Politically Incorrect

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Politically Incorrect
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"News against the mainstream · Pro-American · Pro-Israeli · Against the Islamization of Europe · For basic law and human rights"
Political blog with anti-Islamic and right-wing extremist content
languages German English
operator Stefan Herre (2004–2007), Christine Dietrich (2007–2011), unknown since 2011.
editorial staff Stefan Herre
On-line November 11, 2004 (currently online)
http://www.pi-news.net/
Former logo of Politically Incorrect (until 2017)

Politically Incorrect (abbreviation: PI or PI-News ) is a politically right-wing extremist blog founded by Stefan Herre in 2004 , which, according to its self-description, is directed against the supposed “ Islamization of Europe ”.

The blog posts are written by several authors under pseudonyms and are determined by Islamophobia . PI developed into one of the most important German-language blogs with this orientation and is internationally networked with people and organizations who are considered to be Islamophobic, right-wing extremist or right-wing populist , just as the blog itself is assigned to the right-wing extremist or right-wing populist spectrum by various places. The blog emphasizes a "pro-Israeli" and "pro-American" orientation in its self-portrayal.

history

The blog was founded on November 11, 2004 by Stefan Herre, who, according to press reports, teaches physical education at a primary school in North Rhine-Westphalia, under the domain politicallyincorrect.de . According to Herre, the creation of the blog was a reaction to widespread criticism of George W. Bush's policies in the German media. The Frankfurter Rundschau pointed out that the website was founded a week after the murder of the Dutch critic of Islam, Theo van Gogh . The founding of the blog was preceded by Herre's decades-long passion for writing letters to the editor, which he later documented on his own website. Since 2002, “Islam” has increasingly appeared as a topic in them.

Until the debate about the Mohammed cartoons in Denmark in autumn 2005, Herre was the only author of the blog, after which other authors, whose identities were largely unknown, joined the blog.

In 2007, Herre stated that he wanted to hand over the ownership of his website to an anonymous person abroad because the pressure from outside was becoming so great and death threats had been issued against him. In September 2011, Herre confirmed that the new owner was the Swiss pastor Christine Dietrich. Today the site is operated on foreign servers. Personnel ties arose between Politically Incorrect and the citizens' movement Pax Europa as well as the Islamophobic small parties and the voter associations Die Freiheit , pro Köln , pro NRW , pro Deutschland und Bürger in Anger .

In the summer of 2016 PI organized a readers' trip to Israel, during which participants joked about the blowing up of a mosque and blamed the "American establishment" for the Holocaust. During a visit to a shooting range of the Caliber 3 training academy in Gush Etzion , the mowing down of terrorists was practiced and the opinion was that this method would also be quite helpful at home for fighting Arabs and anti-fascists.

Concept, visitor numbers, financing

Daily topics from generally accessible media are taken up in several editorial articles. The reports are processed in accordance with the aim of the blog and can be commented on by the registered visitors for 48 hours according to the information provided by the operator without editorial intervention.

While Politically Incorrect only had around ten visitors a day shortly after it was founded, the site had up to 60,000 page views a day at the end of 2011 . According to Alexa, the blog is one of the thousand most visited German websites with tens of thousands of visitors a day (as of March 2014). In the German blogger charts , Politically Incorrect reached a peak value of around 470 citations at the end of 2007, and in 2010 the value was around 170 citations, making the page 27th among the German blogs.

Politically Incorrect sells T-shirts and badges with political slogans in the Spreadshirt online shop . For each item purchased, 3 euros go to Politically Incorrect to finance the website and the editorial work. The site is also financed by donations and advertising from publishers, initiatives and organizations, including the Kahanist Jewish Defense League . However, since the webshop, donations and banner advertising did not generate sufficient amounts, the aim was to found a marketing company in Switzerland. However, according to the Frankfurter Rundschau , this failed after Christine Dietrich announced her withdrawal from the blog in September 2011. Politically Incorrect is funded through donations and commercial advertisements on the PI website, using a Pax Europa account. The financial situation is considered poor, as in the course of journalistic research in 2014 many advertisers canceled their advertisements.

Local groups

In Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic (2011, according to their own information) there are around 50 local groups that are closely associated with the Politically Incorrect Internet portal . According to research by the Frankfurter Rundschau and the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the task of these local groups is to develop strategies for influencing the public in the sense of the blog. In line with this strategy, discussion events and lectures on Islam would be disrupted, so-called “do- gooders ” would be insulted in online comments on media reports, and masses of abusive emails would be sent to supposedly left-wing journalists and authors. In September 2011, the historian Wolfgang Benz reported systematic disruptions in his events on the subject of criticism of Islam by supporters of the Politically Incorrect blog .

In 2011, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on a joint event by the citizens' movement Pax Europa and Politically Incorrect , which was carried out under conspiratorial conditions by PI author Michael Stürzenberger . “Middle-aged bourgeois audiences have come, there are ties and jackets and women in furs. You know each other, you have a common opponent. ”According to the article, Stürzenberger estimated the hard core of his Munich PI group to be 20 people, plus another 30 open sympathizers. Several activists are CSU members. Stürzenberger believes he is “persecuted and denounced” and compares his situation with that in the GDR, where attempts were made to silence critics. The evening's lecture was given by Stefan Ullrich, the initiator of the “Deus vult” website (see historically: Deus vult ). Ullrich was part of the CSU local executive committee in the Harlaching district of Munich , which is anti-Islamic. In his lecture, Ullrich praised the Christian religion and rejected Islam based on his own reading of the Koran. Ullrich called the god of Islam an "unpredictable ruler". Ullrich believes that Christians are intellectually superior to Muslims: "Islam thinks that God the Father was in bed with Mary". Mohammed is an "illiterate".

