The Citizens' Movement Pax Europa (German: Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa, BPE) is a German counter-jihad group that was formed in 2008 from the merger of two previous groups, the Federal Association of Citizens' Movements (German: Bundesverband der Bürgerbewegungen, BDB) formed in 2003, and Pax Europa formed in 2006.[1]

Activities

The group describes itself as a "human rights organisation" that stands for "freedom and democracy" against "Islamisation".[2] It has lobbied at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), often represented by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, and has cooperated with the International Civil Liberties Alliance and the Center for Security Policy of Frank Gaffney.[2] René Stadtkewitz has been deputy chairman of the organisation, and its national secretary is Conny Axel Meier.[2]

In 2011 Meier held a speech at a conference in Strasbourg, France arranged by Stop Islamization of America and Stop Islamisation of Europe that also included Robert Spencer and Roberta Moore of the Jewish Division of the English Defence League.[3]

The BPE has attempted to claim to have revived the anti-Nazi White Rose resistance movement, and when Meier spoke at the 2012 international counter-jihad conference in Brussels, he compared German Muslims to members of the Nazi Party.[2] His statement referred to a study which revealed that half a million German Muslims openly supported Sharia over German law, which he translated to five times more than the number of Nazi Party members in 1928.[4] One former member of the White Rose, Susanne Hirzel, was actively involved in the BPE.[5][6]

References

  1. ↑ Berntzen, Lars Erik (2019). Liberal Roots of Far Right Activism: The Anti-Islamic Movement in the 21st Century. Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 9781000707960.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Aked, H.; Jones, M.; Miller, D. (2019). "Islamophobia in Europe: How governments are enabling the far-right 'counter-jihad' movement" (PDF). Spinwatch Public Interest Investigations. University of Bristol: 32-35.
  3. ↑ "'Stop Islamization' groups to hold first joint event". AsianImage. 21 June 2011.
  4. ↑ Heni, Clemens (2013). "Right-wing and left-wing Trojan Horses - Troubling tendencies in the pro-Israel and anti-Islamism tent and among scholars in the field of research on antisemitism". p. 18.
  5. ↑ D. L. Adams (October 2009). "The White Rose: An Interview with Mrs. Susanne Zeller–Hirzel". New English Review. Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ↑ "Die "Weiße Rose" und der Counter-Jihad" [The "White Rose" and the Counter-Jihad]. BPE. 8 October 2009.
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