lördag, september 20, 2008

Köln - berättelsen om två borgmästare


Saxat ur The Brussels Journal:
"Once, Cologne had a mayor to be proud of.
Konrad Adenauer, mayor of Cologne from 1917 to
1933, was a devout Catholic. An outspoken opponent
of the Nazi regime (1933-1945), he played no political
role in Germany until the end of the Second World
War when the Americans reinstalled him as mayor
of Cologne but the British dismissed him after a couple
of weeks for “alleged incompetence.”
Following this dismissal for “incompetence” he founded
the German Christian-Democrat Party CDU and
became the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic
of Germany (1949-1963) and the “father” of the
modern, democratic Germany.
**
Cologne’s current mayor (since 2000),
Fritz Schramma,
is also a Christian-Democrat. He governs a city that
is one of Germany’s oldest. Its Catholic Cathedral
(the Dom) is the largest Gothic church in Northern
Europe and until 1884, with its two spires of 157
metres, it was the tallest structure in the world.
Cologne (“Köln” in German) is Germany’s fourth
largest city, after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich,
but has dramatically changed since the days of
the great Adenauer. 330,000 people, which is
36 percent of Cologne’s inhabitants, are
immigrants, most of them Turks or people of
Turkish descent. Mayor Schramma needs their
support in order to remain in power.
**
Cologne’s Turks want to build Germany’s largest
mosque. The building will have two minarets of
55 metres high. The mosque is being built by
Ditib, the Cologne branch of Diyanet, the depart-
ment of religious affairs of Turkey, which reports
directly to the Turkish Prime Minister.
Last month, Mayor Schramma’s own CDU
voted against the building project which it deemed
“too provocative.” The mayor, however, did not
vote not with his party because he is in favor of
the mosque. As only the CDU (without the mayor)
and the city party Pro Cologne (Pro-Köln) voted
against the mosque, the project obtained the city
council’s approval, albeit by a narrow margin.
**
In 2004, Pro Cologne, which grew out of a grass-
roots organisation of indigenous locals who oppose
the mosque, obtained 4.7% of the votes and five of
the 90 seats in the Cologne city council. The party,
which is conservative, is being depicted by its
adversaries as a “fascist” and/or “Nazi” grouping,
though it has no links to German neo-Nazis.
It has become the nucleus of Pro North Rhine
Westphalia, a party on the state level (the state
of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), to which
Cologne belongs), and Pro Germany, a party
on the federal level. Polls predict that Pro NRW
may win up to 10% in next year’s state elections.
Today, Pro Cologne is holding an “Anti-Islamisation
Conference” in Cologne. As soon as the party
announced its intention to hold its rally, the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
protested and OIC member Iran called on
France, which currently chairs the European
Union, to intervene and ban the “Islamophobic”
event. German leftist organisations, including
the trade unions and the churches, called for
a counterdemonstration.
**
Jürgen Rüttgers, NRW’s prime minister (CDU)
claims Pro Cologne is “against tolerance, re-
conciliation and humanity.” He called on
people to demonstrate peacefully against the
conference, which his friend, Mayor Schramma,
calls “a huge stomach ache.”
The mayor is pleased with the counter-
demonstration. “I am happy that Cologne shows
its true face of tolerance,” he said, calling for
“intolerance” to Pro Cologne. The mayor has
asked the local shops to remain closed today
and join the counterdemonstration.
“Shut your windows and doors, lower your shutters.
Make it clear to Pro Cologne and its camarilla:
you are not welcome,” he said.
Pointing out that “50% of Cologne’s children are
German and 50% are of foreign origin,” the mayor
added that Cologne is “probably the most tolerant
city in Germany, but I hope that this time it will
**
Yesterday, on the eve of the conference,
“anti-fascists” attacked Pro Cologne
sympathisers. Stones were thrown
at a river cruiser on which the party
intended to hold a press conference.
Michael Kucherov, a 45-year old
Jewish member of the federal executive
board of Pro Germany, was beaten up
on his way to the press conference.
Unlike his predecessor, Konrad Adenauer,
Cologne’s current mayor “lowers his
shutters” when evil forces take over his city."
***
PI-News har senaste nytt och
filmbilder från dagens pöbel-
upplopp i Köln.
**
UPDATE:
Se Islamofobens vettiga kommentar