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The Christian Democrats are debating whether to follow Mr Ruttgers’ lead and make an anti-immigration stance the focus of their 2002 general election campaign. "It’s not an issue that is being artificially whipped up for an election campaign," says Mr Michael Glos, parliamentary floor leader, Bavarian Christian Social Union. "It’s a topic that the public is concerned about and has to be resolved. Declaring it taboo is the same as saying, "The public is too dumb for this." The launch of the scheme that attracted Mr Bhardwaj to Germany has made the choice more difficult than it would have been a few months ago. "In the past we always discussed immigration in terms of how we could avoid bringing people into Germany," Thomas Mickeleit, spokesman for IBM Deutschland, said, "Now, we’re talking about the opposite." His own company’s support for the scheme highlights another important novelty: that in this debate the right cannot count on support from its natural allies in business. Indeed, the government’s plan grew out of a dinner for IT company bosses in February given by the Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder. It lets computer experts live and work in Germany for up to five years provided they have either a university degree or the offer of a job paying more than DM 1, 00,000 (about Pounds sterling 30,000) a year. The press dubbed it the "Green card" scheme. Hans Mader, the official in charge, said that in its first 10 weeks of operation, 2,261 persons had been placed: some to a disappointing result. Behind the Green card plan looms the question of whether Germany, like other European states, needs to import not thousands but millions of workers. Could Germany cope without an outburst of xenophobic resentment? Mr Bhardwaj’s first impression of Berlin was overwhelmingly positive. But he has been in Germany only a short time. Jarnail and Ramona Singh have different experiences to recount. They, too, live in Berlin, having fled from the eastern town of Meerane, where they ran a restaurant. On September 30, after a dispute with their neighbours, their premises were stormed by a howling drunken mob. Racism and racist violence are scarcely unique to Germany, but there are several reasons why Germany is likely to find the transition to a multi-ethnic society more difficult than other western European countries. For a start, it now includes the formerly communist east — a region in which, until just 10 years ago, the imposition of socialism was held to have obviated the need for a thorough reckoning with the racist past. While the level of racial violence in the West is comparable with that elsewhere in western Europe, in eastern Germany it is four times the level of that in Britain, according to conservative official estimates. In Germany there is an exceptionally close link in the public mind between nationality and ethnicity. Only this year have those born in Germany gained the automatic right to become Germans if their parents were born elsewhere. To most other Germans the 7 million who belong to ethnic minorities are Auslander (foreigners). For decades the main parties insisted that Germany was "not a country of immigration". The foreigners who arrived as cheap labour were not immigrants but Gastarbeiter (guest workers). And, like guests, they were expected to leave when no longer welcome. The Green card initiative has undoubtedly helped to change perceptions. It has made the point that immigrants are a boon, not a burden. At the same time it is helping to sustain the old myth that one day, if circumstances change, the foreigners may all go home and leave Germany to the Germans. The Green card holders, with their five-year work permits, are ultimately modern hi-tech guest workers. — By arrangement with |
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