There are few causes capable of bringing together German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Social Democratic predecessors Gerhard Schröder and Helmut Schmidt, along with the leaders of the country's main churches and the mass circulation Bild newspaper. Germany's mainstream politicians and civil society leaders are united, however, in their condemnation of a series of anti-Muslim marches that have taken place in Dresden and other cities in recent weeks. The demonstrations, organised by the self-styled Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida), have grown steadily and this week's march in Dresden attracted almost 20,000 people.
Pegida's platform is incoherent, mixing assertions of support for a humane asylum system with hostility to refugees actually in Germany and opposition both to Muslim attitudes to women and "political correctness". Despite its confusing message, Pegida strikes a chord with many Germans and an opinion poll last week found that one in eight Germans would take part in one of the marches, while 29 per cent thought the Pegida demonstrations were justified because of the degree of influence that Islam was having on life in Germany. Backing for Pegida is strongest among supporters of Alternative für Deutschland, the anti-EU party that is gaining ground on the right, with 71 per cent approving of the demonstrations. The threat of Islamisation in Germany is more imagined than real and Pegida wins most support in regions with the fewest Muslims. Saxony, the federal state in the former east where Pegida is strongest, is home to a tiny number , accounting for just 0.1 per cent of the state's population.
Germany’s leaders are to be commended for recognising the destructive potential of the anti-Muslim marches and for the uncompromising stance they have taken against them. And Dr Merkel was surely right when, in her New Year’s message, she urged her fellow citizens not to follow Pegida “for their hearts are cold and often full of prejudice, and even hate”.