In 1945, the world looked on with feigned disbelief and incredulity as the emaciated bodies, mass graves and charred remains bore witness to the inhumanity of man and the horrifying extent of the Nazi’s ‘final solution’. Yet for all its posturing, the world had willingly ignored the warning signs.
From as early as 1933, the Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda campaign was in full swing. Articles denouncing Jewish immigration and integration, calls for Jewish expulsion, questions on citizenship and conspiracy theories abounded.
An essential part of this campaign were cartoons and caricatures, disseminated throughout the print media with the sole purpose of desensitising and preparing the public for the coming genocide, a torturous affair that would see hundreds and thousands of Jewish men, women and children murdered for simply being Jewish.
Is there any correlation between the early Nazi propaganda campaign and the treatment of Muslims and Islam under the guise of western ‘free speech’ today? I think there is.
The Danish cartoon controversy was the first of many incidents that brought Islam and Muslims to the fore. The offensive nature of the cartoons was protested worldwide by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and debates about free speech were widespread, yet the question of what and how these cartoons affected ordinary Muslims and the non-Muslim perception of us was left unanswered.
Thereafter and since this very public offence, many others have followed. Caricatures denouncing Muslims as would-be terrorists, backward, misogynistic and hateful, have filled newspapers, web sites and discussion boards.
More recently, the Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders – who this week was granted an audience in the UK (among lords and peers, no less) to disseminate his hate and vitriol – has produced his film Fitna, a movie that has as its precedent the ignominious anti-Semitic Eternal Jew. That nasty propaganda film mixed fact and fiction, distorted Jewish belief to ‘prove’ points and generally painted Judaism as a disease. It contrasted alleged German superiority with perceived Judaic backwardness. Today, with his own film, Wilders is simply substituting Muslims for Goebbel’s Jew.
Such arguments have been the mainstay of Wilders’ anti-Muslim campaign, painting the actions of a few as the sin of the many. He has surpassed the achievements of his Nazi ideologues in that his message has reached far beyond the borders of The Netherlands and into the homes of gullible, impressionable and largely uninformed individuals. The Hitler Youth of tomorrow are being groomed for their purpose.
One of the most startling and disturbing effects of this desensitising and dehumanising propaganda has been the apparent rise of the English Defence League. Widely considered a far-right fascist group, it has spread mayhem, disorder and societal discord in many of the UKs major towns and cities. Indeed, the BNP – another anti-Muslim party – has too rode on the crest of this anti-Islamic sentiment, and now boasts members in the European parliament.
We said we would never allow the atrocities of Nazi Germany to manifest themselves again, yet the warning signs are once again being ignored. When will we ever learn?
Liam Egan is South East branch manager with MPACIE (Muslim Public Affairs Committee Ireland)
