The heinous attacks on women in Cologne cannot be
condemned enough. More should have been done to prevent them and more must be
done to bring perpetrators to justice. This is an expression of rape culture,
of patriarchy, misogyny that exists in all cultures and all places. But here it
is only being discussed because of the Arab or North African appearance of the
attackers. Even the victims themselves are being ignored.
The attacks are being
exploited by anti-refugee/right-wing protesters to malign and stereotype all
refugees. Organisations like Pegida say sex attacks were "in principle
bad for the women, but good for us, because the people are being woken
up." Indeed no one is more pleased with such a backlash against the
refugees than Daesh themselves. It completely reaffirms their agenda and their
attempts to alienate and polarize Muslims in Europe.
Morever people like the Czech President Milos Zeman further assist Daesh
by making statements like “The experience of western European countries which
have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim
community is practically impossible,” Ignoring the fact that there are many
well integrated Muslim communities in Europe indeed European countries like
Bosnia and Kosovo are Muslim!
Therefore is is imporant to not
give in to the steretypes and to share news which also shows refugees in a postive
light.
In Cologne, Syrians gathered with plaques condemning
the attacks that took place in the city, and to thank the country for taking
them in.
Refugees also gave out flowers to passers-by, and
held signs saying: ‘We respect the values of German society’ and ‘We are all Cologne’.
An American woman has told how she was rescued from
being sexually assaulted on New Year’s Eve in Cologne by a group of Syrian
refugees. She remains friends with one of her rescuers, a refugee who condemned
the attackers saying they had “lost their minds” on drink and drugs.
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