THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 232, November 2, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
GERMANY'S FREIHEIT PARTY JOINS THE FRAY
By Dr. Daniel Pipes
GERMAN POLITICS, POLITICAL PARTIES, & POLICY ISSUES: DIE FREIHEIT -- A NEW POLITICAL PARTY THAT
STRONGLY OPPOSES ISLAMIZATION OF GERMANY & CALLS ON WESTERN GOVERNMENTS TO ROBUSTLY SUPPORT THE
STATE OF ISRAEL -- THE BASIC PROGRAM OF DIE FREIHEIT -- APPLICATION OF TRADITIONAL WESTERN VALUES & POLICIES
TO GERMAN POLITICAL LIFE
FULL STORY:
A new German political party, Die Freiheit (The Freedom), had its inaugural meeting on October 28, 2010, in Berlin. I was
in town, so its leadership invited me to be the only non-member of the nascent party to witness and report on its
founding constituent assembly.
As a reminder of how freedoms have eroded in Europe in this age of Islamist terror, a political party that resists
Islamization and supports Israel cannot come into existence in broad daylight. So, like the other 50-plus attendees, I
learned of the event's time and location only shortly before it took place. For good measure, the organizers operated
undercover; the hotel management only knew of a board election for an innocuously named company. Even now, for
security reasons, I cannot mention the hotel's name.
Much of the time was taken up with the legalisms required to register a political party in Germany: attendance was taken,
votes counted, organizational procedures explained, steps enumerated to contest Berlin elections in September, 2011,
and officers elected, including the Chairman, René Stadtkewitz, 45. Of East German background, he is a member of the
Berlin parliament who belonged to the ruling conservative Christian Democratic Union party until his expulsion a month
ago for publicly hosting the Dutch politician Geert Wilders.
For me, of chief interest was his oral summary of party policies plus the distribution of a 71-page Grundsatzprogramm
("Basic Program") setting out party positions in detail. Stadtkewitz explained the need for a new German party on the
grounds that "The established parties, unfortunately, are not ready to take a clear stand, but, instead, abandon the
people to their concerns." The program neither minces words nor thinks small. Its opening sentence declares that
"Western Civilization, for centuries a world leader, faces an existential crisis."
The new party, whose slogan is "the party for more freedom and democracy," speaks candidly about Islam, Islamism,
Islamic law, and Islamization. Starting with the insight that "Islam is not just a religion but also a political ideology with
its own legal system," the party calls for scrutiny of imams, mosques and Islamic schools, for a review of Islamic
organizations to ensure their compliance with German laws, and condemns efforts to build a parallel legal structure
based on the Shari'a. Its analysis forcefully concludes: "We oppose with all our force the Islamization of our country."
Freiheit robustly supports Israel, calling it "the only democratic state in the Middle East.
"[Israel] . . . therefore is the outpost of the Western world
in the Arab theater. All democratic countries must show
the highest interest in Israel's living in free
self-determination and security. We explicitly commit
ourselves to Israel's right to exist, which is not open for
discussion."
However clear these passages, as well as the rejection of Turkish accession to the European Union, they comprise only
about 2 percent of the Basic Program, which applies traditional Western values and policies generally to German political
life. Its topics include German peoplehood, direct democracy, the family, education, the workplace, economics, energy,
the environment, health, and so on. Offering a wide platform makes good sense, fitting the anti-Islamization program into
a full menu of policies.
Despite this, of course, press coverage of the founding emphasized Freiheit's position vis-ŕ-vis Islam, defining it as a
narrowly "anti-Islam party."
The establishment of Freiheit prompts two observations: First, while it fits into a pattern of emerging European parties
that focus on Islam as central to their mission, it differs from the others in its broader outlook. Whereas Wilder's PVV
blames nearly every societal problem on Islam, Freiheit, in addition to opposing "with all our force the Islamization of
our country," has many other issues on its agenda.
Second, Germany is conspicuously behind most European countries with a large Muslim population in not having
spawned a party that stands up against Islamization. That's not for a lack of trying; previous attempts petered out. Late
2010 might be an auspicious moment to launch such a party, given the massive controversy in Germany over the Thilo
Sarrazin book ruing the immigration of Muslims, followed by Chancellor Angela Merkel announcing that multiculturalism
has "utterly failed." A change in mood appears underway.
The Freiheit party has been conceived as a mainstream, earnest, and constructive effort to deal with an exceedingly
complex and longterm problem. If it succeeds, it could change the politics in Europe's most influential country.
© Daniel Pipes 2010
Originally Published in National Review Online, November 2, 2010
Republished with the Permission of Daniel Pipes
Reprinted from the Daniel Pipes Mailing List, November 2, 2010
URL: http://www.danielpipes.org/9022/germany-freiheit-party
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Germany: Politics, Government, & Public Policy
Europe, European States, Politics, & Public Policy
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Israel & the Arabs -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Dr. Daniel Pipes, a Ph.D. in Islamic History (Harvard University, 1978), is Founder and Director of the Middle East Forum,
Publisher of Middle East Quarterly,
Founder of Campus Watch, Taube Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, a
signatory of the Project for the New American Century, a former board member of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a former
adjunct scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Golden Circle supporter of the U.S. Committee for a Free
Lebanon, a former member of the U.S. Department of Defense Special Task Force on Terrorism and Technology, and a
former lecturer at the U.S. Naval War College, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the University of
Pennsylvania. Dr. Pipes was the Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute from 1986 to 1993.
Author or co-author of eighteen books, Dr. Pipes is a regular columnist for National Review Online, Front Page
Magazine, the New York Sun, and the Jerusalem Post. His analyses of world trends and of forces and
developments in the Middle East have appeared in numerous North American newspapers, including the Washington
Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on American network
television, as well as at universities and think tanks, to discuss the Middle East, Islam, and the Islamist threat to the
U.S.A. and the West. He also has appeared on BBC and Al Jazeera, and has lectured in approximately
twenty-five countries.
Dr. Pipes is a Polish-American Jew whose parents fled Poland in 1939, immigrated to the U.S.A., and assimilated well into
American society and culture. His father is Richard Pipes, an American historian specializing in Russian and Soviet history
and serving as Professor of History at Harvard University from 1950 until his retirement in 1996. During the Cold War, the
worldview of Richard Pipes was strongly anti-Soviet and anti-Communist.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XII, 2010
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity