German Politicians Tapping Xenophobic Sentiment

Germans are wrestling with immigration again, and leaders are speaking out against the nation’s foreign resident woes, Charles Hawley writes for Spiegel Online.

Hawley, a pro-immigration voice in Berlin, appears somewhat startled at the rising tide of “xenophobic rhetoric” which “underscores decades of foreigner bashing by the country’s politicians.” The debate has most recently been prompted by the assault of an elderly German man in Munich by a 20-year-old German-born Turk and a teenage Greek immigrant.

Roland Koch, a conservative Christian Democrat campaigning for re-election as governor of Hesse, has appealed to German voters wary of immigration’s negative effects, saying that Germany has “too many criminal young foreigners” and that it is “not a country of immigration” like Canada or Australia.

Koch subscribes to the concept of “Leitkultur” (“leading culture”), a view in staunch opposition to modern multiculturalism.

A 2006 Bielefeld University study found that 59.4 percent of Germans “agree” or “strongly agree” that too many foreigners live in Germany. More than 35 percent said foreigners should be deported if there were a job shortage.

On the other side, another study by the University of Hamburg shows that 44 percent of German Muslims think they will enter paradise if they die defending their religion, and 40 percent would justify the use of violence if Islam is being threatened by the West. One in three stated anti-Semitic or anti-Christian views, according to Deutsche Welle. In response to German concerns about increasing mosque-building, German Muslims have vowed to double the number of mosques in the country.

The friction has given rise to Germany’s first anti-Islam political party and numerous bills designed to combat Islamist terrorism, and the country has cracked down on Muslims in the past few years.

Continue to watch for Germans to resent the Islamic dissolution of their culture, and for the sentiment to ultimately contribute to open conflict with Muslims. For more on this subject, read “Germany: Clash of Civilizations Already Underway.”