Reaction to CSD attack: Don't forget prevention

Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt has held back. Or probably more precisely: He was probably held back by SPD Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig. In any case, the 10-point program against Islamism that the two presented on Wednesday and which was subsequently approved by the cabinet is surprisingly sensible.

This is not a given when you consider how Dobrindt's Union colleagues behaved immediately after the attack on the Berlin CSD. For example, they wanted to generally exempt dangerous offenders from suspended sentences and always have them sentenced according to adult criminal law, even if they are adolescents under the age of 21. The CDU's top candidate in Saxony-Anhalt at the time, Sven Schulze, even suggested that perpetrators with German citizenship should also be deported.

The fact that such aberrations are now fortunately absent from the 10 points does not mean that one cannot argue about the ideas contained therein. For example, it is a fundamentally repressive approach that Dobrindt and Hubig rely on; it is primarily about tightening punishments and monitoring. This is not wrong per se. If the aim is to dry up the financing networks of Islamist organizations or to combat their propaganda online, government toughness is actually a good idea.

The taz is an independent, left-wing and opinionated daily newspaper. We have been arguing in our comments, essays and debate texts since the taz was founded in 1979. We often cannot and do not want to agree on an opinion. That's why you'll find some completely opposing positions here - all part of the very broad left-wing spectrum of opinions.

The problem is that Dobrindt and Hubig stop there and prevention offers only appear marginally in the plan. It only vaguely says that they want to strengthen such projects. But there are no concrete promises for funding.

Prevention and de-radicalization programs have the potential to address problems in a much more fundamental way than police and public prosecutors ever could. It is obviously better to prevent radicalization in advance than to intervene only after an attack has already been committed.

That doesn't make the 10-point plan a wrong project. But an incomplete one.