Kathrin Oetrel of Pegida, which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, formally apologized for her role as spokeswoman in the far-right Islamophobic movement. When will Islamophobic and xenophobic politicians in countries like Finland apologize in the same manner as Pegida’s former spokeswoman?
Don’t hold your breaths, however. There will be no apologies coming from such politicians in this country as long as Islamophobia sells to voters and the media.
Contrary to politicians like Perussuomalaiset* MEP Jussi Halla-aho and a long list of others, it still pays in too many cases handsomely to be Islamophobic and xenophobic.
One of the most important messages that some of these Finnish politicians should pay special attention to is when Oertel states that immigrants and asylum seekers in Germany and Europe are not the root cause of the region’s socioeconomic problems.
“Those still belonging to the Pegida movement need to understand that they are advocating for the wrong cause,” she said and continues: “I want to apologize to all migrants and to all Muslims among them who live peacefully and are assimilated with German society, who respect our culture and laws. They are in the vast majority and most Germans overlook this fact.” |1]
