Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, abbreviated Pegida, is a pan-European, anti-Islam, far-right extremist political movement. German Pegida believes that Germany is being increasingly Islamicised and defines itself in opposition to Islamic extremism.
Pegida demonstration on 12 January 2015 after the Charlie Hebdo shooting
Pegida demonstration on 25 January 2015
Pegida keynote speaker Akif Pirinçci, who has been charged with incitement to hatred
"Putin, hilf uns, rette uns!" ("Putin, help us, save us!") and other slogans on signs and banners
Counter-jihad, also known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and so on linked by beliefs that view Islam not as a religion but as an ideology that constitutes an existential threat to Western civilization. Consequently, counter-jihadists consider all Muslims as a potential threat, especially when they are already living within Western boundaries. Western Muslims accordingly are portrayed as a "fifth column", collectively seeking to destabilize Western nations' identity and values for the benefit of an international Islamic movement intent on the establishment of a caliphate in Western countries. The counter-jihad movement has been variously described as anti-Islamic, Islamophobic, inciting hatred against Muslims, and far-right. Influential figures in the movement include the bloggers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer in the US, and Geert Wilders and Tommy Robinson in Europe.
Robert Spencer, author and editor of the central counter-jihad blog Jihad Watch
Pamela Geller, a central figure of the movement in the US
Geert Wilders, a key figure for the movement in Europe
English Defence League rally in Newcastle, UK, 2010