Multicultural society
The political catchphrase multicultural society is used both descriptively and normatively. In Germany, the term became known in the public discussion about immigration policy in the late 1980s. The term describes a vision of a society within a state in which people of different nationalities , languages , religions and ethnicities live together peacefully. People of different cultures can have different traditions , lifestyles and / or ideas of values and ethics . The concept of multicultural society implies the coexistence or coexistence of clearly distinguishable cultures in a society and differs in this respect from the concept of transcultural society , which diagnoses the blurring or even the dissolution of cultural boundaries.
Former colonial powers are called multicultural societies of a special kind: people from former colonies often live there. Some of them immigrated during colonial times; partly they came in the course of decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s.
- Canada was controversial in the 18th and 19th centuries between the British and French in the east (in 1763 the French lost their colony of New France to the British) and later in the west between Spaniards, British and Russians. The history of Canada is seen as an example of the legislative implementation of multiculturalism .
Political Debate in Germany
Historical development
In the 1970s it became apparent that the guest workers recruited or immigrated between 1955 and 1973 only rarely returned to their home countries after a few years, but stayed permanently in Germany and brought their families to catch up more often than forecast .
In 1978, the then federal government under Helmut Schmidt therefore appointed a commissioner to promote the integration of foreign workers and their family members . The first representative was Heinz Kühn . In 1979 he published the so-called Kühn Memorandum (full title “Status and further development of the integration of foreign workers and their families in the Federal Republic of Germany”). It is considered the first milestone of the third phase of integration policy, the "phase of integration concepts" 1979/1980. The central statement was that Germany was in fact a country of immigration . However, surprisingly little attention was paid to this report and few of the concepts were implemented. This was mainly due to the fact that the economic crisis and the insecurity of the early 1980s led to a flare-up of xenophobic moods in society, so that the governments of Helmut Schmidt in their last years and that of Helmut Kohl were more anxious to limit immigration and curb family reunification. In the 1980s, the Return Assistance Act also paid premiums to encourage foreign workers to return to their home country. At the same time, representatives of the political left , especially from the ranks of the Greens , put forward the concept of a “multicultural society”, and since the beginning of the 1990s this has also been taken up as a counter-image by representatives of the conservative parties. An actual implementation of the model of a multicultural society such as in Canada, where multiculturalism is anchored in the constitution , has never happened in Germany, but under the red-green federal government of Gerhard Schröder it was possible. a. the reform of citizenship law (facilitating naturalization, introduction of the ius soli for children born in Germany by immigrants) in this direction.
Recent political debate
The idea of a multicultural society in Germany has been a constant part of debates since the 1990s. The debate in Germany is characterized by the fact that proponents and opponents of the multicultural society often mean different things when people speak of "multiculturalism": Either the fact that Germany is a country of immigration and different ethnic and religious groups are part of society or - In the actual meaning of the word - that no pressure should be exerted on immigrants to assimilate or to adopt a binding set of societal values (sometimes referred to as “ leading culture ”). This was succinctly summarized by the then Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle ( FDP ) in 2010: “If multiculturalism means that we should give up our standards of values, then multiculturalism is a mistake. If multiculturalism means that diversity and networking shape our lives more than ever, at home and internationally, then multiculturalism is a reality. "
In 2004 and 2010, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) declared the multicultural society a “grandiose failure”, while former Chancellor Schmidt (SPD) described it as an “ illusion of intellectuals ”. In 2004, the former member of the Bundestag Reinhard Grindel described “multiculturalism” as “messy mess” and “life lie”; in his opinion, it “only created monoculture in many quarters.” The conservative historian Ernst Nolte criticized the idea of a multicultural society as an alternative strategy of the class struggle: “Those who propagate the multicultural society associate it with the intention of being on one Detour to realize what the socialists have always demanded and what the GDR has achieved, namely to eliminate the German ruling class. " Erwin Huber (CSU) sees it as a" hotbed of crime "(see also foreigner crime )
