Racist singing on Sylt: how significant is the incident?
A short video has triggered outrage in Germany: it shows young people partying and singing xenophobic slogans at the Pony Club, a popular bar on the island of Sylt. The island is a well-known holiday destination for Germany's rich and famous and the club has been attracting celebrities since the 1960s. Numerous politicians including Chancellor Olaf Scholz have condemned the incident. Commentators are divided over whether the scandal is being blown out of proportion.
Twice as bad as in Italy or France
These incidents are symptomatic of a wider reality, France Inter explains:
“According to a Europe-wide study, 76 percent of black respondents in Germany say they have experienced discrimination based on their skin colour in the past five years. ... This figure is constantly rising and shows that Germany is one of the European countries where racism is most prevalent. By comparison: in France - and even in Giorgia Meloni's Italy - this figure is only half as high. ... State elections will be held in Germany in September, and the AfD is expected to become the strongest party in the three eastern federal states concerned. The party may also make strong gains in the European elections. This would reaffirm the AfD's status as one of the leading parties in the German political landscape.”
Ideas now resonate across the social spectrum
For Handelsblatt, the general shock and dismay is evidence of a naïve misconception:
“The dangerous interpretation is often that the disadvantaged and marginalised are particularly susceptible to right-wing extremist ideas. Those who think this way relativise the misanthropy behind these positions and present them as a radical but logical reaction to certain living conditions. Non-white people and people with a history of migration should not be surprised that men wearing cashmere sweaters and women wearing gold earrings can also be racists. Because right-wing extremist ideas have become accepted across all social classes. The wave of indignation triggered by the incident must lead us all to discard our naivety when it comes to right-wing extremism.”
Such hysteria is unworthy of a modern state
This is all being blown out of proportion, the Kleine Zeitung writes:
“Official Germany has been overreacting for days now. Dozens of politicians, from the chancellor and the justice and interior ministers downwards, are blowing the incident up and turning it into a matter of state. The Criminal Police Office is investigating. Meanwhile the tabloids are ranting about the 'Nazi scandal of the Sylt snobs' and dragging those involved through the mud with their photos and names. A dragnet investigation is being launched on the Internet, with the controversial platform Correctiv calling for similar incidents to be reported. Under pressure from the street, some of those involved have lost their jobs and livelihoods. So it's excommunication instead of resocialisation. The Middle Ages instead of modern times.”