Germany's 'failed' multiculturalism carries on regardless | World news. One in five people living in Germany now comes from an immigrant background, according to figures released on Thursday. They show that the minority community grew by more than 1.3% last year at a time when the overall population is falling. Figures from the German Federal Statistical Office show that the number of people with immigrant backgrounds living in Germany increased by 216,000 from 2010 to 2011. Multiculturalism has been a fiercely controversial topic in Germany in recent years, engendering vigorous debate over the integration of immigrants, many of whom moved to the country in the 1960s as guest workers from Turkey. There are now 16 million people with an immigrant background living in Germany – 19.5% of the country's population. Although Germans have discovered a greater affinity with their minority communities thanks to the exploits of football stars such as Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira, there have been a growing number of voices challenging the value of multiculturalism.
StGB - Strafgesetzbuch. (1) Wer eine Vereinigung gründet, deren Zwecke oder deren Tätigkeit darauf gerichtet sind, Mord (§ 211) oder Totschlag (§ 212) oder Völkermord (§ 6 des Völkerstrafgesetzbuches) oder Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit (§ 7 des Völkerstrafgesetzbuches) oder Kriegsverbrechen (§§ 8, 9, 10, 11 oder § 12 des Völkerstrafgesetzbuches) oder Straftaten gegen die persönliche Freiheit in den Fällen des § 239a oder des § 239b (weggefallen) zu begehen, oder wer sich an einer solchen Vereinigung als Mitglied beteiligt, wird mit Freiheitsstrafe von einem Jahr bis zu zehn Jahren bestraft. (2) Ebenso wird bestraft, wer eine Vereinigung gründet, deren Zwecke oder deren Tätigkeit darauf gerichtet sind, einem anderen Menschen schwere körperliche oder seelische Schäden, insbesondere der in § 226 bezeichneten Art, zuzufügen, Straftaten gegen die Umwelt in den Fällen des § 330a Abs. 1 bis 3, Straftaten nach § 51 Abs. 1 bis 3 des Waffengesetzes (7) § 129 Abs. 6 gilt entsprechend.
Achtung! It's Syria! How will Germany lead the EU's future foreign policy? In the high stakes drama over the future of the Euro, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Germany has emerged as the predominant power as a unified European economic policy begins to take shape. This was not always the case. Not long ago, French President Nicolas Sarkozy tried to promote an alternative strategy of higher spending and less austerity; now Sarkozy has become Merkel’s junior partner, dependent on her political support in his bid for reelection. British Prime Minister David Cameron too has been pushed aside over the question of taxing financial transactions. American efforts to influence European policy have also fallen flat: Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner’s attempts to lecture the Europeans had little impact, beyond the damage he did to his own credibility. Photo credit: European Council Meanwhile the future of a unified European foreign policy is also coming into focus.
Russell A. Unfiltered Democracy: Why Germany Should Get Rid of the Presidency - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International. Is the republic at the edge of the abyss? Are the pillars of democracy swaying? For the last four weeks, Germany has debated the loan scandal surrounding its president, and for just as long, we have heard warnings that the discussion of the tiresome loan could "damage" his office. Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), even went as far as saying that German President Christian Wulff could not resign because it might trigger a "national crisis. " In fact, the issue merely revolves around the misconduct of a man who wanted to buy a house he couldn't afford. Why such hysteria over criticism of the president? Since its creation, the presidency has been based on a misunderstanding. But soon it became clear that this wasn't necessary at all.
Boring Routine There is always something humiliating about the office of the president. Anyone who travels with the president can witness the full drama of the office. A Special 'Respect' Oh, but the speeches! "Germany and the rhinoceros" by Hans Kundnani. We're Good Europeans Yet They All Hate Us. Once again, Europe has a country at its centre that is too big for its neighbours. Merely by keeping on its best behaviour, Germany has managed to reawaken the historic "German problem".
It has succeeded its way into a crisis. Ever since Greece's finances became a matter of public concern just over two years ago, Germany has been regaining its status as the leading power in Europe. It subjected itself almost a decade ago to a painful reform of its welfare state and a freeze in real wages that has made it as competitive an exporter as any country in the world, including China. Now Germany's economy is better balanced than those of other European countries, its reputation for honest accounting stands higher, and it has kept its triple-A credit rating while France, Austria and others have been downgraded. Nearly everyone agrees that Germany must save the Mediterranean economies.
But a brewing populist opposition believes otherwise. Germans have been fed a lot of nonsense about the euro. The Merkelization of Europe - By Paul Hockenos. Not so long ago, France was the political driver and Germany the economic motor of the European Union. "Now," remarked former European Commission president Romani Prodi in February, it is Merkel "that decides and Sarkozy that holds a press conference to explain her decisions. " This searing image could be embellished with the 24 EU members cowering in the press room -- and Britain now watching through the window. Now that Britain has sidelined itself from the historic "fiscal compact" concluded in Brussels on Dec. 9, which provides the EU with new powers to enforce stricter discipline in national budgets, the community appears even more fiercely segregated within its own ranks.
