Germany’s immigration issue

For several weeks there has been a heated debate going on in Germany on the issue of immigration and the integration of migrants into German society.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) controversially declared that Germany’s attempt to create a multicultural society had ‘utterly failed’. Other conservative politicians argue in favour of closing the borders to migrants from “alien cultures”, such as Turkey and the Middle East.

Politicians and commentators of all shades on the political spectrum scream for a stricter regulation of immigration.  The need to find new ways to quantify the extent to which migrants are integrated into society is being widely discussed.

What’s happening in Germany at the moment? In reality, Germany was never a country that has welcomed migrants with open arms. German politics was always driven by prejudices and low expectations against migrants. Despite the fact that today more than 20% of the German population are migrants, or descended from migrants – think for example of the makeup of the inspiring German football team at the last World Cup – not many years ago Germany had an atavistic citizenship law dating back to the time of the Kaiser, which made it nearly impossible for immigrants to get a German passport. Even though this has now changed for the better, there are still many politicians who deny the fact that Germany is a country which benefits from its migrant population.

In general the immigration issue has become linked to almost all the other major debates in Germany today, from education to crime and the question of economic growth. It is increasingly perceived as a problem, with commentators pointing to the poor performance of immigrant children in German schools and studies showing rising unemployment rates amongst young people of certain ethnic origins.

Since the publication in August of the polemical book Deutschland Schafft Sich Ab (‘Germany is Doing Away With Itself’) by Thilo Sarrazin, the board member of Germany’s Bundesbank and former finance minister, the tone is even tougher. With his misanthropic and pessimistic claims that migrants are “Islamifying” and “dumbing-down” Germany, the 65-year-old Social Democrat Sarrazin provoked a fierce debate. Although he was strongly criticized by a majority of the political elites and the media (not least for damaging Germany’s international image), Sarrazin found strong support in German society.

However, long before Sarrazin entered the stage, the immigration debate in Germany was highly regulated and laden with taboos. Because of this, Sarrazin’s scaremongering appears to many people as a refreshing break from the consensus of political correctness. Therefore Chancellor Merkel’s statement about the failure of multiculturalism should also be seen as a reaction to Sarrazin’s popularity. For many years she also represents this consensus and was not willing to deal constructive with the issue of immigration.

In itself, it’s not a bad thing that Merkel declared the failure of multiculturalism, which – after all – is an ideology which places emphasis on the difference of people rather then what they have in common. The advocates of multiculturalism never pleaded for a truly open Germany and certainly never propagated equal rights for everyone. Rather, multiculturalism was used to diffuse anger created by immigration by celebrating cultural differences – thus placing division rather than equality at the centre of its ideology. That is, different peoples should have the right to express their identities, explore their own histories, formulate their own values, and pursue their own lifestyles.

However what would a more positive, new vision of immigration look like, which replaces the old consensus? Can a case be made for immigration and freedom of movement in its own terms, given the contemporary climate of debate? Is immigration always a matter of weighing economic and cultural benefits against the costs? Should supporters of immigration argue for open borders and freedom of movement, or treat immigration on a case-by-case basis? Is there a risk that arguments in favour of immigration involve unfairly labelling critics as simply racist?

Throughout October and November, The Independent Online is partnering with the Battle of Ideas festival to present a series of guest blogs from festival speakers on the key questions of our time.

Johannes Richardt is head of PR and communications for the German magazine NovoArgumente. He is chairing the Battle Satellite event “Immigration: the more the merrier” in Berlin, Germany on Thursday 11 November.

Picture:EPA

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