Europa | Europe - Part 14

posted by usha on 2006/02/27 10:05

[ Europa | Europe ]

Having some acquaintace with Baden-Württemberg, the region I spent my childhood and youth, I dare to answer Florian Bieber's question, "what is the right answer to become an average German (or average West European in general)."

Background of my answer is the catalogue of questions for people who want access German citizenship that shall contain questions as

"Imagine your adult son tells you he is gay and wants to live with another man. How do you react?" or "Your daughter applies for a job in Germany. She is rejected while the job was offered to a black African from Somalia. How do you react?"
The people in the Suebian region where I grew up always felt like model Germans, and hence Germans are supposed to be ideal Europeans, the right answers to the Americanized questions have to meet Suebian experiences.

In the 70's and 80's these people, if they were of Lutherian profession, regarded even Catholics from the neighboring community as being deeply foreign. During the 90's there was a slight change to that mode of Weltanschauung. Yet, it is still hard to find any "soft" interpretation of the beloved term and practice of "integration".

Yet, whoever applies to citizenship and plans to spend his/her life in Baden-Württemberg should definitely answer the above-listed questions like that:
"My gay son will be disinherited and has to move on."
"The only excuse for those bastards rejecting my daughter is that this damned Somali-n...r is, at least, male. Anyway, I don't want my daughter to work with drug dealers."


Antworten

01 by anonymous at 2006/02/27 11:21 Bitte registrieren und/oder loggen Sie ein, um zu antworten
Having some acquaintace with Baden-Württemberg, the region I spent my childhood and youth, I dare to answer Florian Bieber's question, "what is the right answer to become an average German (or average West European in general)."
Unfortunately, this xenophobia is something (liberal) Europe has to permanently cope with... I was also stunned last week when I read a new Austrian Citizenship Law or a new Residence Law. In my opinion it is a pure discrimination of persons not coming from the EU-member countries and an attempt to "correct" the totally wrong immigration policy over the last couple of decades. I think the peak of this absurdity is the fact that a scholar from a non-EU conuntry cannot apply for a permanent residence, and at the same time the Citizenship Law says if some foreigner provides distinguished scientific results in research, s/he can apply for an Austrian citizenship earlier. And I am now wondering HOW when s/he is not allowed to reside permanently in Austria...

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