Racism in Germany
Racism; a problem present in as good as every country. And here in Germany we are unfortunatly no exception.
During regional elections one can see that the NPD (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands), which you can find on the extreme right of the political spectrum, enjoys an increasing popularity in certain parts of the country.
You would think that politicians consequently scratch their heads and ask themselves "How come?". Well, not over here.
In Germany politicians immediatly wonder "What can we do about it?" instead of looking for the roots of the problem first. Or maybe they do and just don´t say it out loud because they might have to point the fingers back at themselves.
I want to explain what I consider to be the roots of the problem.
I don´t believe that everybody who voted or wants to vote for the NPD is a racist. Especially in areas suffering from high unemployment people tend to support the NPD, not because they hate people with a different heritage or culture, but out of protest. People get desperate, because they feel helpless and can´t see the mainstream parties doing anything to improve the standard of living for those worst hit.
Furthermore the NPD says out loud what many people think and other parties don´t dare to take up. What else could it be, but the "anti-US policies" agenda.
Last but not least the NPD gets a lot of its support from young males with little education, which is not really too surprising since students at so called "Hauptschulen" (the lowest level of education; graduating after sec 4, if I am not wrong) don´t even have history lessons. Those students are not even being taught the fascist history of their homecountry and what the NPD actually stands for. Education plays a major part here.
From what I can see, these are the actual roots of the problem. But currently the only solution being discussed is to ban the NPD, as if that would change the mindset of the people that have elected them in the first place.
Do you think banning such parties is a good idea? What about freedom of speech? Should such groups be tolerated?
Since this is a rather global problem, how is it being handeled elsewhere?
Give racism the boot!
~peace~
