I'm not following it closely, but having read their 19 points they seem completely reasonable - far more reasonable than the American far right, which could garner a lot more support in the US than Pegida seems to be able to in Germany.
Integration, control of immigration and being able to be selective tend to be good things. Implementing a system similar to Canada's is a good thing. From the distance of the US, it looks like Germany's leaders are worried about looking like Nazis and are being hypersensitive as a result. However, I readily admit that all I have read about Pegida is a few short articles here and there about the marches, and then I looked at their 19 point platform on the German version of Wikipedia.
Their points might sound reasonable but we're looking at wolves in sheep's clothing here. Many organizers have a far right background, some have criminal charges on their records. As soon as your rally attracts NPD, REP and AfD members, you're in trouble in my book. Any reasonable, kind-hearted old person who just walks with them because s/he is scared of extremists should have read up on who exactly they are teaming up with and feel ashamed of themselves.
The title all by itself is already stupid. "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West". WTF? No one is getting islamized. No reasonable person feels that way.
"They're all coming here because they get a great standard of living, better than many Germans." "They're stealing our jobs" "They're slowly turning this into their country". All these bullshit tag lines the far right have been using all these years show up here again and they could all be easily debunked by some reading. Sadly, especially in Eastern Germany, which apparently still doesn't feel entirely en par with the West, this nonsense lands on fertile soil.
There is zero tolerance for me on this side of the political spectrum. People wondered why we were so hypersensitive about this all these years and why kids still had to hear about Hitler's horrible acts all the time in school and now we know why. Because those guys are still around. The people who deny the holocaust, the guys who throw burning bottles at houses of asylum-seekers. The idiots who want their Germans to remain blond and blue eyed.
So the general Pegida followers who might have good intentions but are unknowingly and ignorantly siding with the devil here pretty much disgust me as much as the far right extremists, who are still few, thankfully.
It's also outrageous how they are using Charlie now to attract new followers, even using Je Suis Charlie banners as if they were ever on the same side! Thankfully, the cartoonists have nothing but contempt for them (see below).
You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.