To German Media re:Healthy-Multi-Culturism

[Guest guest]

RE:Opinion: Merkel's Turkish Delight

I Just wanted to say that "Multi-Culturalism" is great as an idea, but in

practice and in reality we are challenged to find even one country that truly

represents the face of "Healthy Multi-Culturalism." Healthy does not mean an

enforced mixture of different ethnicities and religions. It means a society

that values all equally regardless of who they are. Healthy does not mean

isolated pockets and islands of separate peoples who just happen to live in the

same country. Germany is a prime example of this. No honest commentator can

claim that Germany as a nation, is an example of 'Healthy Multi-Culturalism."

The SPD and other such 'left' parties talk of 'Multi-Culturalism' only to

create a dependable voting bloc.Finally, if Germans lose their own culture, how

can we speak of multi-culturism? The fact is, healthy multi-culturism can only

exist if all cultures are all allowed to flourish. Otherwise we end up with

social stagnation and a very unhealthy

mono-culturism.Sincerely, Parker

 

"Anti-Islamic?

 

Besides having a nasty whiff of anti-Islamic sentiment -- which is as

contemptible as it is misplaced -- the timing of Merkel's initiative smacks of

pandering to darker anti-foreigner sentiment simply in order to fish for votes.

 

Sadly, this isn't the first time we've seen this "fortress Germany" mentality

from the Christian Democrats. This is the same party that brought us the

horrible Leitkultur debate about how Germany need some sort of guiding Teutonic

culture instead of the healthy multiculturalism seen in most western

democracies. It is the same vein of German conservatism that is opposed to

immigration and refuses to comprehend that German citizenship should be a

matter of where someone is born and not whether they have German blood."

 

Opinion: Merkel's Turkish Delight

 

Angela Merkel wants to offer Turkey a "privileged partnership"

 

Chancellor candidate Angela Merkel has renewed her efforts to kibosh Turkey's

bid to join the EU. The dangerously misguided campaign exposes the worst side

of Germany's conservatives, says DW-WORLD's Marc Young.

 

With a victory by Germany's conservative opposition looking fairly certain when

voters go to the polls next month, I've been trying to accentuate the positive.

 

I've never been convinced that Angela Merkel, the leader of the Christian

Democrats (CDU), will be a more zealous reformer than Chancellor Gerhard

Schröder has been, but I still hold out hope that the conservatives might be

able to shake Germany out of its current economic funk.

 

I would have no problem with loosening some of the country's job protection

measures or lowering non-wage labor costs in an attempt to slash unemployment,

as the CDU has occasionally mooted. And at this point, I'm not sure whether

Schröder -- even if he managed a surprise comeback win -- would be able to

convince his Social Democratic Party (SPD) to back more radical measures to get

Europe's largest economy back on track.

 

But just as I start thinking I can overlook some of the uglier aspects of her

party's platform, Merkel decides to step up her campaign against Turkey's

attempt eventually to join the European Union. On Friday, Merkel sent a letter

to conservative EU heads of state ahead of a Sept. 1 summit. In it she renewed

her call for the EU to offer Ankara a downgraded "privileged partnership"

instead of full membership.

 

She wants to raise the issue at the meeting of European conservatives which will

take place just before an informal meeting on Thursday of EU foreign ministers,

where accession negotiations with Turkey -- expected to open membership

negotiations on Oct. 3 -- will be discussed.

 

Anti-Islamic?

 

Besides having a nasty whiff of anti-Islamic sentiment -- which is as

contemptible as it is misplaced -- the timing of Merkel's initiative smacks of

pandering to darker anti-foreigner sentiment simply in order to fish for votes.

 

Sadly, this isn't the first time we've seen this "fortress Germany" mentality

from the Christian Democrats. This is the same party that brought us the

horrible Leitkultur debate about how Germany need some sort of guiding Teutonic

culture instead of the healthy multiculturalism seen in most western

democracies. It is the same vein of German conservatism that is opposed to

immigration and refuses to comprehend that German citizenship should be a

matter of where someone is born and not whether they have German blood.

 

The biggest irony, of course, is that Merkel doesn't seem to realize that the

moderate Islamic AK party of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is simply a

Muslim version of her Christian Democratic Union -- a conservative party with

its moral compass rooted in religion.

 

Merkel and others opposed to Turkey joining the EU contend the country is too

large and too poor to become a part of the 25-member bloc, which is already

overstretched after its enlargement including most of Eastern Europe last year.

 

 

Now, I'll be the first to admit that the EU needs some time to consolidate its

recent expansion. However, the current challenges facing Europe are no argument

against Turkish membership. First of all, Turkish accession is realistically at

least 15 years off. That's a long time and the prospect of eventual membership

would be a driving force in pushing along the country's modernization.

 

The West needs Turkey

 

In the age of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, Europe -- and the rest of the world

-- need Turkey as a prosperous, peaceful and democratic Muslim nation. So long

as other Islamic nations are either politically oppressed or outright hostile

to western ideals, the worst thing the EU could do is push Turkey away.

 

It shocks me that Merkel and others opposed to its bid don't seem to realize the

potential danger a jilted Turkey could pose as reactionary and anti-reformist

forces were strengthened. Does Europe really want a hostile nation supporting

an extreme form of Islam at its doorstep?

 

Clearly, Turkey has a lot of work to do politically, economically and socially

before it has a serious chance of joining Europe's elite club. The country must

continue to improve its human rights record and it needs to strengthen its

protection of minority rights for its large Kurdish population. But engagement

by the EU is the best guarantor that the country will continue down the path of

reform.

 

Marc Young, DW-WORLD.DEhttp://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1693596,00.html

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