Emory Study Trip 2003

21.05.2003: Atlantik Brücke e.V. and Claus M. Halle Institute for Global at Emory University Visit to the Bildungswerk Kreuzberg GmbH, in Berlin

Most West European countries have experienced high immigration and growing ratios of foreign-born residents among their populations in the last decades, especially Germany.

Some facts and figures about Immigration in Germany:

Germany never meant to become a melting pot of cultures. Migration was intended to meet the needs for foreigner labour during the economic boom of the 50´s and 60´s. This aim was totally consistent with the plans most immigrants made when they came to Germany. Many of them believed they would return to their home countries after a few years of working abroad. German society on the other hand, was quite intent on drawing a strict bureaucratically line between the Germans and the so-called foreigners - a term, which is totally misleading and outmoded as far as the second and third generation of immigrants is concerned.

Today there are mainly three groups of immigrants in Germany:

· One group of foreigners in Germany are the refugees. Most of them came in search for political asylum. A population of 2 million refugees in different legal categories is estimated to live in Germany. · A second group of immigrants are labour migrants - the former Guest workers. They constitute a foreign population of about 5,5 million people currently. They pay taxes and social security fees like German citizens. Two thirds of them is living in Germany for more than 20 years at the same time two thirds of the immigrants below the age of 25 were born in Germany. · A third group of immigrants are ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe (Aussiedler). They are German citizens and have the same rights and obligations as German "natives" after their arrival. This group is supported in their economic integration by substantial transfers.

In the 60`s and 70`s mostly workers with low educational and vocational qualifications arrived in West Germany. Today immigrants have academic degrees and run their own businesses. Despite these facts and an immigration history of 40 years, immigrants are still treated as foreigners in Germany. There is a special alien-law with more than 150 statutes and 10 different resident statuses. The unemployment among immigrants is twice as high as that of the Germans. The situation of young immigrants is even worse, 1/3 of them are jobless. Many of them have low School degrees and as a result, they have difficulties participating in higher education. There seems to be evidence that foreigners labour market position became more difficult after the unification. Considering the recent results of the OECD-Study PISA, we will see that there is a lot work to do for our school system, especially in the case of children of low-income-families and families with immigration background.

An other issue is violence against immigrants. In the past few years there has been considerable racist violence in Germany. With peaks in Hoyerswerda, Rostock, Solingen, Mölln and so on. Many immigrants avoid going to the eastern part of the country. The ongoing discussion on this subject in Germany these days is even considering the closing of the NDP, the extreme right party better known as a pool for young ”fascists” and so called skinheads.

When we focus on the recent debate about the immigration-law "Zuwanderungsgesetz” or the former Green-Card debate for computer experts, we will realize how difficult it is for Germany in general to deal with immigration and integration at all. But even the reform of the citizenship law, without a general right for dual citizenship took place at the beginning of 2000, there is a lot to do.

Until the 1st of January 2000, it was very difficult to become German. Immigrants had the possibility to apply for German citizenship after a residence of 15 years in Germany. Since the law was based on German ”blood”, it was up to the lawmaker accepting the application, or not. Now a days legal residence of 8 years is required for naturalisation, children born in Germany are automatically German as long as one of the parents lives in Germany for more than 8 years. Those children can keep the citizenship of their parent until the age of 18 and than they have to decide which one they will keep. It is still very difficult having dual citizenship.

The question is, what has to be done in future? · Since integration cannot be seen as a one-way street, an integration law which supports an secures the staying of the immigrants in Germany has to be established. An active support of qualification and language training for foreign workers, like it has been granted to German ethnic immigrants (Aussiedler), might prove to be a good investment. · Since the German educations system still is monolingual and monocultural oriented, many reforms in education-politics are needed for better results in integration-politics. Such as reforming the curriculum, textbooks, teacher programmes. At the same time many bi- and multilingual personnel is needed · On the other hand immigrants have to take up positions of responsibility in social life, in politics, in public administration and so on. They have to see themselves as an integral part of the society and have to be accepted as such by the Germans. · Germany does need immigration, not only because there is a need for IT-Experts or other kind of experts. The main need is based on demographic issues. Therefore German society has to accept and face the reality that Germany became a country of immigration over the past decades. · Since many immigrants face discrimination in their daily life, we do need an anti-discrimination law for the victims of any kind of discrimination. · The classic immigrants from Turkey, the former Yugoslavia and so on, still do not have the right to vote or to be elected to office, not even on a communal level. Since the number of immigrants is increasing, political participation becomes more an issue. The conclusion is, changing the election law and giving people those live in Germany for a certain period of time, the right to vote or to be elected into office.

At this place, I would like to quote Martin Luther King: "First class democracies cannot afford to have second class citizens”