BBC report: "Merkel says German multicultural society has failed"

[Ted King]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11559451

Mrs Merkel told a gathering of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on Saturday that at "the beginning of the 60s our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country... We kidded ourselves a while, we said: 'They won't stay, sometime they will be gone', but this isn't reality.

"And of course, the approach [to build] a multicultural [society] and to live side-by-side and to enjoy each other... has failed, utterly failed."

In her speech, the chancellor specifically referred to recent comments by German President Christian Wulff who said that Islam was "part of Germany" like Christianity and Judaism.
Muslims read Koran in Hamburg, file pic Mrs Merkel says Islam is part of Germany but more must be done on integration

While acknowledging that this was the case, Mrs Merkel stressed that immigrants living in Germany needed to do more to integrate, including learning to speak German.

"Anyone who does not immediately speak German", she said, "is not welcome".

[OWC Jamie]

but europe doesn't have immigrations problems
it is nirvana

it's been stated as such here over and over again

[Ted King]

billb wrote:
but europe doesn't have immigrations problems
it is nirvana

it's been stated as such here over and over again

I don't recall seeing that expressed over and over in this forum - actually, I can't even recall a single case of it happening. Maybe it has happened rarely, but it seems like I would recall something like that if it were really common.

[RgrF]

So "immigration" is a conservative issue everywhere, not just here in the US. Just ask conservatives who run France, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Australia or almost anywhere else in the world and they'll probably all agree that immigration dilutes the native stock.

[Spock]

billb wrote:
but europe doesn't have immigrations problems
it is nirvana

it's been stated as such here* over and over again

Here* = the tiny space between bilb's ears.

[Acer]

U.S. immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900's was so successful because while tensions were at times high, the melting pot effect eventually smoothed it out. When immigrant communities don't "melt," either because of their own cultural preferences or outside discrimination, the integration is more problematic. The government can address discrimination and offer other assistance, but ultimately the cultural aspect is up to the immigrant community itself, IMHO.

[RgrF]

Is it truly space if it's filled with cement?

[$tevie]

billb wrote:
but europe doesn't have immigrations problems
it is nirvana

it's been stated as such here over and over again

That is such BS. Why would you waste your time posting an obvious fabrication that just makes you look like a tool?

[Dennis S]

billb wrote:
but europe doesn't have immigrations problems
it is nirvana

it's been stated as such here over and over again

I am sure a few links are forthcoming. (I think Dakota's hyperbole is rubbing off.)

[cbelt3]

I'm afraid Germany's citizenship policy is primarily to blame for this 'failure'. You see, in Germany you must be the child of at least one German citizen to be a citizen. Gastarbeiters (Guest Workers) are just that... foreigners who can come, work, pay taxes, and then get the spass out. Even their German-born children are not citizens. (No 'anchor babies'). France has much the same issues with Islamic immigrant and non-citizen policies.

Point to the US politicians... The only way to integrate immigrant populations is to make them citizens and get them working as part of the population. Otherwise you're talking a complex version of serfdom.