“Those people who ate with me, drank, danced, laughed – they talk about me as ‘stupid German whore’”

“Those people who ate with me, drank, danced, laughed – they talk about me as ‘stupid German whore’”

The following is a documentation of an interview with the German artist, activist for the rights of indigenous peoples, and UN advisor Rebecca Sommer, by the Polish website EuroIslam from January 18, 2018. Rebecca used to support Muslim “refugees” in Germany, and describes how her experience made her gradually change her mind over core issues. It is a long text but well worth the read. Please note that there is currently a mistranslation circulating, claiming that she said to she was moving to Poland. This is inaccurate; she said she knows Germans who are moving to Poland.

Natalia Osten-Sacken: Rebecca, you’ve worked many years with refugees and immigrants, you’re a well-known human rights activist. Already before the big wave of immigration in 2015, you were well known for fighting for unlimited admission of these people to Germany. What influenced the change of your views?Rebecca Sommer: I would like to point out that I have never fought for “unlimited” admission of migrants, because it is impossible for any country to adopt infinitely. I am a humanist and human rights activist. The first years I believed that people who come here are real refugees, happy that they will be safe now and that they will show a good faith in order to adapt here and to integrate. But with time, an unpleasant awakening came about step by step. The reasons for this were so complex that I just couldn’t ignore it anymore.I believed that these medieval views would change over time. I placed great trust in our libertarian, equitable European values, and I naively thought that every person must delight in them and take them on.For sure, one of the main turning points, as in many of us, was New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne. Then I finally had to admit to myself that this type of behavior describes the overwhelming majority of Muslims with whom I had to deal with in my life. It was the moment when I said to myself: “Rebecca, now you have to slow down, at least because you are women’s rights activist, with your responsibility to them as a woman.” I have tried to justify these constantly repeated patterns of behavior and thinking, their way of perceiving the world – which are based on their religion, Islam, and their culture – for example, in such a way that they are new here. I believed that these medieval views would change over time. I placed great trust in our libertarian, equitable European values, and I naively thought that every person must delight in them and take them on.But after looking back through the years of repetitive experiences and myself in my work environment as a volunteer, I had to admit to myself that when it comes to Muslim Continue Reading →