anders deutsch

Today when surfing the internet portal theinder.net I found in the German section a new articlel in the section "My India". It praises India, its spirituality, its colourfullness, its tradtions, its ... And it is written by a woman calld Raya Sharma, who says she is not an Indian. And I believe her very much. There is so much exotism in the article, her 'India' is so different from mine, that I have the strong feeling she is 'White'. She presents an image of 'India' I have always been irritated by. And it is so typical for 'Whites' who long to find in the exotic 'India' something they feel they have lost.

For sure, all the discussion about naturalisation in Germany at the moment is linked to the upcoming elections. Fuelling xenophobia is always a good method of obtaining votes here in this beautiful country. But it is more than that. One conservative politician said is one of these days. Their real aim is to make immigration in general more difficult. And naturalisation must be some symbol for it. It cannot prevent immgration, it is just othering. But for the conservatives this seems to be better than nothing. The most shocking aspect for me is that all politicians, even the 'left' seem to agree that naturalisation should be a special act. Does nobody understand that it is in the interest of the state to naturalise as many as possible?

In Germany there is a general uproar about the trial against Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan. And I agree that everybody should have the right to change religions. And I definitely think that there should be no death sentences nowhere. But somehow I get a funny feeling with all this 'German' commotion. All the stories mention that Rahmn has lived in Germany. But I am pretty sure that nobody cared about him when he was living here. And I am pretty sure that conversion to Christianity will prevent deportation from Germany.

There is at the moment a discussion about the planed deportation of a family of 'Kurdish' origin to Turkey. They have lived here for 17 years, the children have spend most or all of their lives here. They are 'well integrated', do not know Turkish. One daugther (together with a group she is active in) has even been honoured by the German president for their actions against antisemitism. Now the 'German' public does not understand why this 'integrated' family should be deported - neither do I. The administration is thus now willing to grant three children a permit of residence to finish their schooling, while the rest of the family should be deported.

It is definitely a case which illustrates well the inhumanity of the German asylum laws and deportation practice. But as one of the members of the commission for cases of hardship argues such a case should not be one of humanitarian issues. It is only the law which makes it thus. The real humanitarian issues concern the people who do not have the chance to 'integrate' that well. But with those 'we' do not seem to want to deal at all.

And then there also always remains the question about what 'integration' really is and whether it should be a condition at all.

After the federal state of Baden-Württemberg now also Hessen has published a test for those who want to obtain German citizenship. In this case it is not as obviously an islamophobic collection of questions. There are just some among the 100. The others mostly test knowledge about the constitution, administration, history, culture and science, sports, etc. Whoever is able to answer all this questions, must be a genius. And he or she is definitely much more clever than most 'Germans'. Definitely he or she knows more than I do. The only question remaining is whether all the born 'Germans' are really looking forward to such clever new 'Germans'.

The last two days I have looked through the newspapers of the last ten days, which accumulated here while I was holidaying. Each day there was at least one example of othering, racism and/or violence. Some of the most shocking news were about refugees. Not only was there lots of discussion about how 'we' can prevent all those people to come by boat to European shores. 'We' need more police, better equipment, etc. 'We' also need to deterr more, deport all of 'them' as fast as possible. Sometimes also rather slowly. But in any case brutally. One family is to be deported which has lived here for 17 years. Another mother with two children was deported after 10 years or so. 'Unfortunately' the mother was ill, got interned after deportation and died soon afterwards. In another case a three year old was detained by the police to get hold of the mother. Yes, the dignity of everyone is protected by the German constitution. It is only the question who is everyone. And Germany is not alone, Austria in fact seems to have an even worse law and practice.

I did know already theoretically that racism and homophobia are a reality without experiencing racist or homophobic actions. But this holidays illustrated this very practically. We did not experience any direct homophobic attacks, neither verbally nor physically. But we continually anticipated them and acted accordingly. We did not ask for a double bed in the hotels. We did not hold hands in public. Maybe nothing would have happened, if we had. Maybe something would have happened. We did not dare to try.

Holidays. Almost spring. A foreign language. I do understand (almost) nothing. And can say even less. Good experience.

Back in Germany, 20th March: The problem is not so much understanding and communicating. I could communicate quite well using my hands, eyes, English and some local words. What I disliked most was being impolite. Instead of saying "I would like to have a tea with milk." I just ordered "Tea with milk". The same message, but very different. I was not able to learn more. Not a nice feeling.

Since generations 'Germans' collect donations to help the poor in Africa. There was a clear division in the world between those who have (White) and those who need help (Black). Now something has gone wrong. The employees of a hospital in Kenia have collected donations for a project in Germany.

Heinz Buschkowsky is a local mayor in Berlin. In his district there is a very high proportion of ethnic minorities. And there is a lot of poverty, and also some criminality. Now there are disputes about the causalities.

Buschkowsky very often argues heartily against all those who promote 'multiculturalism'. He wants the problems on the ground to be tackled. Unfortunately in the process he reproduces much othering, racism and islamophobia. And unfortunately he does not look too closely at what those people he calls 'multiculturalists' have to say.

Given his approach it is not surprising that yeahpope finds his name mentioned in a racist advert.