Joachim Paul, November 16, 2021, Moslem Call to Prayer in Cologne

AfD Kompakt, November 16, 2021.

The call of the muezzin is not comparable to bell ringing. The latter fulfills multiple functions and carries no dominant religious message signifying a superiority over other religions. Church bells belong to the German Leitkultur, the muezzin however do not. That Oberbürgermeister Reker reckoned the call of the muezzin to be a sign worthy of contemporary acceptance is evidence of a gross naiveté and credulity in the city leadership. The Moslem call to prayer in fact includes the disavowal There is no God but Allah, and thus at the same time a claim of absolute truth which is inappropriate in a public space. For most lay Moslems, who value the religious freedom and tolerance of the German majority society, the practice of their religion anyway does not depend on the call of the muezzin. In regards this project, many might shake their heads.

Beyond that, this project promotes an Islamist agenda. Thus Şahinarslan, the representative of the DITIB [Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs], speaks of a great step for the observance of Islam in Cologne – quite as if in the cathedral city there are no show mosques which were inaugurated by Erdogan in a lightning storm.

It is thus about power and dominance and the ingestion of public spaces. The space which Reker voluntarily guarantees will only too gladly be used by fundamentalists and functionaries of organizations and mosque communities which are pledged to a political Islam – thus like Erdogan represents it. And to just this movement, Reker opens spaces. And indeed to means and ways which endanger the integration and domestic security of our country. We flatly reject this so-called model project of an unrestrained, do-gooder city elite and demand a return to reason…

[trans: tem]

 

Joachim Paul, October 8, 2021, Global Minimum Tax

AfD Kompakt, October 8, 2021.

The global minimum tax shrinks to the lowest common denominator. It is fully in order to speak of a rotten compromise or a symbolic policy, since the global special business [Sonderwirtschaften] of “Big Tech” – especially, massive sales of data or the avoidance of tariffs as in the case of Amazon – is scarcely considered.

There remains: Digital concerns can continue to shift their profits to low tax countries even though they generate high revenues in Germany. Little Scholz’s global minimum tax will certainly not close the gap between local revenue and the systematic tax avoidance. The AfD therefore adheres to its demand to introduce a national digital tax providing for tax fairness.

 

[trans: tem]

 

 

 

Joachim Paul, April 14, 2021, Broadcasting Reform

AfD Kompakt, April 14, 2021

I am very happy that the majority of the delegates have followed our motion and that the demand for a slimmed down home broadcasting, the “Grundfunk”, is now a part of our Bundestag election program. It is high time for a durable structural reform of public broadcasting [Öffentilich-Rechtlichen]. The introduction of a Grundfunk would mean not only the complete withdrawal from the forced contributions but, by means of sharpening the programs, would make ARD, ZDF Co. into a show window of the regions – more documentation, education and culture – more Heimat. Concretely, that means: There will be maintained or constructed regional studios in which the broadcasters [Sender] will no longer take part in the bidding competition for expensive sports rights.

The Grundfunk would much better expand the media landscape because it would concentrate on what the profit-oriented private firms cannot or will not carry. For that, many billions would no longer be required in the future. The AfD wants to cut the volume of financing by up to 90%. According to the Grundfunk model, the financing shall proceed from a levy which large media concerns offering audio-visual media have to pay. It is then possible for them to offer Grundfunk format on their platforms after a first showing. According to our concepts, the control of the broadcaster will be exercised by means of an elected viewer parliament and an independent experts council.  

The AfD is the only party which for years is consistently committed to a structural reform of public broadcasting and one which itself has developed a logical reform model which stands on a sensible basic service – and at the same time redeems the promises of a complete abolition of the broadcasting contribution. The Grundfunk – I am sure – will surely be spoken of in the course of the election campaign and decisively shape the debate over the future of the billions of public broadcasting in the digital age.

 

[trans: tem]