Just months ago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to assimilate as many Syrian refugees as can make it to Germany. She won near-universal praise for doing so.
I, however, sounded this sobering, foreboding note:
Unsurprisingly, liberal Germans are greeting this first wave of migrants with banners, cheers, and food. But don’t be surprised if these same Germans are hurling xenophobic epithets at sequent waves a few months from now — as predictable strains/conflicts, especially with respect to gainful employment and welfare benefits, become manifestly untenable.
(“European Migration Crisis: Sowing Seeds of Unintended, but all too Foreseeable Consequences,” The iPINIONS Journal, September 6, 2015)
Therefore, I was not at all surprised when, just weeks later, the backlash began. I duly commented in “Migrant Invasion Causing Humanitarian Remorse in Germany,” September 28, 2015.
But even I did not anticipate the way Merkel reacted to this backlash. That she began making compromises is one thing; after all, politics is the art of compromise.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday she wanted to ‘drastically decrease’ the number of refugees coming to Germany, signaling a compromise to critics of her open-door policy from within her conservatives on the eve of a party congress.
(Reuters, December 13, 2015)
That she began scapegoating multiculturalism is quite another; after all, assimilating refugees fosters multiculturalism, naturally:
Those who seek refuge with us also have to respect our laws and traditions, and learn to speak German. Multiculturalism leads to parallel societies, and therefore multiculturalism remains a grand delusion.
(Huffington Post, December 14, 2015)
Mind you, I would understand if Merkel cited concerns about increased violence, or fears about terrorism, for her compromise. But it makes no sense for her to pledge to assimilate these refugees if she were really concerned about them breeding untenable multiculturalism.
To be fair, though, railing against some phantom concept of multiculturalism has been Merkel’s delusional pet peeve for years.
‘Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have utterly failed’, Chancellor Angela Merkel says.
She said the so-called ‘multikulti’ concept – where people would ‘live side-by-side’ happily – did not work, and immigrants needed to do more to integrate – including learning German.
(BBC, October 17, 2010)
No shit!
But listening to her rail against it in light of her own pledge beggars belief. You’d think Merkel had never heard of the multiculturalism that defines no less a country than the United States. Not to mention that the only parallel societies Europe and the United States have to fear are the ones that exist between rich and poor classes, not Muslim and non-Muslim cultures.
Therefore, instead of building fences to keep migrants out, Europe should be emulating the way the United States assimilates them. Not least because they will continue migrating to Europe just as they continue migrating to the United States … come what may.
This testimonial from the newly elected prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, is instructive:
We know in our bones that Canada was built by people from all corners of the world who worship every faith, who belong to every culture, who speak every language.
We believe in our hearts that this country’s unique diversity is a blessing bestowed…
We know that our enviable, inclusive society didn’t happen by accident and won’t continue without effort.
(CBC, October 21, 2015)
Trudeau has pledged to assimilate 25,000 Syrian refugees. I completely agree with him on the virtues of multiculturalism and the diversity it fosters. With respect to these refugees, however, I remain convinced that the best thing countries like Canada can do is to help create and defend a safe haven for them in Syria. I refer you to my September 6 commentary quoted above for details.
In any event, Merkel pandering to the right wing of her party on multiculturalism smacks of Donald Trump pandering to the right wing of his on immigration. This is clearly not the kind of leadership that won her universal praise just months ago.
Indeed, apropos of remorse, this fascistic-sounding Merkel must fill the editors at TIME magazine with lots.
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Migration remorse…