Angela Merkel: Multicultural society has failed.

[Smoke]

BBC News - Merkel says German multicultural society has failed

Mrs Merkel told a gathering of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on Saturday that at "the beginning of the 60s our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country... We kidded ourselves a while, we said: 'They won't stay, sometime they will be gone', but this isn't reality.

"And of course, the approach [to build] a multicultural [society] and to live side-by-side and to enjoy each other... has failed, utterly failed."​

 

[xkatz]

The EU's problem is that it has been too lenient in terms of it's immigration policies.

 

[Sunstone]

You must assimilate. As a practical matter, it just doesn't work for large populations with different and conflicting values to live side by side. The necessity is not multiculturalism, but assimilation.

 

[kai]

At long last! why is it pie in the sky politicians take so long to see what is staring themselves in the face ,multi culturalism hasnt worked and most of us have known that everytime we drive through a Bangla deshi or Somali colony in our own major cities.

 

[Herr Heinrich]

Interesting. It will be interesting to see how events unfold from this point.

 

[thedope]

The cult itself is suspect. The reason for culture is to consolidate affections through taboo and hero worship, ultimately to distinguish ourselves from the "other".

 

[Caladan]

I've been following Der Spiegel's grim articles about the issues with the immigrant communities in Germany for a while now.

 

[Onkara]

Isn't it too early to say they have failed? They might be failing but unless, like France, you pay them to go home, there is still a significant amount of movement of immigration in the EU and the game isn't over yet

 

[Smoke]

Isn't it too early to say they have failed? They might be failing but unless, like France, you pay them to go home, there is still a significant amount of movement of immigration in the EU and the game isn't over yet

But Merkel isn't arguing against immigration; she's arguing against multiculturalism. She doesn't want to stop immigration. She wants immigrants to learn German and assimilate.

 

[Wessexman]

I suppose it would depend upon your views of man, society and culture and how encompassing, unifying and important for the individual you saw them, however hasn't there always been something somewhat oxymoronic about the statement "multiculturalism"?

 

[Onkara]

Multiculturalism is immigration, in my opinion they cannot address immigration, so they must address multiculturalism. It is like trying to cure a problem by treating the symptoms and not the cause. It is too late to speak of immigration because it is the EU.

BTW, I am not against either. I am an EU immigrate.

 

[Wessexman]

No your not, your an immigrant to one of the EU member states. We haven't lost our sovereignty completely yet, though the ...... in Brussells are doing their best.

 

[Onkara]

We haven't lost our sovereignty completely yet, though the ...... in Brussells are doing their best.

Why do you think it is in their interests to go in that direction?

 

[Wessexman]

It is good for certain financial and industrial interests. The civil service has also become effectively twinned, in terms of crossover relationships, between Brussells and at least Whitehall and it is probably the same all over the EU. Also certain liberal viewpoints welcome the sort of ideology of the EU, hence the Lib Dems and their supporter in Britain love the darn thing. Finally and most unfortunately only Britain and perhaps a few other EU nations are Eurosceptic in their populaces.

 

[Onkara]

It comes down to money doesn't it. (Some say that) the reason the UK joined was power initially as they saw France and Germany building an alliance in which they would have no word if they stood back.

 

[Onkara]

Playing Devil's advocate here:

The problems of multiculturalism are clear on the streets and hold a place in statistics. It is on Politician's agendas, however the approach is not to stop or reduce the impact of the open labour market (as that generates money). But it is not the politicians who have to live with the problems on the street, or is it?

 

[monta]

People are grumbling because the money ran out. Are these guys assimilated into mainstream German culture?

People want someone to blame and the person that sticks out is an easy target, it is a practice as old as politics.

 

[Madhuri]

I am grateful for multiculturalism. It's done more good than bad.

 

[Onkara]

I am grateful for multiculturalism. It's done more good than bad.

Me too. I think it will be better in 100 to 1000 years time though. But I guess the Roman's thought that 2000 years ago.

 

[Caladan]

People are grumbling because the money ran out. Are these guys assimilated into mainstream German culture?

And most Germans are probably going to consider these guys as bums.

People want someone to blame and the person that sticks out is an easy target, it is a practice as old as politics.

Yes and no. people will always have a difficult time to accept foreigners, however the fact that many immigrants themselves resist embracing the local culture to some healthy extent makes the whole thing much more harsh.