[/caption]German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, captured headlines worldwide when she stated that Germany’s attempt at multiculturalism “has failed…totally” and that Muslim immigrants within Germany had made the country “more stupid” and less productive. The conservative chancellor added that the Muslim immigrants needed to adopt Germany’s Christian values and culture, and also learn to speak German. This incident should spark worldwide outrage and criticism and should, at the least, lead to the German Chancellor’s resignation, though it should ultimately end in her arrest.
Merkel’s comments were in direct reference to the increasing Turkish population within Germany’s borders, which now sits around 2.5 million. The modern history of Turkish immigration to Germany began in the 1960s when, desperate for labor in the post-World War II economic boom, West Germany sought and received workers from Turkey.
The first fatal flaw in Chancellor Merkel’s political stance is the time frame. Turkish citizens have only been assimilating into German society for fifty years. Though, on a superficial glance, fifty years appears to be ample in length, a history of other countries highlights that it is not. When the United States experienced a wave of Irish immigration in its infancy, it was common for Irish settlers to be greeted with “No Irish Need Apply” occupational opportunities and unequal treatment. Though it took over a century, Irish-Americans eventually gained acceptance and lost the xenophobic image of uncivilized barbarians. America’s history with African-Americans is even more brutal, and it took centuries for slavery to be abolished and Civil Rights established. Though inequality still exists, America has taken significant strides. For Germany to deem its multiculturalism a failure after fifty short years is not only shortsighted but, more importantly, dangerous.
What ultimately makes Merkel’s comments completely unacceptable lies in Germany’s history. A public figure in any industrialized country would face scrutiny for telling an ethnic and religious minority that as a Christian nation, if the immigrants “don’t accept them [Christian values]” they also “don’t have a place here.” However, in Germany such a statement is especially heinous. Germany’s right to a second chance in terms of ethnic and cultural tolerance went up in flames with millions of innocents in camps such as Auschwitz. Even more infuriating, such bigoted comments were actually made by a German leader in the same lifetime as the World World II generation who had fought so valiantly to end it there.
Chancellor Angela Merkel should not only resign as leader, she should be arrested. Amid the German ruins after World War II, a new constitution was formed. A constitution that would ensure such racially motivated and culturally insensitive atrocities would never again be repeated within Germany’s border. Germany’s “Volksverhetzung,” or anti-hate speech law, was enacted for just such a reason. For an individual to have broken this law, and ultimately serve a prison sentence of up to five years, an individual must be found guilty of disturbing the public peace in a manner that:
1. incites hatred against segments of the population or calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them; or
2. assaults the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning, or defaming segments of the population[]
Chancellor Merkel’s racial remarks against the intelligence and productivity of the Turkish minority within Germany is unacceptable, and the only remedy at Germany’s disposal is the public spectacle of her being lead to a prison cell in chains.
Scott Janssen is a grad student, political satirist for the Huffington Post, and an overall drain on society. He can be reached at dnaprovesnothing@gmail.com or follow his blog at www.pantslessponderings.com.
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