With the attack on Breitscheidplatz at the latest, Islamist terrorism has arrived in the consciousness of Germans. In Germany too, individuals have radicalised in mosques, online, in their social environment or elsewhere and later carried out attacks. In the 21st century a bloody trail of Islamist terrorism runs across Europe. The attacks often have antisemitic connotations. The victims, however, are not only Jewish women and men. Targets have equally been, for example, people celebrating, or the staff of a liberal satirical magazine. The attacks are aimed at the Western way of life and seek to strike society where it is most vulnerable: in its freedom.
Society is largely united in rejecting jihadist terror, although there is in part disagreement about how it should be dealt with. As a concrete example, the question may be named of whether the current powers of the security authorities are sufficient to stand up to it.
A far greater lack of clarity exists on the following question: radical Islamists do not always act violently. Groupings of political Islam are becoming ever more influential in Germany and are in some cases welcome interlocutors in politics or in inter-religious dialogue. At the same time, some (sub-)organisations are being monitored by the Verfassungsschutz. Who are these actors and how do these groupings operate? How can we as a society find a way of dealing with the freedom-endangering agenda of these groupings?
