Last Sunday, March 15th, was Berlin’s first “Day of Action and Commemoration against Islamophobia”—an event the city’s senate claimed was intended to strengthen “diversity and social cohesion.” It might better be described as a ‘day of intimidation’ (…)—designed to discredit critics of mass migration from Muslim countries as racists (…) Some of the sharpest critics of the day were Muslims themselves. Among the speakers at a protest organised by the feminist group Frauenheldinnen was Seyran Ateş, a lawyer, feminist and Muslim whose long-standing criticism of political Islam has made her the target of death threats and fatwas, requiring constant police protection. Like her fellow speakers, she deplored the suppression of free speech, arguing that the very concept of “anti-Muslim racism” was an insult to her intelligence—Islam, after all, is a religion, not a race.
Sabine Beppler-Spahl, 20. März 2026