Ideological and political positions

Own representation

The blog describes itself as “pro-American” and “pro-Israel” as well as directed against “ mainstream ” and an “ Islamization of Europe” and, according to its own statements, advocates the “ Basic Law and Human Rights ”, which it “because of the increasingly rampant ideology of multiculturalism ”. With its title, the blog wants to refer to the " political correctness " that prevails in the opinion of its operators and claims that "do- gooders " dominate "the media everywhere today".

According to the founder Stefan Herre, Politically Incorrect takes conservative positions. Herre himself rejects a differentiation between Islam and Islamism and describes Islam not as a religion, but as an “ideology of violence” that has “no other goal” than “abolishing any other form of society”. Furthermore, Herre described himself and the blog staff as Islamophobic , because phobia is fear, and after all, he is actually afraid of Islam.

Blog content

The entirety of the blog entries gives the impression that Islam is incompatible with Western societies and that Muslims in Europe do not want to integrate. Because of their religion they are a danger to the secularity of Germany; German society is too tolerant and inconsistent with this problem. Many Islamic states are also a danger to the “western liberal society”. There are regular calls to readers to take part in Islam-related online surveys on other websites. The Tagesspiegel reported that its internet survey about the construction of a mosque was manipulated by mass voting by PI readers.

Often reports of so-called Islam critics who have been convicted of anti-Islamic statements are reported with solidarity. This solidarity is expressed both towards individuals and towards parties like Die Freiheit and Pro NRW . Solidarity articles were published in series for the politician Jörg Uckermann of the Citizens' Movement pro Cologne , who had been in custody for weeks because of commercial and gang-related fraud and the risk of blackout , at the end of 2012, and a solidarity rally was formed in front of Cologne City Hall for his release as a result of a PI appeal to promote.

Not only the alleged Islamization, but also immigration in general is the subject of criticism in many articles. For example, a position is taken for a stricter asylum law or against laws in favor of easier acquisition of German citizenship . According to the tenor of many articles, increased immigration leads in particular to increased crime. Active support, for example through the opportunity for interviews, is given to citizens' initiatives that are campaigning against the settlement of refugee homes in their neighborhood, for example in the late summer of 2013 in Berlin-Hellersdorf .

In addition to Islam and immigration, other people, institutions, worldviews and ideologies identified by the editorial team as “left” or “green” also serve as the enemy. Politicians with this orientation would promote an “Islamization” of Germany and Europe, so a frequent accusation in the blog content. In particular, the Green politician Claudia Roth is the target of such attacks. Many articles are directed against welfare state as well as environmental policy measures, for example climate change is contested. Various Green politicians were attacked with allegations of pedophilia .

Regardless of their party affiliation, politicians are cited approvingly if they express themselves critical or negative about Islam or immigration policy, such as the SPD politicians Heinz Buschkowsky and Thilo Sarrazin . At the same time, politicians who campaign for the integration and equal rights of Muslim people, such as the former Federal President Christian Wulff (CDU), are attacked and reviled .

In terms of economic policy, a decidedly market economy - capitalist attitude dominates. Correspondingly, many articles have taken a negative position, for example, on the minimum wage , when this was a central political issue on the occasion of the 2013 federal election.

The position on homosexuality is contradictory . On the one hand, many articles emphatically emphasize that homosexuals are to be protected from the homophobia of Muslims and the Koran , which PI claims , on the other hand, in other articles the legal equality of homosexual partnerships is clearly rejected. Homosexual politicians like the Green Volker Beck , who campaign for such equality, are massively criticized and insulted. On the other hand, there are positive reports about certain homosexuals who take positions that are critical or hostile to Islam.

On the question of the circumcision of boys , Politically Incorrect author Stürzenberger stated: "I am firmly convinced that something like this has no place in our country".

There are often reports on anti-Islamic events by parties such as Die Freiheit , Bürgerbewegung pro Köln , Bürgerbewegung pro NRW , Bürgerbewegung pro Deutschland and other associations such as the citizens' movement Pax Europa . The appearance of Geert Wilders in Bonn in February 2013 sent by live stream transmitted. Numerous PI articles hopefully accompanied the talks between Wilders and European right-wing populists and right-wing extremists about a possible cooperation at the end of 2013.

The rejection of the European Union and in particular of the common currency is also evident in numerous articles. The development of the Alternative for Germany party was initially supported benevolently by the blog in 2013, but after the party decided to distance itself from anti-Islamic statements, it was increasingly criticized or disparagingly commented.

In 2013, the blog repeatedly pilloried schools on its pages that advocate peaceful coexistence between religions and cultures. Photos of school classes and teachers were published along with related articles. In some cases, parents were asked directly to refrain from registering their children in these schools. In December 2013, a Stuttgart high school canceled a multicultural school festival at short notice, because the school management feared for the safety of the participants due to insults and threats. After being moved from a nearby church, the festival took place on December 20, 2013, excluding the public originally planned.

The Pegida movement was supported by Politically Incorrect , both in the context of extensive reporting and through the participation of PI members in Pegida rallies. Contacts between PI and the later Pegida founding member Siegfried Däbritz already existed in 2008 .

PI has been involved in spreading inflammatory hoax about crimes allegedly committed by Muslims. PI also took part in the right-wing extremist strategy ( false flag strategy), by means of falsified positive reports about refugees, which were subsequently “exposed” as falsifications, to raise awareness against refugees and “the lying press ”.

The new PI website (2017) includes a new categorization of news. In contrast to the regular media, which are divided into “Politics”, “Economy” and “Panorama”, PI News says “Immigration”, “Crime”, “Islam”, “Left” and “Media”.

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany , PI-News denounced an alleged "disastrous crisis management" by the German government and praised the measures in China, which had imposed a lockdown on 1.4 billion people (however, it had a nationwide lockdown in China not given). At the beginning of April PI-News then wrote " Merkel land: More corona patients than China!" the so far "1,100 corona deaths" are "Merkel's deaths". A few weeks later it was reported how “the people were fighting against the Corona dictatorship”.

Appeals for violence and murder

Several people criticized on PI claim to have been threatened with violence and even murder as a result of publications on PI News ; including a pastor, a functionary of the Jusos and Aiman ​​Mazyek ( Central Council of Muslims in Germany ).

Since calls for violence against Arabs and Muslims appeared in readers' contributions on PI under the nickname antaios_rostock in 2009 and 2010, the Rostock public prosecutor initiated an investigation into sedition . In September 2014, the Rostock AfD politician Holger Arppe , at the time the party's board spokesman in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, was charged as the alleged author before the Rostock district court. Arppe denied being the author of the readers' contributions. In May 2015, Arppe was fined € 2,700 for sedition. The court saw his authorship of the comments as "reasonably certain" proven.

In October 2015, PI-News published a short text that misquoted the politician Walter Lübcke , who was murdered in 2019 . In addition, the blog announced the address and telephone number of Lübcke's office. Lübcke's private address appeared several times below. Comments called for "stopping by". Some announced Lübcke's death ("The Kasper from Kassel will not last long"). PI then distributed video clips from a speech by Lübcke and the note “Filed under traitors ”. In the weeks that followed, hundreds of German and non-German commentators posted violent fantasies and appeals for murder. They stylized Lübcke as a prime example of German politicians who wanted to implement the alleged secret plans of the "globalists" and the " New World Order " to "exchange" white residents with fanatical Muslims. As evidence of this, a photograph appeared that shows Lübcke under their Star of David while visiting the Jewish community in Kassel . Walter Lübcke was murdered on June 2, 2019. The confessed perpetrator stated that he acted out of politically right-wing outrage about Lübcke's statements from 2015.

reception

In mid-September 2011, almost identical articles appeared in several daily newspapers belonging to DuMont Verlag at the time (the Berliner Zeitung , the Frankfurter Rundschau and the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger ), describing PI as an “Islamophobic inflammatory blog”. Der Spiegel and the Süddeutsche Zeitung soon followed, as did other media with articles and additional information on the same topic. This massive criticism, there were different reactions to demands for the observation of PI by the constitutional protection authorities handed.

Part of the series of articles in the daily newspapers of DuMont Verlag was the announcement of possession and the publication of numerous internal e-mails from PI that had been leaked . This made the real names of several authors of the blog public. Close contacts between PI founder Stefan Herre and the German-Swedish right-wing extremist Patrik Brinkmann became known.

The PI author with the pseudonym kewil responded and wrote of a "left-wing dumped Dumont press" attacking PI. He referred to the authors of the articles as "left vultures". PI author Frank Furter saw a “frontal attack on freedom of expression”. In the comments on PI it said u. a .: "That has nothing to do with freedom of the press, but is a Nazi-trained press school at its finest" or: "The propaganda machine of Goebbel's political correctness is running at full speed!" The journalists of the newspapers are "political commissioners of the DuMont-Stürmer-Blätter".

The critical reception of the blog beyond the blogosphere began around 2007 with journalistic presentations. From around 2008, studies of the blog, its content and function followed as part of larger academic work on Islamophobia. The first statements from the constitution protection authorities followed in 2011. The representations, argumentation models and selection of the PI reports are classified by politicians, scientists, organizations and associations as anti-Islamic and racist primarily because of the rejection of Islam and Muslims, which PI itself calls “ criticism of Islam ” . In addition to the editorial contributions, this classification refers in particular to the "uncensored" comment columns - according to the operator - in which the editorial position is still radicalized in terms of content and language. Racist and seditious contributions are consciously tolerated by the operators under the guise of alleged freedom of expression.

The journalist Stefan Niggemeier rated the blog in 2007 in the FAZ as "extremism from the middle of society" and commented: "It is an overtly racist mob that gathers daily in the comment area of Politically Incorrect ."

The Düsseldorf Islamic scholar Michael Kiefer summarized in a WDR report on Politically Incorrect in 2008 that, looking at the blog comments, "one cannot avoid the impression that the right-wing radical mob is actually gathering there"; several times the comments were “on the verge of criminal relevance”. Kiefer analyzed the approach of the blog: “All misery, all problems in this world are attributed to Islam or to the Muslim immigrants, that is the common pattern: A problem that is picked up in the media can be found on this website one day later is attributed to the Muslims or Islam. "

Initiate the concept, radical expressions of opinion in the comment column of the blog by still below the criminal threshold worded editorials, also confirmed an analysis of the period from 2011: "But the question needs to be done what, let the authors of Politically Incorrect deliberately open. The commentators do that. The presentation of their subjective reality does not leave much room for maneuver anyway: The users' suggestions for action run somewhere between murder fantasies, mass deportations of non-white populations and ethnic cleansing. "

The communication scientist Sabine Schiffer described the worldview of PI managers and users as a logic in which the world would be divided into two groups. On the one hand there is the good "we group" with which the makers and readers identify themselves, on the other hand the evil "you group", which includes Muslims and their religion, Islam. In order to maintain the coherence of this world view, according to Schiffer, the realities are deliberately twisted in places, which inevitably results in contradictions with regard to the premises: On the one hand, it is assumed that there is a political mainstream in Germany that is subservient to Islam and its negative ones Downplaying properties. According to PI, this leads to non-Muslims being disadvantaged compared to Muslims and thus becoming victims. However, this is countered by the findings of opinion research, which find broad support for anti-Islamic attitudes among the German population. PI tries to mark those responsible for acts of violence religiously and ethnically, provided that they come from a Turkish or Arab environment, which PI sees as rooted in Islam. In addition, the blog also calls for such groups in society to be identified with the argument of preventing violence from mainly Muslims and migrants. In it Schiffer locates parallels to modern anti-Semitism in the German Empire, which worked with similar discourse strategies. Yasemin Shooman and Wolfgang Benz from the Center for Research on Antisemitism shared this view . Benz also sees the activities in the blog as characterized by “the fixation on resentment, the missionary impetus and the predominantly Manichean worldview of the authors”, the “provocative demonstration of intolerance” expresses itself in particular as “xenophobia and racism”. He rates content as incitement to hatred and an attack on human rights .

