Re: Migrant ghettos anger Germany
- From: "Jim Higgins" <gordian238@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:36:05 -0400
"Sordo" <sordo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4bkguiF11r7ciU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Migrant ghettos anger Germany
Matthew Campbell in Berlin
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2157935,00.html
A TALL woman of 36 with long, dark hair, Greta Sommer dreads going to
work each day at the Rütli school in Berlin where she teaches English.
The only English words that her unruly pupils seem prepared to remember
are obscenities that they shout out during class.
During a break on Wednesday she admitted: ?I?m not sure how much longer
I can go on.
?They turn up without pens or books,? she added of her pupils, most of
them the children of immigrants from Turkey or the Arab world. ?They
fight, they set off fireworks, they kick in doors. There?s no point in
trying to teach. If you hang up a poster, they tear it down.?
Her fellow teachers ? all native Germans ? feel the same way and have
begged the government to close the Rütli school. ?We?re completely
exhausted,? they wrote in an open letter. ?More teachers are off sick
than students. This is a sign of unbearable pressure.?
Their plight has pushed the subject of Germany?s immigrant community to
the top of the political agenda.
Government officials argue that Germany must absorb its immigrants
rather than isolate them in ghettos where they may fall prey to Islamic
fundamentalist groups. ?The government sees it as a security issue,?
said Tanja Wunderlich, an immigration researcher for the German Marshall
Fund think tank.
Although there is widespread agreement on the need for more integration,
opinion is divided on how to bring it about.
Angela Merkel, the chancellor, has convened an ?integration summit? for
this summer. On the agenda is whether the ?naturalisation tests? being
pioneered by two German states should be adopted nationwide.
An exam for immigrants in Hesse has prompted accusations that it is
hostile to Muslims. The test includes questions such as: ?In your eyes,
were the perpetrators of 9/11 and the 2004 Madrid attacks terrorists or
freedom fighters?? Ercan Yasaroglu, a sociologist who came to Germany
from Turkey as a political refugee, said the tests were a mistake.
?Immigrants who are trying to fit in feel knocked out,? he said. ?They
think that this country doesn?t want them.?
The same charge has been made against the Netherlands, which raised
eyebrows by encouraging would-be immigrants to watch a video about Dutch
society that included homosexual men kissing and a topless woman. In
France, Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister, last week invited those
who were ?uncomfortable? living there ?not to feel uncomfortable about
leaving?.
On the surface, Germany might seem to have less of a problem than
France, where immigrant suburbs were set ablaze in rioting last year, or
the Netherlands, where a film maker critical of Islam was slaughtered in
the street. During the uproar over Danish cartoons depicting the prophet
Muhammad, Germany, with its immigrant population of 6.7m, was a haven of
peace.
However, awareness is growing that the problem in Germany can only get
bigger. Few politicians dare to utter the truth that the country needs
more, rather than fewer, immigrants. This is because Germany has one of
the lowest birth rates in the world.
Even if the annual influx were to double to 200,000, the population
would still shrink by 8.5% by 2050.
The country is struggling to integrate the immigrants already there. The
children and grandchildren of 1960s ?guest workers? often speak little
German and have limited chances of finding a job. Unemployment among
immigrants is 26%. Their chances of discovering a role model are just as
remote. ?School for them,? said Petra Eggebrecht, former director of the
Rütli school, ?is simply a place to fight for peer recognition, where
young criminals become idols.?
Young people are also easy targets for Islamist organisations. Outside
the Rütli school last week there was something defiant about the way the
children greeted visitors, not in English or German, but in Arabic.
Some states have taken measures into their own hands. North
Rhine-Westphalia has appointed an integration minister; Hesse and
Baden-Württemberg plan the naturalisation tests.
As for the Rütli school, some are advocating punishment for
troublemakers, including stints in special boarding schools to give them
a taste of prison.
Sommer, who has applied for a transfer, would rather see the place shut
down. ?If I don?t leave soon, I?ll have a nervous breakdown,? she said.
?I can?t wait to get out of here.?
Similar lack of assimilation problem. Previous immigrants, the legal folks
that came in the front door, crossed a wide ocean and a considerable
distance from their former countries and eventually assimilated. The
Mexicans Enemy Aliens are right next door to their previous country and I
would question their loyalty and commitment to this country if *another*
amnesty were laid on us.
.
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