July 12, 2024

A Conversation with Sukayna El-Zayat about Muslim Life in Germany

Stefan Liebich

On July 10th, we welcomed Sukayna El-Zayat to our office for the second part of our series, “Rethinking Jewish and Muslim Life in Germany.”

Sukayna El-Zayat currently works as our colleague at the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung headquarters in Berlin. She studied International Relations in the Netherlands, was active in the Muslim Youth Germany, and has worked in the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations as an Anti-Islamophobia Officer.

The conversation started with a brief introduction to the history of Muslim people in Germany, beginning in the Eighteenth Century during the time of the Ottoman Empire, through West Germany’s so called guest worker program in the postwar period, and up to the last major wave of immigration from the Middle East after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in the mid-2010s. Today, an estimated 6 to 8 % of the German population is Muslim, most of whom live in larger cities in the west of the country and in Berlin. Most have Turkish roots, but Berlin also hosts the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe.

The situation in the eastern part of the country is different from the West. Polling and electoral results in recent years have shown that the former GDR region supports right-wing politics more than the west of the country and has higher statistics of anti-immigrant sentiment. The feeling of safety for a visibly Muslim person is even lower in this part of the country.

The dialogue then turned to the present, examining how the war in Gaza, the rise of the far-right, and anti-Muslim bias are impacting daily life for millions of people in Germany. Currently, an average of five incidents of anti-Muslim discrimination are reported every day, a 114% increase from the year before. Sukayna brought an interesting perspective, explaining why she prefers not to use the term “Islamophobia” for these incidents, as it implies a tangible fear that does not fully describe the structure of hate and discrimination against Muslim people today.

The situation for Muslims has deteriorated greatly since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last year. While solidarity for Palestinians has always been a part of Arab Muslims’ political activities, and their public actions have been historically heavily policed, there has been a significant increase in policing pro-Palestine demonstrations as well as cultural events. Hand in hand with this increased police presence, there have been more incidents of state violence and police brutality targeting Muslim as well as Jewish protesters in Berlin.

Germany’s government sees Israel’s security as a “reason of state,” and this has an impact on how the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts are discussed there. The overwhelming majority of German mainstream media does not cover the full scope of the war and provide biased/vague reporting. This created an environment where there is no space to grieve for the Palestinian victims. Sukayna described it as a disassociating experience.

In a climate that attempts to divide Jewish and Muslim people an interreligious dialogue that has a long standing tradition, has become more difficult in recent months. However, Jewish activists have been at the forefront of the anti-war protests and have stood side by side with their Muslim and Arab comrades to defend these spaces.

We also discussed how our Muslim and Arab colleagues have felt as part of a leftist German foundation. For an internationalist organization, the isolating experience of moving within the German context has created tensions and disappointments. The loss of a sense of belonging, disappointment and the differences between parts of the German left and the international left on this issue have led to anxiety and unease about how the issue has been approached.

We concluded by emphasizing that Germany’s history should lead the country to a consistent stance against the persecution of groups.  “Never again” and the culture of remembrance in Germany in general must be more strongly linked to practical action that guides us in the present and future.

 Sukayna El-Zayat in conversation with Stefan Liebich on July 10, 2024 at RLS NYC office.

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