Yasemin Shooman also pointed out that “ Politically Incorrect is the most important Islamophobic blog on the German-speaking Internet.” This remains unobserved because of articles that are supposedly fundamentally correct and that are accordingly edited. The comment columns for the articles, however, formed the actual exchange forum of the site, which remained unedited: “This means that the comment columns of pi-news are the propagandistic heart of the blog. Islamophobic resentments are unchecked here. For example, after the murder of the pregnant Egyptian Marwa El-Sherbini , the PI comment forum contained the following entry: 'I'm not at all sorry about this veiled headscarf slut. And one less Muslim in the belly! '”. The "agitational struggle vocabulary", which have been consolidated on the platform, skidding, among others, the so-called " do-gooders " to the center. Shooman commented: “There is a sort of idea that those up there, the elites, have conspired together with the minorities against 'the people'. And that also means that not only the Muslim minority is the target, but all those who, as collaborators, help infiltrate the West, all of whom are the target of defamation on websites such as Politically Incorrect . "

Heiner Bielefeldt , former director of the German Institute for Human Rights , described Politically Incorrect as the " hate side ", which postulates that she stands up for the Basic Law and human rights and thus poses as "heroes of the Enlightenment" by hitting "minorities" ".

Alexander Häusler from the Neo-Nazism Unit at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences placed the blog's positions in the “haze” of the New Right and right-wing populism in a contribution to the “Strategies of the Extreme Right” .

The then chairman of the Bundestag's Interior Committee , Sebastian Edathy (SPD), told Spiegel Online in 2008 that he saw “anti-democratic moods” represented in the blog after it had published an advertisement by the Kahanist group Jewish Task Force . He also said that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had informed him “that 'PI' was known to the Federal Office and was in view. The further development will be observed ”. Together with the social scientist Bernd Sommer, Edathy comes to the conclusion that Politically Incorrect paints a distorted and one-sided picture of Islam: Muslims are consistently described as anti-democratic, violent and terrorist and portrayed as “foreigners” in German society. The non-Muslim Germans face these foreigners as democrats, enlightened people and liberals. In this form of Islamophobia , Sommer and Edathy see a recourse to old anti-Islamic narratives that originated from the time of the "conflict between the Christian West and the Islamic-Arab Orient " and are still present in European societies today.

Compared to the TV station 3sat said Henryk Broder , of the blog Politically Incorrect by 2007, jointly operated by him blog Axis of Good recommended in September 2011: "What makes Politically Incorrect, my business is not. There are very good contributions and also quite scandalous stories, such as the Mügeln case. How it was dealt with on Politically Incorrect was again a racist scandal and had nothing to do with political correctness or incorrectness ”. Broder also described the comment area of ​​the blog as "under all pig". On September 30, 2011, the weblog linked the axis of the good to a homestory written by Phillipp Gut in the SVP- affiliated right-wing populist magazine Die Weltwoche with the title "Indictment: ' Islam hater '". In it, the Bernese pastor Christine Dietrich explains the motives for her substantive and financial commitment to Politically Incorrect.

The weekly Jüdische Allgemeine published by the Central Council of Jews in Germany regards Politically Incorrect as a right-wing extremist blog. According to the newspaper, the "PI makers" want to immunize themselves against accusations of right-wing extremism with their commitment to Israel and see Israel "as a kind of outpost in the fight against the Muslim world conspiracy they hallucinated". Compared with the Frankfurter Rundschau said Dietmar Closer, former operator of the Watchblogs politbloggers, to PI, which emphasized PI in contrast to the classic right-wing extremists Israel- and America-friendly positioning not think of a review was: "Who is in the PI content quickly discovered that both are just protective claims. As has been shown since Obama took office , 'pro-American' only meant 'pro-Bush'. Shortly after Obama's election victory, the US flag disappeared from PI's page head, and since then PI has mainly been following those conspiracy theories that Obama was not born in the USA and was a Muslim. The pro-Israel stance is actually just a 'pro-settler stance,' which means that Palestinians have no business in Israel. "

In the text “With Islamism against the Enlightenment”, written by the “Kompetenzzentrum Islamismus” of Aktion 3. Welt Saar , the necessity of an “emancipatory criticism of Islamism” is acknowledged, but emphasizes that “Propaganda by weblogs inciting against migrants like Politically Incorrect” has nothing to do with this emancipatory criticism of Islamism. It is important to “draw a clear line between those who use the fight against Islamism as a mask for their xenophobia”.

The human rights activist Mina Ahadi defends herself against attempts of instrumentalization through the blog, which she accuses of dividing the world into "good and bad" like the Islamists without regard to the individual. The blog's alleged criticism of Islam is a cloak under which racism and cynical fantasies of isolation are concealed. Like the Islamists, the blog reduces people to group identities instead of taking individuals seriously and their differences. As with the ultra-conservative Islamic associations, it is not the individual, self-determined person that counts with Politically Incorrect, but rather the collective first. The blog and the Islamists are "united in pitiful backwardness and hatred of the open society".

Reactions from government agencies

The federal government rejected an observation of PI by the in 2011 Protection of the Constitution from. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag and chairman of the “Christian-Muslim Peace Initiative” (cm-fi), Ruprecht Polenz ( CDU ), criticized this decision with the words: “If the authorities set their standards from monitoring Islamic websites to right-wing extremist If they were to transmit Internet pages, they would have to watch PI for a long time. "

The federal government had already expressed reluctance to parliamentary questions with regard to PI. In response to a small request from two members of the Die Linke party in February 2008, she answered the question to what extent “the German government is aware of anti-Muslim, racist and violence-glorifying statements from the Internet portal Politically Incorrect” and whether these are appropriate, “public peace or that to disturb the peaceful coexistence of peoples ”, with the fact that you had“ no knowledge ”about PI.

