I have been working in the integration area for people with a migration background in a Hessian community for over 22 years. For me it is still a great and meaningful job after all these years. And I have justified hope of exercising it until my retirement.
But especially after the amocation in Munich, it is difficult for me to look at my professional work with joy and satisfaction. This also has to do with media reporting and the numerous comments offline and on social networks.
Sharper restrictions are negligent
The prevailing black and white, which determines our socio -political discourse, is increasingly frustrating me. Bela B. already knew in 2009: “There is no longer black and white; Where did you get the shit from? “
I am annoyed by the sub -complexity with which our politicians discuss the topics of migration and integration. German immigration law, including all regulations and guidelines, is one of the most complex laws in Germany. In many articles that I read, it was said that sharper restrictions were the solution to all problems. I think that is negligent and wrong.
Nobody talks about male violence
I hope that our politicians are able to explain openly, transparently and understandably why the current restrictive laws are so difficult to implement in practice. And that, given the terrible assassination recently, less about the origin of the perpetrators, but more about their gender. I am currently missing the discourse on male violence.
I hope that the conditions in the shared accommodation are spoken out loud. That better psychosocial care for refugee people is discussed and work on corresponding programs. What do I get in the current election campaign instead? Five or ten-point plans that are part of how people either should not even enter our country or leave on a large scale.
My colleagues with international family history often talk about whether Germany is still a livable country for them and their relatives in view of the political election results of recent times and the current projections. That makes me sad. And angry.
Perpetrators are not the norm
I find the amok attacks of the past few months terrible and do not want to put their hideousness into perspective. However, it should also be clear that the prevention measures and internal security reach their limits for mentally ill perpetrators.
At the same time, I find that more and more people in my environment equate the assassins with “foreigners”. In the 22 years of my professional activity, I always remembered the sentence that Tommy Lee Jones says in the film “Men in Black” to Will Smith: “And Most of Them Are Decent Enough, They’re Just Trying to make a Living. ” And that is: these perpetrators are not the norm, but should be made politically instrumentalized.
I was only again last weekend and last year’s spring on numerous demos against the right (extremism). As best I find these civil society movements, I was annoyed that it was often equated in the speeches I heard there, a successful integration was often equated with economic performance. Damn – it’s about our fellow human beings. To friends, neighbors, colleagues, colleagues.
Replacement of the positive integration stories
That brings me to my last wishes: When is the immigration history in the FRG finally treated at school with all its positive examples and success? When are the stories of the numerous people, initiatives and institutions told that are committed to good and neighborly living together every day? Why are topics that affect us all as urgently as the mobility turnaround, affordable living space or digitization so little discussed in the current election campaign? When does politics finally draw the big optimistic picture with a perspective for the next four years?
We are more. And Germany should be more than what it shows in migration and domestic politics.