Rita Süssmuth (CDU), on the other hand, defended it in 2006: “Multiculturalism is not a concept , but a fact. You can't say that it all failed. "
Claudia Roth ( The Greens ) referred in 2004 (1998–2005 the red-green coalition under Gerhard Schröder ) to the factual existence of a multicultural society: “We have a multicultural society in Germany , whether you like it or not [...] The Greens will not allow themselves to be put on the defensive in immigration policy according to the motto: The dream of multiculturalism is over. "
In 2007, the publicist Ralph Giordano saw a potentially dangerous utopia in multicultural society , but did not completely rule out its implementation: “The multi-cultural ideal is a dud in which history is already abundant. On the other hand, she also knows examples that the impossible becomes possible. "
Some domestic political debates are or have been conducted under the catchphrase of “multiculturalism” or “multicultural society”. In Germany, as in other European countries, these particularly often refer to Muslim immigrants and their religious and cultural characteristics:
- the headscarf dispute
- the question of mixed-sex swimming lessons in schools
- the debate about full-body veils (= burka) and
- the recognition of equality between men and women
- the compatibility of manholes and animal welfare
- the question of which immigration policy Germany should pursue and when to grant immigrants German citizenship ( ius soli vs. ius sanguinis and the discussion about dual citizenship )
- the discussion about the religiously motivated circumcision of male infants, children and adolescents in Germany ( child welfare and right to physical integrity vs. religious custom (Islam) or rite (Judaism))
- the honor killing
- the forced marriage as well
- the primacy of the legal order over Sharia law .
Political debate in Switzerland
The federal popular initiative to include the wording "The construction of minarets is prohibited." in the federal constitution was adopted in 2007. However, in a different context in 2012, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled that Switzerland's obligations under international law take precedence over even deviating constitutional provisions issued later. It is therefore conceivable that minarets can still be approved, provided they comply with all other regulations.
Web links
- Zeit Online from February 18, 2011: multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural societies - a comment
literature
- Kien Nghi Ha: Ethnicity and Migration Reloaded. Cultural Identity, Difference and Hybridity in the Post-Colonial Discourse . wvb, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-86573-009-4 .
- Hito Steyerl / Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez (ed.): Does the subaltern speak German? Migration and Post-Colonial Criticism . Unrast, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-89771-425-6 .
See also
- Migration background
- Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration - (Chancellery)
- Federal Government Commissioner for Resettler Issues and National Minorities - (Ministry of the Interior)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank Beyer villages: Multicultural Society: Concepts, phenomena, codes of conduct , LIT Verlag Münster, 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7664-0 , page 49f.
- ↑ Birgit Rommelspacher: Recognition and Exclusion: Germany as a multicultural society , Campus Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-593-36863-3 , page 189ff.
- ↑ Multiculturalism in Canada - a model for Germany? In: From Politics and Contemporary History (B 26/2003). Federal Agency for Civic Education, June 17, 2003, accessed on October 16, 2016 .
- ↑ Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany: Keynote speech by Federal Foreign Minister Westerwelle at the German Society for Foreign Policy, October 21, 2010
- ↑ a b FAZ.net , November 20, 2004
- ↑ Merkel: “Multiculturalism has absolutely failed” , sueddeutsche.de of October 16, 2010.
- ^ Die Zeit , No. 18/2004, April 22, 2004
- ↑ Even the politician Reinhard Grindel was against multiculturalism (Der Tagesspiegel)
- ^ Rudolf Augstein, Fritjof Meyer, Peter Zolling: A historical right of Hitler? The fascism interpreter Ernst Nolte on National Socialism, Auschwitz and the New Right . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1994, pp. 83-103 ( online - October 3, 1994 , here p. 101).
- ↑ Erwin Huber , CSU party conference 2007, quoted from sueddeutsche.de
- ↑ sueddeutsche.de , May 13, 2006
- ↑ Kölner Stadtanzeiger , August 16, 2007
- ↑ judgment 2C_828 / 2011 of October 12, 2012
- ↑ Markus Häfliger: The minaret ban is also not absolutely applicable , NZZ Online, February 9, 2013, accessed on December 2, 2014.