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On Wednesday, February 20, nine people were killed in Hanau, in the third major far-right attack in Germany in nine months. The attack, carried by a man who had a far-right background, has sparked a heated debate about far-right and xenophobic violence in the country.
As a result, thousands of people took to the streets, Saturday, in Germany to march against right-wing groups and racism and to remember the victims of the attack, which were mostly of immigrant backgrounds.
Protestors gathered to denounce hate speech, criticizing Germany's far-right AfD party for its xenophobic rhetoric, DW reported.
Right-wing terrorism and hate speech
«We have had this long-time series of right-wing murders by the so-called NSU (the National Socialist Underground, a far-right German neo-Nazi terrorist) between 2000 and 2007. But we have not seen many of these terrorist attacks on the local level like the one in Hanau», Jens Borchert, a political science professor from the Frankfurt University, told Yabiladi in the wake of the Hanau attack.
While ruling out that there is no direct connection between hate speech and right-wing terrorism, the professor explained that an indirect connection have allowed «some people in right-wing circles to feel encouraged and think they are entitled to do something and not only talk».
«Now, we have Alternative for Germany (AfD) and it has had more of experiences of success in elections recently», Borchert regretted. «This party is, unfortunately, doing very well in elections, especially in the east of Germany, which is an area where we have seen most hate crimes against foreign-born people or people of foreign heritage», he explained.
«Destabilizing a multicultural and pluralist society»
On a big scale, the professor believes that the attacks in Germany have also been inspired by what is happening outside of the country, citing right-wing terror attacks in other parts of the world.
«People like the guy in Hanau take their cues from Anders Behring Breivik in Norway and that Australian attacker in New Zealand. Attacks like that serve as a perverse role model for people who are thinking likewise in other parts of the world», the Frankfurt-based professor said.
Indeed, German authorities revealed that the attacker behind Hanau’s killings left behind a manifesto, in which he justifies the killings in a way that draws inspiration from the manifesto left by the Australian terrorist behind the Christchurch attacks.
«We have to take into regard that if you are planning an attack like this (…) you want to give some sort of meaning to that. How do you do that? You write a manifesto and you link it to other events like that in the world», Borchert said.
«I think attackers like the one in Hanau are mostly lone wolves, but of course they are reading stuff on the internet and they want to solidarize themselves with other people they heard about. They are trying to build kind of a virtual network of right-wing terrorism».
As for the rise of right-wing terrorism, the professor believes that it is not a new phenomenon and that «it has been around for quite some time».
However, he explained that «there is kind of an interaction effect between ‘Islamist’ terrorism and right-wing terrorism».
«They take their cues from each other and they see the other side as the natural opponent – but also there is a kind of perverse partnership in attacking and destabilizing a multicultural and pluralist society. At the same time, they copy the means of violent attacks and that doubles the problem for democratic societies», the professor concluded.
For the record, Muslims in Germany, including Moroccans, denounced the Hanau attacks, calling for more protection.