Another small question from the parliamentary group of the party Die Linke on September 5, 2011, asked the federal government to what extent they were aware of "anti-Muslim, racist and violence-glorifying statements made by the Internet portal Politically Incorrect (PI)". The federal government replied that "the Internet portal 'Politically Incorrect' (PI) also posts articles with anti-Muslim, sometimes racist content", but that these can be found "practically exclusively in the comments" and are "the exception there" . The “overwhelming majority of the entries on PI” do not use “any classic right-wing extremist argumentation models”, but “belong to the spectrum critical of Islam”. Accordingly, “right-wing extremist tendencies in relation to Politically Incorrect cannot (yet) be determined”.

In 2007, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia did not classify Politically Incorrect as right-wing extremist. According to the WDR , this was justified with the self-portrayal of PI as pro-American, pro-Israeli and advocating the constitution and human rights, thus separating the blog “from anti-Islam sites from the right-wing extremist spectrum”.

According to information from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the Ministry of the Interior and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in relation to the Frankfurter Rundschau , PI was not observed with “intelligence means”, “but one has kept an eye on the blog and read it carefully.” The xenophobic opinions and Comments on PI are, in the opinion of the NRW Interior Ministry, "undemocratic" and suitable for "inciting young people".

Like NRW, the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution did not initially classify PI as extremist. The Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann ( CSU ) declared on the occasion of the presentation of the Bavarian Constitutional Protection Report for 2011 that it was not classified as unconstitutional, saying that there was no closed organization behind the weblog. The spread of hatred alone is not enough for a recording, the punishment of which is a matter for the police. A mention in the report for the protection of the constitution requires "an extremist goal."

On September 12, 2011, the government of Upper Bavaria confirmed that the city of Munich may continue to warn innkeepers against gatherings involving Politically Incorrect . The district government relied on a decision of the Higher Administrative Court of Münster in 2005. The state capital's assessment that right-wing extremists are behind Politically Incorrect does not contradict the assessment by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior and the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution .

In the opinion of Bavarian constitutional protectors, it should be examined whether calls for disruptive actions against ideological and political opponents and the operation of a platform with inflammatory and racist reader comments are covered by freedom of expression and whether the anti-Muslim movement has developed into a new form of extremism . The Bavarian State Office once again pointed out that it was atypical for right-wing extremists to stand up for Israel and the USA.

According to information from Spiegel, the next steps of the state authorities for the protection of the constitution should be discussed by the heads of the state offices at a conference in Berlin at the end of September 2011. Bavaria is considering observing right-wing populism as a “new form of extremism”, a similar internet platform is already under observation in Hamburg, while most of the other federal states and the Federal Ministry of the Interior are still undecided on the question of systematic observation. The decision depends on the question of whether the blog crosses the border to endanger religious freedom and international understanding or is still within the scope of the right to freedom of expression . In this context, the internal Internet communication of the PI leadership on the 2011 attacks in Norway , which was leaked to the news magazine and documented in excerpts in the article, reveals the “cynicism with which the makers of PI News look at the world”. Der Spiegel concludes from the leaked documents that the "inner circle [as] the interface between right-wing extremist small parties [...] is not as peaceful [thinks] as it always emphasizes."

In 2013, the Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann changed his position and announced in April, on the occasion of the presentation of the 2012 report on the protection of the constitution, that the Munich branch of PI had been monitored by the protection of the constitution since the end of March 2013. They stir up generalized fears of Muslims and spread anti-Islamic propaganda.

Authors

Stefan Herre

The sports teacher Stefan Herre (* 1965) from Cologne is the founder, co-operator and author of the blog. In 2007 he is said to have passed responsibility to Christine Dietrich; However, he should still belong to the leadership of "Politically Incorrect".

Christine Dietrich

The evangelical-reformed Swiss pastor Christine Dietrich, PI pseudonym Thorin Eisenschild , ended her work after one month in November 2007 due to her office and public interest, according to the blog. According to information from the Frankfurter Rundschau, this is an untrue protection claim; Dietrich continues to write for the blog and is also involved in all important decisions. At times she was the only person authorized to activate articles on Politically Incorrect . In September 2011 Dietrich stated again that he was distancing himself from PI. After the Islamophobically motivated attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011, she wrote on Politically Incorrect that the thoughts of the assassin Anders Behring Breivik could "also be in this forum". PI founder Stefan Herre confirmed that he had handed over the management of the blog to Dietrich in 2007.

The Synodal Council of the Reformed Church in Bern-Jura-Solothurn initiated an investigation in 2011 because of the ongoing involvement and the edit made as an IP “What he [= Breivik] writes are largely things that could also be in this forum” and commissioned a law firm with the clarification of the allegations. Dietrich denied a leading role in the "Islam haters network", but admitted that he had temporarily paid the bills for the website. The investigation of the Synodal Council of the Bernese Church showed that no evidence of Islamophobia was found in the statements and writings of Christine Dietrich, and no “hate sermons” were known. The inflammatory expressions accused by the Frankfurter Rundschau and other media did not come from her. Her appearances at Islamophobic and xenophobic events in Germany were reprimanded by the Synodal Council in August 2010. The investigation report found:

“… That Ms. Dietrich had a role in the anti-Islamic blog“ Politically Incorrect ”. «Because degrading and inflammatory articles were published on this blog, such participation in a managerial position is not compatible with the position of pastor in the Bernese church service. The Synodal Council sees this as a violation of church regulations and the instructions for pastors, ”the Synodal Council continues. He had therefore given Ms. Dietrich formal instructions to stay away from such blogs. "

- The portal of the Reformed www.ref.ch

In January 2012, the Synodal Council called on Dietrich to stay away from Politically Incorrect . The prosecutor's office in Bernese Jura-Seeland closed a case against Dietrich on the basis of the Swiss criminal law against racism in November 2012. The prosecution had ruled possible evidence as unusable.

