Left-Extremist Endeavours

Security Endangering and Extremist Activities by
Foreigners
I. Overview
Internal security in the Federal Republic of Germany continued
also in 1999 to be endangered by supporters of politically extremist
and terrorist associations of foreigners. With their activities
in Germany, they reacted primarily to political developments
and current events in their respective countries of origin.
In addition to the ideological concepts of left and right-wing extremism,
also Islamism (Islamic fundamentalism) 160) has developed
into a challenge to the free democratic society in the Federal
Republic of Germany and in other West European countries with
a large Muslim population. The extremist-Islamic (Islamistic)
groups which are active on the territory of the Federal Republic
no longer only wish to replace the systems of government and
social systems existing in their home countries with an Islamistic
social system based on the Qur’an [Koran] and on the shari’a (Islamic
judicial system), but also increasingly to provide the conditions
for their supporters to enjoy their appropriate form of community
life also within the Federal Republic. According to Islamistic
tenets, the shari’a, i.e. the Koran and Sunnah (the traditional
social and legal practice of the early Muslims) and hadiths (the
record of the words, actions and approbations of the prophet
Muhammad) contained therein, a priori provides for an Islamic
social system covering all spheres of life, which is to be established
everywhere. On account of their divine origin, the sociopolitical
concepts of Islamism are assumed to be the only social
system which, in all aspects, fully corresponds to human nature.
After the decline of Communism and the failure, as perceived by
Islamists, of capitalism which is characterized by decadence and
immorality, Islamism, as a system ordained by God and as the
"third path", would continue its triumphant advance and establish
the "civilized" society craved for by all people, in which state rule
would no longer depend on man’s arbitrariness, but would emanate
exclusively from God. On account of their claim to absoluteness,
the notions of Islamists collide with the fundamental principles
of the free democratic basic order, such as the principle of
sovereignty of the people, the principle of majority rule, or the
right to education and a parliamentary opposition.
Islamistic political thinking also comprises a tactical attitude towards
the use-of-force issue. In the view of many Islamist theoreticians,
the "Jihad" (literally: war [with one’s inner self], holy
war), as an instrument for achieving the Islamistic social order,
includes all means helping their cause to triumph. Thus, the majority
of Islamistic groups from the Arabian region advocates the
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