Germany needs more immigrants
03.09.2010
Like many people, I am shocked at the content and tone of recent statements by Thilo Sarrazin on immigration in Germany. I agree with Angela Merkel that they are "unacceptable".
Sarrazin backs up some of his remarks with pseudo-scientific evidence. This may reflect a trend of people looking into the connection between cultural differences and economic activity. My Business Spotlight colleagues came across a recent study by Raquel Fernández with the provocative title ‘Does Culture Matter?’ To be honest, I got a bit lost in the economic jargon, and the article left me feeling uneasy about the danger of being blinded by science.
More appealing to me is a more common-sense approach I found on the Spiegel International site. Reiner Klingholz states clearly the need for Germany to attract immigration from abroad. Interestingly, he points out that in 2009 some 30,000 immigrants came from Turkey to Germany while 40,000 returned to Turkey from Germany.
Klingholz writes, "Germany needs now — not in a few decades — a policy of massive immigration with outstanding conditions for integration similar to those found in Canada. Due to demographic factors, the German working population will shrink by some 30 percent as the large group of baby boomers reaches retirement age over the coming years. During this critical phase, there will be too few young, productive people who can produce the prosperity required to care for the country's aging population."
He concludes: "It is perfectly clear that our culture will change in the process — as will the cultures of the immigrants. Nobody knows how 'Western' this new culture will turn out to be. That thought alone is frightening for many people. But it helps if we realize that constant change is part of the very nature of culture. If a culture ceases to adapt, it becomes history."
I couldn’t agree more. How refreshing to hear some sanity in the immigration debate.
Inhalt
untermauern
pseudowissenschaftliche Beweise/Belege
stoßen auf
provokant
Fachsprache
voller Unbehagen
von der Wissenschaft geblendet werden
ansprechend, attraktiv
von gesundem Menschenverstand zeugender Ansatz
anziehen
zu bedenken geben
Politik
herausragend
Wegen
Bevölkerung
schrumpfen
Angehörige der geburtenstarken Jahrgänge
das Rentenalter
Wohlstand
alternd
schließen
dabei
sich entpuppen als
beängstigend
aufhören
sich anzupassen
erfrischend
Vernunft
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COMMENTS
The problem with immigration in Germany is that most of the foreigners who come to this country don't do this in order to work, but to benefit from Germany's social securities which are pretty easy to get. Sarrazin's comments were not aimed at immigrants who are able and willing to adapt and to work, but at those who don't. Due to Germany's history, most politicians won't say what they think about this topic, and Sarrazin had the guts to do so and was immediately punished for it. It is true that the German population will decrease and age, therefore the country needs other sources of labour. The majority of European countries will only let immigrants enter if they bring certain prerequisites, for example the command of the country's language, which is, in my eyes, the most important factor. Germany, for the bigger part, lacks these conditions. Sarrazin also aimed his statements at German citizens who don't work and only live of the state's benefits. He shouldn't have expressed his feelings in that harsh manner, but I believe many Germans feel the same as him.