More regular authors

  • The Bremen police superintendent Torsten Groß (* 1971), candidate and one of the leaders of the voters' association Bürger in Anger and active in the inner circle of PI.
  • Michael Stürzenberger (former pseudonym: "byzanz"), former CSU press spokesman under Monika Hohlmeier resigned from the CSU in May 2011 and shortly thereafter was one of the co-founders of the Bavarian state association of the right-wing populist and now dissolved small party Die Freiheit , for which he from December 2011 state chairman and from December 2013 until its dissolution in December 2016 was federal chairman. Stürzenberger keeps Germany far for the right-wing Citizens' Movement Pax Europa and for the Islam-and xenophobic organization Pegida rallies and is due to various statements for sedition convictions relevant.
  • Conny Axel Meier is chairman of the citizens' movement Pax Europa and occasionally publishes reports on the blog about actions of this association as well as about court cases involving association members.
  • kewil (pseudonym), originally webmaster of the Islamophobic blog fact-fiction.net. There are contradicting information about the person behind this pseudonym.
  • Former Frankfurt city councilor Wolfgang Hübner (* 1946), who was a member of the city council assembly for the Free Voters (BFF) until 2016.
  • Oliver Flesch , former editor of Bild and Hamburger Morgenpost , confessed in June 2017 to publish for Politically Incorrect.

Retired regular authors

  • Jens von Wichtingen ended his collaboration in November 2007 and describes it as a mistake. He certified the blog itself as having a “sect-like character”: “You live in your own world. Good and bad, black and white. You take in news completely differently, you feel in possession of the truth. And everyone who criticizes PI is wrong. Well-intentioned advice is ignored, the others anyway. You mutually increase each other into a - you can almost say - madness, which will hopefully never have an impact in real life. "
  • Marco Pino (pseudonym: "Frank Furter") said that he ended his collaboration in October 2011. As a justification, he cited that the blog was "developing in a direction" with which he, as a proponent of a "moderate and serious" course, " identify less and less ”. Pino was elected deputy federal chairman of the party Die Freiheit in December 2011 , but a little later resigned from this office and left the party. Then he worked for Blu-News .
  • Christian Jung (pseudonym: "Nockerl"), who worked in the foreigners department of the Munich district administration until 2011 , was responsible for deportations there . Young was the state chairman of Bavaria of the "right-wing populist anti-Islam party" classified Die Freiheit . After his resignation and resignation in February 2012, Jung ended his activities at PI-News.
  • Pseudonym: "Hausener Bub";
  • Karl-Michael Merkle (pseudonym: "Michael Mannheimer"): Merkle is suspected of running the right-wing pillory Nuremberg 2.0 , but denies this. Nürnberg 2.0 describes itself as a “collection point for the documentation of the systematic and illegal Islamization of Germany and the crimes of left fascists for the oppression of the people”. Those “responsible” for this should “be called to account at a suitable time in the manner of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal ” (self-account). "Michael Mannheimer" is accused of calling for "armed resistance" against "Islamization" in Germany on the pages of Nürnberg 2.0. Merkle appears with her own right-wing blog as "Michael Mannheimer".

literature

  • Wolfgang Benz : Anti-Semitism and “Islamic Criticism”. Balance sheet and perspective. Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86331-012-7 .
  • Sebastian Edathy , Bernd Sommer: The two faces of right-wing extremism in Germany - topics, power potentials and mobilization resources of the extreme right. In: Stephan Braun , Alexander Geisler, Martin Gerster (eds.): Strategies of the extreme right. Background - analyzes - answers. VS Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-15911-9 , pp. 45-57.
  • Astrid Geisler , Christoph Schultheis: Ideal worlds. Real everyday life in Germany. Carl Hanser, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-446-23578-6 .
  • Daniel Müller: Lunatic Fringe Goes Mainstream? No gatekeeping power for nobody, but hate speech for everyone - to the Islam hater blog Politically Incorrect. In: Annegret March (Ed.): Internet: Public (en) in transition. Schüren Verlag, Marburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-89472-550-1 , pp. 109-126.
  • Sabine Schiffer : Limitless hatred on the Internet. As “Islam-critical” activists argue in weblogs. In: Thorsten Gerald Schneiders (Ed.): Islamophobia. When the lines of criticism blur . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-16257-7 , pp. 341–362.
  • Bernhard Schmid: Reactions from the European extreme right to the mass murder attacks in Oslo . Preliminary report with evaluation of reactions in the blog Politically Incorrect. edition assemblage, Paris July 24, 2011.
  • Yasemin Shooman : Islamophobia on the World Wide Web. In: Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): Islamophobia and its context . Documentation of the conference Feindbild Muslim - Feindbild Jude. Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-940938-32-9 , pp. 70-84.

