its really at the local level will receive the most significant effects of far right to it just when in government and also the the true 20 legitimacy of these far right put party if so then at some point down the line they can contest the National Elections stage well i want to ask you more about that because weve seen in certain countries like france denmark sweden theyve tried to curb the rise of the far right somewhat by basically taking on some of their policies and bringing them closer to the center and thats all about trying to attract voters back from the fringes but has that work to feel. I mean that still up for debate obviously its an issue as to whether or not having these far right Political Parties government is truly representative or truly democratic in allowing those at the fringe sure how boys in the mainstream arena but we do need to shift the conversation and towards focusing our human equality and dignity of those who are victimized by such rhetoric and such policies dr i want to ask you about identity because so much of this seems to be a question around german identity and and obviously there was a big split between east and west germany for some time and both sides have very different postwar experiences is this are we seeing the rise of the far right its more pronounced in east germany for instance do you think because of the level of disenfranchisement there. Well 1st of all let me correct one of the myths here divides of the far right is not any exclusive east german or primarily east german problem obviously youve seen the gaining seats in some of these German Parliament but if you look at what in patterns and theres a very interesting study that was published last year from the Technical University in munich looking at voting at 1928303220 extension 17 you could see that especially in rural areas there is a continuation of right being voting patterns throughout all of these elections so this is not a particularly east german problem and let me remind you how now is not in east germany in castle same state in germany has been the politician look of us met at a summit last year that also is not in east germany so its a fairly equally distributed german problem certainly the challenges in east germany out different then they are in this germany because there you have biographies of the population that had a massive rupture with german unification and they nick compete breakdown of the economy in his germany so you have families who after had seen their entire life you would disappear overnight within 6 months and this kind of economic fear is easier to stoke maybe in east germany they missed germany but external for big racist white men views unfortunately fairly well distributed all over germany well let me give mr loss a hand because i do want to ask you sorry about your perceptions of web gemini is going as a member of the Muslim Community do you feel optimistic about the trajectory of gemini and whats being done by with r t is to to take the country forward as a unified body. Germany in that sense since the case was no one as a tolerance or state as it pertains to a state where the living together between different communities in different regions was possible and was. Well aware that well done. But in the in the last years in the last months we see we saw that right ideology could. Get a little bit little bit brighter in the in in the society and but i am still hopeful that the middle of of the German Community will Stay Together and this act could be also a chance for us to show the world and to show all to show us that we are more that we are against this kind of ideologies and that we will not let this is minority change that the mind of our country and the mind of our community in germany so i am optimistic and when the politicians and also the media will change the aesthetically and and shuffle the positive sides of. Mick jagger and of germans with with the bigger it would you would have it parents are or or are coming from outside of gerry it posit when they begin to show the positive sides and there are so a lot then we will be able to change this business or actually where it seems that we are going now so even after all the finance and opportunity have potentially to change course and id like to thank you all for a really interesting discussion today thank you to all of our guests thats at the summit and he is eating Hans Jakobsen and. And thank you too for watching you can see this program again any time by visiting our web site thats aljazeera dot com and for further discussion do go to our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com for thrash a. J. Inside story and you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a. J. Inside story for meanest and the entire team here and our whole life and. Join me mandy often as i put it up from questions to my special guests and challenge them to some straight talking political debate here on aljazeera. A surely as native fauna and flora are accustomed to busch riots this season has been unprecedented landscapes usually left unscathed have been decimated. This bush tries season has burned through millions of hegde as a bland destroying the how the tides of many native animals some of these forests will take decades to regenerate and others may never recover. These baby kangaroos or joeys whole foods theyre now in care but for many animals who do make it out of the fires they soon face all the problems in their phone to cats and dogs and car crash as surely as famed plants and animals are strong part of the countrys identity many of its species of found nowhere else in the world and the extent of the damage isnt clear yet and. For those who do survive its a long and painful road to recovery. 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