No Closure for the Fahd Academy
At a recent press conference in Cologne it was announced that the King Fahd Academy in Bonn will not be closed after various entities demanded it be shut down. Peter Philipp of the Deutsche Welle provided this commentary.
Germany is among the countries that have become more conscious of terrorist threats since September 11, 2001. All the more so because some of the terrorists had been living inconspicuously in Germany. The fact that they moved in Moslem circles aroused no suspicion – after all, ours is a tolerant society. It was and remains “politically correct” not to suspect and investigate everyone and everything connected with Islam. After all, Germany is home to 3.2 million Moslems. Most of them are upstanding citizens – laborers, businessmen, refugees.
But on the other hand, some of the terrorists of September 11 had lived in Hamburg. And there is also the self-proclaimed “Caliph of Cologne”, who has issued threats and calls to violence. And then there is an Arabic school on the outskirts of Bonn that has become the focus of some attention in the past few weeks.
An international meeting place
The “King Fahd Academy” was officially opened eight years ago – for Germans, a place for encounter and dialogue; for its Saudi-Arabian sponsors, a new school designed to impart the “right” message to Arab children overseas, like similar academies already operating in London, Washington and Moscow. After the German government moved from Bonn to Berlin, an increasing number of the academy’s students were permanent residents of Germany, some with and some without a German passport. All of them, however, were children of school age and thus required by German law to attend an accredited school as opposed to an “supplemental school” subject merely to informal governmental oversight and using lesson plans not approved by German authorities.
In the case at hand, the curriculum was set by the Saudis, with a generous helping of classes in Arabic and the Koran but only one or two hours of German per week. This is comparable to German schools overseas, which teach a German curriculum. But when news of the academy’s curriculum became public, the German media decried it as “not conducive to integration”. And the media “exposed” what seemed obvious: That the academy, the only one of its kind in Germany, had attracted primarily conservative Arab families. Among them – some media outlets insinuated – were people who had already been the subject of investigations into Islamist groups.
Calls for closure
The situation escalated. The local newspaper demanded the school be “shut down”; the (Syrian) head of the somewhat notorious “Fact Party”, Jamal Karsli, was said to have organized and misused a demonstration by the students’ parents. He was said to have accused Germany of persecuting and oppressing Moslems. Others called on regional educational authorities to close the school.
Fortunately, they have since held a press conference in Cologne to clarify the issue. German authorities will not force the school to close. However, the students who are required by German law to attend school will be required to attend German schools, just as Turkish children are. In fact, nearly all German schools offer Koran instruction. Radical tendencies in school classes – whether they are sponsored by Germans or Saudis – will not be tolerated. This does not mean, however, that state security forces will be present in class or in religious services.
Saudis may close the academy themselves
Up to now – and this should give pause to outraged rabble-rousers – the academy has not been investigated by state security. The situation involved an unfortunate combination of various factors: of all-too-tolerant authorities turning a blind eye, of parental groups “wangling their way through”, of overzealous journalistic endeavors and of political demagogues seeking to garner populist support.
Some of the problems could have been avoided by reacting more quickly. And it will probably not even be necessary to close down the school: The Saudis may take this step themselves one day. Because the academy is becoming too expensive to maintain for the small number of remaining “legitimate” students.
Peter Philipp
© Deutsche Welle 2003
Translation from German: Mark Rossman