Press articles

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For example Thorsten Gerald Schneider: Islamophobia. When the lines of criticism blur. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-16257-7 .
  2. ↑ a b c "Politically Incorrect" closely linked to the right-wing scene. In: Spiegel Online , September 18, 2011.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Steven Geyer, Jörg Schindler : Im Netz der Islamfeinde. ( Memento from September 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 14, 2011.
  4. ↑ Portrait: Stefan Herre - founder of the Islam-critical weblog Politically Incorrect. In: www.yourjournal.de. October 4, 2007, archived from the original on October 18, 2007 ; accessed on February 26, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Schiffer 2009, p. 343.
  6. ↑ Geisler / Schultheis 2011, p. 135.
  7. ↑ a b c Dominik Reinle: Fear of Islam - and proud of it. ( Memento from October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: WDR , December 17, 2007.
  8. ↑ Stefan Beig: Internet: Not always "politically correct". ( Memento from June 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) In: Wiener Zeitung , July 19, 2008.
  9. ↑ a b A terribly hateful family. on: 20 minutes . September 20, 2011.
  10. ^ A b Yassin Musharbash: Alliance of Islamophobes. In: Spiegel Online , May 30, 2008, accessed August 29, 2010.
  11. ↑ a b Bernd Kastner: "Die Freiheit" and PI are considered unconstitutional in Bavaria. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 12, 2013.
  12. ↑ a b Pascal Beucker: Enemy Islam. ( Memento from July 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) In: Jüdische Allgemeine , November 19, 2009.
  13. ↑ Photo ( Memento from December 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Herre at an election campaign rally by "pro Köln" in mid-August 2009.
  14. ↑ Open letter from pro NRW to Herre, with photo of Herre and pro NRW officials ( memento from September 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ North Rhine-Westphalia's right is gearing up for the election. In: The time . May 5, 2010.
  16. ^ Daniel J. Solomon: Hard-Right German Holocaust Deniers Tour Yad Vashem , Forward of January 10, 2017
  17. ^ Ofer Aderet: Holocaust Deniers at Yad Vashem: German Far-right Tour Israel , Haaretz from January 10, 2017
  18. ↑ Pi-news.net Site info . Alexa Internet . Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  19. ↑ German blogger charts from August 11, 2010. ( Memento from August 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) www.deutscheblogcharts.de. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  20. ↑ PI shop. ( Memento from August 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) www.pi-shop.spreadshirt.de. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  21. ↑ a b The Islam haters ask for cash. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. September 23, 2011.
  22. ↑ Extremist National Christians in Need , MiGAZIN of September 29, 2014
  23. ↑ Contact. In: PI - Munich. Retrieved March 18, 2016 .
  24. ↑ a b Bernd Kastner: The enemy is certain. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . March 2, 2011.
  25. ↑ Johannes Boie: Visit from the anti-Islamic fighting force. on: Süddeutsche Zeitung , March 11, 2010.
  26. ^ A b Wolfgang Benz: On PI there is clearly hatred of the people. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . September 15, 2011.
  27. ↑ Jan Bielicki, Joachim Käppner , Marc Widmann: "The Islam-Ideology is to be fought" In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 10, 2010.
  28. ^ A b Nadine Lantzsch: "Politically Incorrect" manipulates the Tagesspiegel survey. In: Der Tagesspiegel , April 24, 2008.
  29. ↑ Jörg Lau : Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, united against circumcision . In: The time . 17th July 2012.
  30. ↑ Christine Bilger, Rebecca Müller & Dominika Jaschek: Gymnasium in Cannstatt: School threatened because of multicultural festivals on the Internet . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . 19th December 2013.
  31. ^ Anja Maier : Racism in Stuttgart: Hate mail against multicultural festival . In: The daily newspaper . 20th December 2013.
  32. ↑ Nadine Lindner: What Pegida wants from Geert Wilders . In: Deutschlandfunk . April 9, 2015
  33. ↑ Christian Zeier: In the dark world of false media , bernerzeitung.de , September 11, 2016.
  34. ↑ The new hobby of counterfeiters: inventing finders
  35. ↑ Lalon Sander: The transition media taz.de, June 1, 2017
  36. ↑ Patrick Gensing: Criticism of Corona Measures: Radical Change www.tagesschau.de, May 5, 2020
  37. ↑ Claudia Becker: death threats against pastors because of moving lanterns. In: Die Welt , November 11, 2014.
  38. ↑ Vice-state chairman receives death threats. In: Nordwest-Zeitung , April 11, 2015.
  39. ↑ Dorothea Jung: Danger to society. In: Deutschlandfunk , October 7, 2010.
  40. ^ AfD politician Arppe charged with sedition , Zeit online , October 3, 2014
  41. ↑ Ex-AfD boss convicted of sedition. In: NDR , May 8, 2015.
  42. ↑ Kassel regional president Walter Lübcke was shot. Frankfurter Rundschau (FR), June 3, 2019
  43. ↑ a b Matern Boeselager: The right-wing extremist campaign against the shot CDU politician was so hateful. Vice News, June 4, 2019
  44. ↑ Kassel District President: Right-wing extremists mock those killed. Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), June 11, 2019
  45. ↑ Katja Thorwarth: Lübcke murder case: "We're shooting the way free" - does AfD language help prepare the ground for right-wing terror? FRI, June 18, 2019
  46. ↑ https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/luebcke-149.html
  47. ↑ Michael Klarmann: Opponents of Islam and the left rage against critical media reports. In: Heise online , September 15, 2011.
  48. ^ Stefan Niggemeier : Free hatred for free citizens. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 25, 2007, archived from the original on June 12, 2011 ; accessed on February 26, 2017 .
  49. ^ WDR report in: Cosmo TV , broadcast on January 20, 2008.
  50. ↑ Ario Ebrahimpour Mirzaie: PI-News: The hate blog of the right-wing populists. In: blog.zeit.de , July 27, 2011.
