Comments on: Foreigners in Germany on German Xenophobia

By: dini

dini — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:51:37 +0000

i’m a german living in london. english people disregard us. therefore, i started looking for a job within a german company where no-one ever told me that i have to suddenly leave or my work is somehow not good enough.

london is a dangerous place, full of foreigners from 3rd world countries trying to somehow make a living here. slums are everywhere. 180 gangs emerged since the past few years. children are rude and out of control. mainly black kids get stabbed here. they are dealing with drugs aged 13, 14, 15. their own parents or brothers send them out to deal. kids don’t get arrested. it’s very much like naples here. many foreigners work within the public sector, as they are protected by the ‘equal opportunities policies’ which makes the service somehow ‘3rd world’ as well. the thing is that these people just do not have the same work ethics as europeans . also, many have bad communication skills and are often rude in their behaviour. the uk is letting many unskilled workers stay here. the trades are declining due to lack of knowledge.

i can see with my own eyes that multiculturalism is not working. it breakes up communities, in fact it marginalises communities. too many ‘tribes’ crammed together in one place do not mix well. these tribes create ghetto’s (no-go zones)

i live in plaistow, the east end of london. the majority here comes from africa, somalia, jamaica, barbados, pakistan, middle-east, bangladesh, a small number of low-class english people and me, an east german from a small town called gotha. i will leave the UK very soon and lead a normal life again in my native home. i can’t wait.

By: Maciel

Maciel — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:05:17 +0000

I think all this problem comes from a long time ago. I live in southern-Brasil, in a very small town called São Bonifácio (Saint Wilfrids in English), it’s a german colony as many other cities from the southern part of this country. Everybody here is Brazilian born, though they come from a German background and almost everybody still speak German in a daily basis. But still, whenever somebody who is not a German looking person comes to their places, some visitors, tourists, etc; they through some dirty look or say something racist towards that person. When I first came to live here, I entered a store to do my groceries and two girls at the cashiers say in German "gück auf den schwarzen Mann!" (take a look at that black man! ). Much to their dismay when they found out that I actually speak German. And to make things worse, I do not have any african descent, my grandparents were Portuguese! Back when I was a kid, when living in Germany, people asked me many weird questions that made me feel just like an E.T. So I guess, it’s not from the WWII, nor anything around that date, this xenophobia Europeans have is just something that comes from the simple fact that for thousands of years they haven’t had anybody that looked a bit different from what they are used to. Then, nowadays, they are not able to deal with that very well yet.

By: Mackenzie

Mackenzie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:40:27 +0000

Answering to SAS: I recently had the chance to explore the recent history of North America, and get acquainted with what Europeans and Euro-Americans did, how they treated the Native people. It is unbelievable: how should we comment on it?
I don’t know much about other cultures, but I know that 2000 years ago or less the Romans also conquered lands, and reduced the newly subjugated populations into slavery. Poverty and slavery, and persecutions…..
Are persecutions against the first historic Christians perpetrated by the Roman people different from the genocide against the Jewish? and what about the genocide of the Native Americans?

From my point of view, the only difference is about dates, names, numbers, and technical devices or weapons
And besides, there are new genocides going on right now: are we aware? probably, we are, but…? here I am, writing on the internet

By: SAS

SAS — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:45:37 +0000

My own experiences with Germans has been very good, but I do feel that Germany as a whole is a very intolerant and rejectionist society towards non Germans. The proof of this fact - the genocide of the Jews, Slavs and Gypsies, centuries of systematic anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination against Turks and other immigrants, the hysteria over the decision by the EU to start membership negotiations with Turkey, and of course the seemingly never ending stories of racist attacks against foreigners, immigrants and ethnic and religious minorities, opposition to new mosques, etc etc. Yes, Germans may have many strengths, but it is abundantly clear racial tolerance is not one of them.

By: wj

wj — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:44:40 +0000

One part of integration in this nation of immigrants that I suspect many Europeans don’t notice: the integration is a two-way street. Yes, we expect immigrants to adapt to America. But America also adapts to the immigrants to some degree. And expects to.

Granted, there are those who get hysterical about hearing Spanish (for example). But their unhappiness is fueled, in part, by the knowledge that they are a minority — the vast majority of Americans simply don’t get worked up that someone is speaking a language other than English. If they stay, we expect them to learn enough English to communicate with the majority. But if they choose to speak another language part of the time, so what?

The same goes for other things. Currently there is a fairly large dust-up going on over a stupid track official who disqualified a (Muslim) girl who normally runs in a full body suit. What’s significant isn’t that it happened. It’s that there is a lot of outcry from non-Muslims here, demanding that the decision be reversed. And, since that particular track meet is over, that the young lady be given an alternative way to qualify for the Olympic trials.