Pathetically, the Brits walked not because of the starkly deficient democratic procedure or the fact these governance changes wouldn't adequately address the euro quagmire, but rather to protect London's financial services industry from regulations that were part of the deal. JEAN-PAUL PELISSIER/AFP/Getty Images. Angela Merkel and the Euro Crisis: Women in Leadership. German Dominance in Doubt after Summit Defeat. It was Monti, of all people, "Super Mario," as he's called in Berlin. The affable economics professor from Lombardy, the man the German Chancellery felt was the best thing that could have happened to Italy. The man who could "save Europe," at least according to Time magazine.
It was Monti, of all people, who dropped the bomb at 7 p.m. last Thursday. At the European Council summit in Brussels, the Italian prime minister announced he would not agree to the growth pact unless the European heads of state and government did something about the high interest rates Italy is being forced to pay on its government bonds. And Monti wasn't the only one. "Are you trying to take us hostage? " The Italian prime minister should not believe that escalating the conflict would change anything, Merkel said, and pointed out: "I have to fly to Berlin at noon tomorrow for a vote in the Bundestag. " He didn't have to wait that long. Setting the Bar High The other concessions seem harmless by comparison. Can Germany Help Central Europe Confront Its Dark Past? - The Chronicle Review. By Paul Hockenos The home of the German Historical Institute in downtown Warsaw is a handsome, 19th-century neo-Renaissance residence with arched doorways and a tranquil, cobbled courtyard.
It is one of the few structures in Warsaw that the Nazis didn't raze during their 1939-45 occupation of the Polish capital. "Ironic, isn't it? ," says Katrin Stoll, a young German researcher there. "A building the Germans didn't manage to destroy and now we're here. " Supported by Germany's ministry of science and education, the institute was established in 1993 to promote collaborative research, scholarly discourse, and exchanges between Germany and Poland, with a particular emphasis on the dictatorships and violence of the 20th century.
It houses 14 historians and researchers—two-thirds of whom are German, the others Polish—whose publications at the institute include more than 75 books and hundreds of shorter studies. "We are modest participants in Polish historiography," he says. Hatred transformed: How Germans changed their minds about Jews, 1890-2006. How and when do people change their minds? For example, watching a popular television series like AMC’s Mad Men seems to transport us straight to another planet.
It shows the lives of advertising executives on Madison Avenue in the 1960s who spend their days drinking heavily (from 9am), chain-smoking, and fornicating. While not necessarily an accurate portrayal of corporate life in the middle of the 20th century, it reminds us how deeply cultures can be transformed in a relatively short space of time. In the Western world today, attitudes towards homosexuals, pre-marital sex, and women working outside the home are radically different from what they were a generation ago (Fernandez-Villaverde et al. 2011).
At the same time, culture seems to persist over long periods of time. In the past, canaries were used in coal mining to detect the presence of toxic fumes. Germans today are on average probably not much more anti-Semitic than other Europeans (Bergmann and Erb 1997). Figure 1. Later. Pretzel swastikas and Döner killings: are Germany’s best intentions becoming its fatal flaw? The recent exposure of a neo-Nazi cell in the small East German town of Zwickau has cut to the quick of a country that has, in the decades since World War II, applied its famously rigorous nature to the task of soul-searching. In Germany the swastika is a banned symbol, as is making the Sieg Heil salute. In 2009 when the Mel Brooks musical that dared to laugh at the Nazis, The Producers, made its German debut, a pretzel was used as a fantastically clever replacement for the swastika shown on promotional material for production in other countries.
The following year, the Deutsches Historisches Museum held an exhibition, entitled ‘Hitler and the Germans’ that excluded Hitler’s personal effects in order to prevent neo-Nazi pilgrimages. Arguably, these are xenophobic times. The ‘Döner Killings’ is the name given a series of ten murders that took place between 2000 and 2006. Mehmet Turgut, the fifth victim, was murdered while opening up a friend’s döner kebab shop in Rostock. Germany. Germany Looks to Southern Europe to Fill Jobs.
"No Peter’s Pence" by Alexander Görlach. Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space On June 29th, Catholics around the world collect the so-called “Peter’s Pence” to provide financial support to the pope and the Vatican. This year, it’s time to cut off the money supply to the corrupt institutions of the Vatican - and the German Catholic Church has to rally in support of the pope’s attempts to quell corruption. We’ve got a real scandal on our hands: The papal household has exposed a whistleblower, and just like a good crime novel would have it, it is the Pope’s butler.
The last butler who created a comparable stir was employed by Lady Di and angered the British royal palace by passing along private information about the Princess of Wales. But this scandal is more important and potentially more destructive that the revelations about the House of Windsor. At the same time, the pope has come under fire for an issue that has received little mention on this side of the Alps. John Paul II had brokered a deal.