  51. ↑ Schiffer 2009, p. 358.
  52. ↑ Schiffer 2009, pp. 345–346.
  53. ↑ Schiffer 2009, pp. 348-349.
  54. ↑ Wolfgang Benz : Hetzer with parallels. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 4, 2010, accessed on September 18, 2011.
  55. ↑ Wolfgang Benz : The enemies from the Orient. How fear of Muslims endangers our democracy . Beck Verlag, 2012, p. 147
  56. ↑ Dorothea Jung: Danger to society. In: Deutschlandfunk , October 7, 2010.
  57. ↑ Christian Rath: "Enlightenment is not complete" In: Die Tageszeitung , December 29, 2009 (interview with Heiner Bielefeldt ).
  58. ↑ Stephan Braun , Alexander Geisler, Martin Gerster (eds.): Strategies of the extreme right: Backgrounds - Analyzes - Answers. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009, p. 45.
  59. ↑ Richard Meusers: Corpses in the basement. In: Spiegel Online , November 10, 2008.
  60. ↑ Sebastian Edathy , Bernd Sommer: The two faces of right-wing extremism in Germany - topics, power potentials and mobilization resources of the extreme right. In: Stephan Braun, Alexander Geisler, Martin Gerster (eds.): Strategies of the extreme right. Background - analyzes - answers. VS Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-15911-9 , pp. 53-54.
  61. ^ Daniel Baumann: Successful shift to the right. In: Berliner Zeitung , September 3, 2011.
  62. ↑ cf. Linards Udris: Political Extremism and Radicalism: Problematisation and Discursive Opportunity Structures in Public Communication in German-speaking Switzerland. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften Opladen 2011, p. 88.
  63. ^ Philipp Gut : Indictment: «Islam hater». In: Die Weltwoche , 39th week 2011.
  64. ↑ Martin Krauss: When the Right Pilgrims. ( Memento from July 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) In: Jüdische Allgemeine , March 3, 2011.
  65. ↑ a b Jörg Schindler , Steven Geyer: Authorities target blog. Frankfurter Rundschau , September 27, 2011, archived from the original on September 30, 2011 ; accessed on February 26, 2017 .
  66. ↑ With Islamism against the Enlightenment. (PDF) In: Aktion 3. Welt Saar , autumn 2008 ( PDF ; 941 kB).
  67. ↑ Mina Ahadi: Open letter: "Stop using me for your right-wing agitation!" August 1, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017 .
  68. ↑ Politically Incorrect will not be observed in the future either. In: Migazin , December 2, 2011.
  69. ↑ German Bundestag, printed matter 16/8282 ( PDF ; 94 kB)
  70. ↑ German Bundestag: Anti-Muslim Racism and Right-Wing Extremism - Printed matter 17/6910, September 5, 2011, p. 7. ( PDF ; 128 kB)
  71. ↑ Bernd Kastner: "Increased aggression potential" among neo-Nazis. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , March 23, 2011.
  72. ↑ Press release by the City of Munich, September 12, 2011 (PDF)
  73. ↑ Markus Feldenkirchen , Holger Stark: "Our buttocks burn" In: Der Spiegel , September 26, 2011.
  74. ↑ Verfassungsschutz observes Die Freiheit and "PI" ( Memento from March 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Hamburger Abendblatt , April 12, 2013.
  75. ^ A b c Thomas Knellwolf: "Brave Christine": double life of a Swiss pastor. In: Basler Zeitung . September 17, 2011, accessed September 19, 2011.
  76. ↑ Allegations against Pastor Christine Dietrich are to be investigated (http://www.islam.ch) /
  77. ^ Church initiates proceedings against Dietrich. 20 minutes , September 22, 2011, archived from the original on January 29, 2012 ; accessed on February 26, 2017 .
  78. ↑ No evidence of Islamophobic statements by a Bernese pastor. Reformed Media , January 26, 2012, archived from the original on February 27, 2017 ; Retrieved October 17, 2013 .
  79. ↑ Pastor should stay away from the Hetz blog. In: 20 minutes , January 26, 2012.
  80. ↑ Hetz-Blog: Proceedings against pastor from Zealand stopped. In: The Bund . November 7, 2012, accessed December 7, 2012 .
  81. ↑ www.abenkenwatch.de
  82. ↑ Bodo Malsch: After the Duisburg Pegida demo: fine for sedition. December 8, 2017, accessed April 30, 2019 (German).
  83. ^ Journal Frankfurt of October 26, 2016: The BFF parliamentary group leader resigns from office. Wolfgang Hübner quits after more than 15 years
  84. ↑ public status report on Facebook ; accessed on September 20, 2017
  85. ↑ Politically Incorrect: Jens von Wichtingen gets out
  86. ^ Stefan Niggemeier : The "sect-like conditions" of PI. November 5, 2007.
  87. ↑ Marco Pino: Citizen Times: "Ready, Steady, Go!" In: Citizen Times , October 31, 2011 (English).
  88. ↑ Michael Klarmann: Collapse of a splinter party. In: Heise online , December 17, 2011.
  89. ↑ Stefan Behr: Police critic vilified . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , June 26, 2013.
  90. ↑ Bernd Kastner: Right-wing populist works for the immigration authority In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 12, 2011.
  91. ↑ Dominik Hutter: Islam critic himself applied for a transfer. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 14, 2011.
  92. ^ Website of the party Die Freiheit ( Memento from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  93. ^ Sebastian Amaral-Anders: Anonymous citizen group threatens violence. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , August 14, 2008.
  94. ↑ Dorothea Jung: Sources of Evil . In: Deutschlandradio Kultur . August 19, 2011.
  95. ↑ Oliver Schröm: Calling Feige Islam-haters by name . In: stern.de . April 16, 2012.
  96. ^ Roland Sieber: Islam haters Mannheimer, the church and its Internet pillory . In: Telepolis . August 11, 2011.
  97. ↑ Islam critic operate Internet-Pranger - words not and misdeeds . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . July 30, 2011, accessed May 10, 2016.
  98. ^ Adrian Hoffmann: Islam haters are on trial . In: Heilbronn voice . January 14, 2013, accessed May 10, 2016.
  99. ↑ wiki.artikel20.com
  100. ↑ Thomas Pany: "Nuremberg 2.0" . In: Telepolis . July 29, 2011.
  101. ↑ Stefan Jehle: After the appearance of Pegida: Will Karlsruhe become a right-wing extremist center? In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . April 16, 2015
  102. ↑ Karl-Michael Merkle fails with injunction against newspaper: Michael Mannheimer loses in court . In: Observer News. June 30, 2015