“Merkel: German multi-cultural society has failed - English Eastday” plus 1 more |
| Merkel: German multi-cultural society has failed - English Eastday Posted: 18 Oct 2010 08:30 PM PDT BERLIN - Germany's attempt to create a multi-cultural society has failed completely, Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the weekend, calling on the country's immigrants to learn German and adopt Christian values. German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiles as delegates hold up placards supporting the controversial transport development project Stuttgart 21 (S21) at the congress of the youth wing of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Junge Union, in Potsdam, Oct 16, 2010. Merkel weighed in for the first time in a blistering debate sparked by a central bank board member saying the country was being made "more stupid" by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants. "Multikulti", the concept that "we are now living side by side and are happy about it," does not work, Merkel told a meeting of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at Potsdam near Berlin. "This approach has failed, totally," she said, adding that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values. "We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don't accept them don't have a place here," said the chancellor. "Subsidising immigrants" isn't sufficient, Germany has the right to "make demands" on them, she added, such as mastering the language of Goethe and abandoning practices such as forced marriages. Merkel spoke a week after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which they pledged to do more to improve the often poor integration record of Germany's 2.5-million-strong Turkish community. Turkish President Abdullah Gul, in a weekend interview, also urged the Turkish community living in Germany to master the language of their adopted country. "When one doesn't speak the language of the country in which one lives that doesn't serve anyone, neither the person concerned, the country, nor the society," the Turkish president told the Suedeutsche Zeitung. "That is why I tell them at every opportunity that they should learn German, and speak it fluently and without an accent. That should start at nurseries." German President Christian Wulff was due for a five-day visit to Turkey and talks with the country's leaders on Monday. The immigration debate has at times threatened to split Merkel's conservative party, and she made noises to both wings of the debate. While saying that the government needed to encourage the training of Muslim clerics in Germany, Merkel said "Islam is part of Germany", echoeing the recent comments of Wulff, a liberal voice in the party. Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, CSU, who represents the right-wing, recently said Germany did not "need more immigrants from different cultures like the Turks and Arabs" who are "more difficult" to integrate. While warning against "immigration that weighs down on our social system", Merkel said Germany needed specialists from overseas to keep the pace of its economic development. According to the head of the German chamber of commerce and industry, Hans Heinrich Driftmann, Germany is in urgent need of about 400,000 engineers and qualified workers, whose lack is knocking about one percent off the country's growth rate. The integration of Muslims has been a hot button issue since August when a member of Germany's central bank sparked outrage by saying the country was being made "more stupid" by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants with headscarves. The banker, Thilo Sarrazin, has since resigned but his book on the subject -- "Germany Does Itself In" -- has flown off the shelves, and polls showed considerable sympathy for some of his views. A recent study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation think tank showed around one-third of Germans feel the country is being "over-run by foreigners" and the same percentage feel foreigners should be sent home when jobs are scarce. Nearly 60 percent of the 2,411 people polled thought the around four million Muslims in Germany should have their religious practices "significantly curbed." Far-right attitudes are found not only at the extremes of German society, but "to a worrying degree at the centre of society," the think tank said in its report. "Hardly eight weeks have passed since publication of Sarrazin's theory of decline, and the longer the debate continues to a lower level it falls," the weekly Der Spiegel commented Sunday. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| The World: Cultural integration 'failed,' Merkel says - San Jose Mercury News Posted: 18 Oct 2010 08:56 AM PDT BERLIN Cultural integration 'failed,' Merkel says Chancellor Angela Merkel's declaration that Germany's attempts to build a multicultural society had "utterly failed" are feeding a growing debate over how to deal with the millions of foreigners who call the country home. Merkel told a meeting of young members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union that while immigrants are welcome in Germany, they must learn the language and accept the country's cultural norms — sounding a note heard increasingly across Europe as it battles an economic slump and worries about homegrown terrorism. "This multicultural approach, saying that we simply live side by side and live happily with each other has failed. Utterly failed," Merkel said. But some Germans in cosmopolitan Berlin argued Sunday she was out of touch with the country's daily life. "I think her statement is very black and white and does not reflect honestly the lifestyle people are living here," said Daniela Jonas, a German in the city's diverse Kreuzberg district. KINSHASA, CONGO Thousands of women led by Congo's first lady are marching in the country's volatile east to demand an end to a wave of mass rapes. First lady Olive Lembe Kabila led the women through the town of Bukavu on Sunday. The United Nations recently reported that 303 civilians were raped in 13 nearby villages from July 30-Aug. 2. Congo's top U.N. envoy also said more than 15,000 people were raped in eastern Congo last year. But he said it's impossible for 18,000 U.N. peacekeepers to protect everyone in the massive area where armed groups operate. Another UN official said most attacks were committed by "men in uniform."Congo's defense minister denied soldiers were involved. But the justice minister said courts have prosecuted several officers, including a general. RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA The leaders of Mideast rivals Syria and Saudi Arabia met Sunday to discuss rising tension in Lebanon that threatens to break apart that country's coalition government and spark unrest in one of the most volatile corners of the region. The two countries back opposing factions in Lebanon and are concerned that a U.N. tribunal's investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri could split its shaky governing coalition. Saudi Arabia was close to Hariri and supports political forces loyal to his son, Saad, who is Lebanon's current prime minister. Syria, which dominated Lebanon for decades, backs Hezbollah, the powerful militant group that shares power in Lebanon's government. Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive truck bombing in Beirut in February 2005 that many in Lebanon blamed on Syria. Syria denies involvement. SAN'A, YEMEN A Yemeni official says warplanes have bombed al-Qaida hide-outs in the country's south, killing five militants. The deputy governor of Abyan province, Salih al-Shamsi, says the airstrikes targeted areas around the town of Moudia and destroyed weapons caches. Yemen is battling a resurgent al-Qaida presence in the country that also drew deep international concern after the terror network's local offshoot claimed responsibility for an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner in December. —Herald wire services This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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