This text is part of the quarterly research results 1 ’23
From large demonstrations to book burning.
Rond 2015 there was a lot of unrest and fear in Western Europe about large numbers of refugees, who came to Europe from the Syrian Civil War. That fear and unrest were reinforced by a number of large and deadly attacks by IS supporters in France, among others, Belgium and Germany. In this atmosphere, an organization sprang up in Germany to oppose what they saw as the demise of the West through migration and the growing influence of Islam. The organisatie noemde zich 'Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West', abbreviated Pegida.
This movement quickly became a great success in Germany. Weekly demonstrations attracted tens of thousands of supporters. One of them was a Dutchman living in Germany, Edwin Wagensveld (1968). He soon belonged to the core of Pegida in Germany and regularly spoke at Pegida demonstrations. In oktober 2015 Wagensveld also launched one Pegida in Nederland. And that was initially a relative success. On Pegida demonstrations 2015 en 2016 dozens and in some cases hundreds of demonstrators turned up. It was striking that many Pegida supporters had no history with other extreme right-wing movements. In addition, the movement, by a narrow focus on an anti-Islam message, not seen by many as extremist. Not even by many authorities.
However, that situation did not last long. Then from the summer of 2016 after the Turkey deal, the number of refugees dropped drastically, the numbers of activists at Pegida actions decreased rapidly. At the same time, Pegida itself also experienced a number of developments. The message was broadened: not just Islam, but all migrants became a problem. In addition, Pegida also began to take over more and more other themes from the extreme right domain. Furthermore, the organizational core also quickly became smaller, because there were regular quarrels around founder Edwin Wagensveld.
Despite the ever-decreasing visibility and clout, still be of political importance, Pegida increasingly organized actions that caused unrest and commotion. That's how the organization tried, despite almost no supporters of the movement taking to the streets anymore, still make the news. After horrific images of terror attacks and IS murders were first shown in front of mosques and then barbecues with pork were organized a number of times for various mosques, has become the most recent step on this attention-grabbing escalation ladder to destroy the Qur'an.
And now Wagensveld is doing that more or less alone. That image looks like this. From his home in Central Germany, Wagensveld announces to a Dutch municipality that he wants to hold a demonstration against Islam and burn or tear up a Koran. Wagensveld states that book burning falls under Freedom of Speech. Then there are two options: When Wagensveld does not get permission, or not getting permission to burn a book, he usually comes from Germany anyway and allows himself to be arrested. When he does get permission, he also comes from Germany and destroys one or more Korans. As mentioned, he is usually alone here, but in the company of a political friend, a German living in Sassenheim. He captures everything on video and places it on the social media channels of Pegida / Wagensveld
And that means that the action is always a success in the eyes of Wagensveld. Want, even though he is alone, the shock effect does its job and finds its way to the digital following and occasionally also to the mainstream media. And also the unrest, commotion and opposition is always embraced by Wagensveld with jubilation. When his demonstrations are banned or when he is arrested, he presents it as a curtailment of freedom of expression by a hostile government. When counter-demonstrators respond to his provocations, he shouts that it is a restriction of freedom or as proof of Islamic influence in the Netherlands. The unrest surrounding the destruction of Korans even extended beyond the country borders and earned Wagensveld a place on the Iranian sanctions list. But that made little impression:
