David Crossland, Editor of SpiegelOnline, Gives His Views on Integration
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Germany is doing a bad job of integrating its immigrants, argues SPIEGEL ONLINE editor David Crossland, who was born in Bonn to English parents. He argues that rather than rail against "criminal young foreigners," the country ought to be doing more to welcome its minorities. They are, after all, here to stay.

"Germany is not a country of immigration," Roland Koch said this month as he sought to revive his campaign for a third term as governor of the western state of Hesse by calling for a crackdown on "criminal young foreigners."

The statement, borrowed from former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, is untrue. Some 15 million people, or just under a fifth of the German population, have an immigrant background. The real message is: "We don't want Germany to be a country of immigration."

"Foreigners" -- they're often called that here even if they and their parents were born here -- get that message loud and clear in their everyday lives. That steely look of disapproval in shops when a customer expresses an enquiry in accented or broken German. The difficulty of finding an apartment to rent if your surname isn't Müller.

Just speaking English can get you into trouble on a Berlin S-Bahn train. A number of youths, presumably of far-right persuasion, glared at me during a recent ride through the east of the city. One muttered "piece of shit," while another shouted "nigger!" before rushing out -- and I'm white.

I'd hate to be living here if I had brown or black skin. Statistics on racist assaults prove that parts of eastern Germany are no-go zones for ethnic minorities. Germany’s Homegrown Intolerance >>> By David Crossland

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

”Wer sich als Ausländer nicht an unsere Regeln hält, ist hier fehl am Platze”, so Ministerpräsident Roland Koch
DIE PRESSE: Der hessische Ministerpräsident Roland Koch kritisiert "multi-kulturelle Verblendung". Er fordert: "Wir müssen Schluss machen mit bestimmten Lebenslügen".

Nach dem brutalen Überfall auf einen Pensionisten in der Münchner U-Bahn hat sich der hessische Ministerpräsident Roland Koch (CDU) besorgt über die Kriminalität von jungen Ausländern in Deutschland geäußert. "Wir haben zu viele kriminelle junge Ausländer", sagte Koch in einem Interview mit der "Bild"-Zeitung (Freitag-Ausgabe).

"Multi-kulturelle Verblendung"

Zugleich machte der CDU-Politiker eine seiner Ansicht nach verfehlte Integrationspolitik mitverantwortlich für Gewaltausbrüche jugendlicher Ausländer. "Null Toleranz gegen Gewalt muss ganz früh beginnen und Bestandteil unserer Integrationspolitik sein", sagte Koch gegenüber der Zeitung. Bis vor kurzem seien "in multi-kultureller Verblendung" Verhaltensweisen toleriert worden, die inzwischen zu hoch explosiven Gruppen-Aggressionen führen könnten.

"Wir müssen Schluss machen mit bestimmten Lebenslügen. Die deutsche Position in der Integrationspolitik war lange leider nicht klar genug", erklärte Koch. Deutschland: "Wir haben zu viele kriminelle junge Ausländer" >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Tough Love in Amsterdam
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: For one Amsterdam mayor, the Netherlands' famous tolerance has gone too far. Morrocan-born Ahmed Marcouch is taking the tough cop approach in a rough Amsterdam neighborhood, pushing his fellow immigrants to integrate. But some consider him a traitor.

A street festival is in full swing in Amsterdam's Slotervaart neighborhood. The occasion is the dedication of a new community center for Christians and Muslims designed to foster interaction between the two groups.

As the crowd listens to music, munches on fish snacks and Arab pastries and drinks fruit juice, Ahmed Marcouch, the district's 38-year-old mayor, holds a speech. He talks about progress and mutual understanding between different ethnic communities. At the end of his talk, Marcouch poses for pictures with an attractive young woman wearing a headscarf.

The festival and the speech are nice gestures, but atypical. Normally life in Slotervaart isn't nearly as convivial as the speakers paint it. Crime and unemployment are significantly higher than the national average, and one in three of the neighborhood's young people are high-school dropouts.

Ahmed Marcouch grew up in this environment, but he has since made a better life for himself. He was illiterate when he came to the Netherlands from Morocco at the age of 10, but he was lucky enough to encounter a teacher at a progressive Montessori school who helped him get on track. Moroccan-Born Mayor Dispenses Tough Love to Immigrants (more) By Erich Wiedemann

Mark Alexander

Integration of Turks into German Society High on the Agenda
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Four groups representing Germany's Turkish population have refused to take part in Angela Merkel's integration summit being held Thursday. German commentators are divided over whether the groups have a point or whether they are just proving that Turks in Germany don't want to integrate.

The boycott by four major organizations representing the Turkish community in Germany of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's much-vaunted integration summit (more...) threatened to overshadow the event as it took shape on Thursday.

Their main bone of contention is a new immigration law which contains measures they consider discriminatory -- for example, a stipulation that future spouses can only come to Germany if they can prove knowledge of German, a rule that does not apply to Americans, Japanese or European Union citizens and seems to have been created with Turks in mind. "That is discrimination," said Kenan Kolat, chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) organization.

He announced Wednesday that his group would not be taking part in the summit. "We have determined that it makes no sense to participate because the government has not understood the seriousness of our concerns and doesn't appear to be willing to seriously discuss possible changes to the immigration law," Kolat told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Three other major Turkish organizations also said they were boycotting the summit -- which will still go ahead as planned.

The refusal to participate was criticized in some quarters. "You don't solve problems by staying away, but rather by speaking to each other," commented Maria Böhmer, Merkel's commissioner for integration. Observers suggested that the federations had shot themselves in the foot by refusing to participate, and that they were lending weight to the view that immigrants do not want to integrate. Immigration Law 'Hits Turks Below the Belt' (more)

Mark Alexander

Limiting Immigration: Tearing Up the Race Card. “Integration” and “Cohesion” Are Back in Vogue. But Still No Mention of Islam and Shari’ah
THE SUNDAY TIMES: For years the baleful shade of Enoch Powell silenced debate about immigration numbers, however rational. Playing the numbers game, as it was called, was always associated with the even more shameful misdemeanour of playing the race card.

As recently as November 2003, David Blunkett as home secretary blithely announced that he could not see the need for a limit on immigrants, nor did he think there was a maximum number of people that could be housed in this country.

This astonishingly silly comment passed almost without protest; it was expressing the unthinking orthodoxy of the day. It was fortunate perhaps that Blunkett and the government believed that numbers didn’t matter, since they hadn’t the slightest idea what the numbers were.

The director of enforcement and removals at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate admitted last year that he had not “the faintest idea” how many illegal immigrants were living here. Not only has the government lost control of this country’s boundaries; until recently it didn’t think that mattered.

How quickly things change in politics. Now even the most right-on Labour figures are playing the numbers game, with the race card up their sleeves. Last month Margaret “Enver” Hodge appeared to be doing just that with her announcement that indigenous people in her constituency of Barking felt justly aggrieved that they could not get council housing, while recent immigrants could. They had indeed “a legitimate sense of entitlement” that should not be overridden by new immigrants. The wind was clearly changing. Should we limit immigrants to Europeans? (more) By Minette Marrin

Mark Alexander

In Deutschland hoffen manche Politiker auf die Verwirklichung eines “deutschen Islams”. Die Deutschen selber dürfen lange Zeit nur hoffen darauf!

Photo courtesy of Google Images

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Erst ganz allmählich hat sich in der deutschen Politik die Erkenntnis durchgesetzt, dass die meisten der sechs Millionen „Gastarbeiter“, die seit Mitte der fünfziger Jahren ins Land gekommen sind, hier bleiben werden. Die Rückkehr in die geliebte Heimat blieb für viele Einwanderer ein Traum, der zur Wirklichkeit immer weniger passte. Heute trifft man auf dem Kreuzberger Wochenmarkt türkische Mütterchen, die seit vierzig Jahren in Deutschland leben und noch nicht einmal das Wort „Tomate“ kennen. Viele ältere Männer sprechen Deutsch in gestotterten Substantiven. Für etwa 25.000 junge Türken werden in jedem Jahr angeblich unverdorbene Bräute aus dem Heimatland importiert.

Zwei Irrtümer prägten zwanzig Jahre lang die Debatte: Deutschland sei „kein Einwanderungsland“ lautete die konservative Überzeugung. Als Zeichen von Buntheit und Vielfalt (“Multikulti“) interpretierten Linke Integrationsversäumnisse und Wirklichkeitsverweigerung der Einwanderer. Beide Seiten fochten - letztlich ohne nennenswertes Ergebnis - ideologische Streitereien aus. Wirklichkeit überwindet Wunschdenken Von Peter Carstens

Mark Alexander