Multiculturalism in Germanty has 'utterly failed', says German Chancellor Merkel

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...la-Merkel.html

Germany's attempt to create a multicultural society has 'utterly failed', according to Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel’s comments have added fuel to a debate across Europe over immigration and Islam, issues which are particularly dividing her conservative camp. Speaking to a meeting of young members of her Christian Democrats (CDU), Merkel said allowing people of different cultural backgrounds to live side by side without integrating had not worked in a country that is home to some four million Muslims.

Her comments are of particular relevance to Britain, which has also seen a huge growth in its multi-cultural society in recent years. 'This (multicultural) approach has failed, utterly failed,' Merkel told the meeting in Potsdam, south of Berlin. Merkel faces pressure from within her CDU to take a tougher line on immigrants who don't show a willingness to adapt to German society and her comments appeared intended to pacify her critics.

She said too little had been required of immigrants in the past and repeated her usual line that they should learn German in order to get by in school and have opportunities on the labour market. Ms Merkel's comments follow a recent think-tank survey that found more than a third of Germans believe the country is being ‘overrun’ by immigrants. The study, by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, also noted that far-right attitudes were not isolated at the extremes of German society, but ‘to a worrying degree at the centre of (it)’. According to reports, about 30 percent of Germans aged five years and younger have at least one parent who was born abroad and about 20 percent of its population had immigrant roots.

‘We are a country which at the beginning of the 1960s actually brought guest workers to Germany,’ Ms Merkel said. ‘Now they live with us and we lied to ourselves for a while, saying that they won't stay and that they will have disappeared again one day. ‘That's not the reality. This (multicultural) approach - saying that we simply live side by side and are happy about each other - this approach has failed, utterly failed.’ ‘We should not be a country either which gives the impression to the outside world that those who don't speak German immediately or who were not raised speaking German are not welcome here,’ she added. ‘That would do great damage to our country. Companies will go elsewhere because they won't find the people to work here anymore.

Oh my lord can you believe it, a top politician telling it like it is.

I wonder if Dave Cameron is listening (you know the guy who wants Turkey to join the EU)!!

[GommeInc]

Oh my lord can you believe it, a top politician telling it like it is.

I wonder if Dave Cameron is listening (you know the guy who wants Turkey to join the EU)!!]

I so hope it does and he had a secret plan all along, and that was to fight for it to join, then pull out of the EU and watching it crumble

[Casanova]

I could say a lot on the subject, but it seems that Merkel has taken the bold step to admit that it's going massively wrong simply to stop people doubting her. Gordon Brown could of done well doing the same!

She evidently has more reasons, such as... if she agrees with the public and accepts responsibility she's seen as sincere and truthful with her public. But also she's on the same page as them. You could never say a politician was truthful for the sake of being truthful!

A multicultural state would never and will never work in our current times. For us to make it work, we'd need to take a hard line which would then be seen as racist and that's precisely why nothing will be done and can't be done. Germany have a harder line than us but maybe we should look to france?

In my opinion any country you go to you should always respect their culture. Simply because you're in a foreign country that has different rules, regulations and beliefs and it's disrespectful to persist in your OWN culture. In a mosque cover up and take off your shoes, in dubai respectfully dress and do not conduct yourself in an unruly manner, in a jewish household don't question "where's the christmas tree?"

Culture is the defining factor on a lot of things, from manners to dietary preferances. Which is why, if you go to a different country you should act as they do. I'm not saying when in Rome, I'm saying you should respect others in their home as they should; us! Which is why I get pissed off when people tip toe around the "immigration" topic like a mourner around a coffin!

As a nation we need to set a hard line, as do Germany. Europe needs to open their eyes and understand if we want to keep our integrity then we need to put tough rules in place. Not a points system but a "SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE OR TAKE YOUR BAG AND HEAD HOME" system. We respect them in their country (apart from a few shameful ******s) so why should different nationalities be allowed to enter our country knowing some simple words and plaguing our social system and putting a strain on everything from education to religious festivals?

i'm all heated now!

[GommeInc]

Excellent post

I've never understood why people tip toe around the topic of immigration. Whenever I go to a different country, I am expected to follow their rules and traditions and I attempt to do so. As a visitor, I obviously won't speak their language as I am only visiting, but I'd at least make the attempt unless that country prefers you to speak in whatever language you are comfortable with e.g. the Netherlands.

It should be the same for the United Kingdom, and we can still be an ethnically diverse country, too. We have traditions, certain habits and ways of doing things, which some do not bother to look into, but obviously this is a topic of statistics and may not necessarily be as bad as the media makes it out to be. We obviously let people off if they do have problems, like if a some what nervous french man mixes his words we ask them to take their time or maybe even attempt to speak French back to them, but on a more permanent basis it's wiser to learn the language, the habits and the traditions for a successful merge, otherwise you may as well not leave the country you came from. We've managed to successful integrate new members in our society in the past, such as Africans and ex-empire citizens, but for some reason in the modern day era, we seem to not be so successful. Is this our fault though, or the individuals who immigrate here? It's an odd, diverse and interesting subject

I could say a lot on the subject, but it seems that Merkel has taken the bold step to admit that it's going massively wrong simply to stop people doubting her. Gordon Brown could of done well doing the same!

She evidently has more reasons, such as... if she agrees with the public and accepts responsibility she's seen as sincere and truthful with her public. But also she's on the same page as them. You could never say a politician was truthful for the sake of being truthful!

A multicultural state would never and will never work in our current times. For us to make it work, we'd need to take a hard line which would then be seen as racist and that's precisely why nothing will be done and can't be done. Germany have a harder line than us but maybe we should look to france?

In my opinion any country you go to you should always respect their culture. Simply because you're in a foreign country that has different rules, regulations and beliefs and it's disrespectful to persist in your OWN culture. In a mosque cover up and take off your shoes, in dubai respectfully dress and do not conduct yourself in an unruly manner, in a jewish household don't question "where's the christmas tree?"

Culture is the defining factor on a lot of things, from manners to dietary preferances. Which is why, if you go to a different country you should act as they do. I'm not saying when in Rome, I'm saying you should respect others in their home as they should; us! Which is why I get pissed off when people tip toe around the "immigration" topic like a mourner around a coffin!

As a nation we need to set a hard line, as do Germany. Europe needs to open their eyes and understand if we want to keep our integrity then we need to put tough rules in place. Not a points system but a "SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE OR TAKE YOUR BAG AND HEAD HOME" system. We respect them in their country (apart from a few shameful ******s) so why should different nationalities be allowed to enter our country knowing some simple words and plaguing our social system and putting a strain on everything from education to religious festivals?

i'm all heated now!