A wave of demonstrations attacking Islam has swept across Germany for more than two months. Led by a group called Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA), they have touched on issues that are like raw and exposed nerves in German political life: immigration, economic insecurity, the loss of local and national identity and the political alienation of wide sections of the working and lower middle classes. Smug protestors proudly expose mainstream politicians by playing up common fears of people from unknown cultures. Counter-demonstrations have been smaller and more youthful.

Anti-Islamic paranoia is fuelled by Internet videos of Islamic State fighters cutting off the heads of Westerners. The protestors share a sentiment that the indigenous "little man and woman" has been left behind by politics, the state and the economy; at the same time, economic refugees and asylum seekers are accused of "abusing" the German legislative framework to remain in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

It is true that with 109,000 asylum seekers in 2013, Germany took in the highest number of refugees in Europe. However, this figure was three times higher in 1992. For every 10,000 German inhabitants, only two asylum seekers have their application granted. In the Eastern region of Sachsen - whose capital, Dresden, is the main focus of the protests - foreigners form only 2 percent of the population, and only 1 in 1000 are Muslims. The fear of "Islamization" is being exploited to bolster right-wing German nationalism. The "little person" waves the national flag and rails against the government and politicians. Their angst often expresses the fear of the dissolution of identity and the rise of "cosmopolitanism degeneration," that they believe has conquered major German cities like Berlin and Frankfurt.

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