Multiculturalism failure

What do our learned members/contributors think will be the fallout of Angela Merkel's declaration that multiculturalism has failed in Germany?


http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2010/10/18/German_multiculturalism_a_failure_527528.html

The fallout? Very little I think.
In Germany, a few people will be saying that she is right but why did it take so long to become clear to her, or previous Chancellors.
Around the world, a whole bunch of people will say she is sounding suspiciously like a certain Chancellor from the mid thirties.
In Britain the EDL and BNP will be lobbying for her to be our next Prime Minister and for her birthday to be a national holiday.
But by mid November this will be yesterday's news, the status quo will remain what it is today,
La plus ça change.....

Debrajoan wrote:

Around the world, a whole bunch of people will say she is sounding suspiciously like a certain Chancellor from the mid thirties.

Nice example of Godwin's law.

but nobody mentioned the war.

.....

Doh!

Iknow Ithink something about this..but I'm not sure what.

Her remarks do sound populist. That said, she did add that Islam is an integral part of Germany now (5% of Germans are muslim). There is a long-standing debate in Germany about the value of multi-culturalism vs integration; a lot of people argue a) that multi-culturalism leads to parallel societies and b) such parallel societies cannot easily co-exist. Much has been made of third-generation migrant children arriving at school aged 6 unable to speak a word of German or adults who do not agree with fundamental principles of the German constitution. None of this is an exclusively German issue, but it is unfortunate and clumsy for a head of government to comment on such a dispute. Recently, the debate has boiled over following a hugely controversial book by Thilo Sarrazin (“Germany does away with itself”). I hope there won't be too much of a fallout.

Katia wrote:

Much has been made of third-generation migrant children arriving at school aged 6 unable to speak a word of German

One of my sons married a German girl that he met while stationed there in the military.
He learned the language, fluently, and lived and worked there for twenty years.
Both his sons were bilingual before they went to school.
In 2007 he said to me, "Dad, my younger son is being taught nothing in junior school because his class is inundated with Russian and Polish children who cannot speak the language, the German children are having to mark time until the immigrant children learn enough German to join in regular lessons."
Concerned over the possible affect this might have on his son's education, and as he was a qualified engineer, he applied to emigrate to Australia.
Being a bilingual, trained engineer, the Queensland Government welcomed him with open arms.
My Grandsons email me telling of how they help their new Australian schoolfriends with their German lessons.
I had to smile when the younger one said, "Grandpa, they speak English as good as us, but they have a funny accent!"
My son and his family return to Germany on occasion to visit his wife's family and he regularly meets his old workmates when he is there, be they of German, Turkish, or of Balkan origin, as he says, a friend is always a friend, whether he goes to a church, a mosque, or a synagogue.

I guess I'm afraid to sound unsympathetic or racist or even facist...but I truly DO think that if you want to live in a country other than your own you should "do as the Romans do". I consider it cheek that people should come to any country, Britain, Germany, the USA...and continue to insist on living as they did in the country they have left, customs, language and all, in glorified ghettos. I think keeping the language of "the old country" going is great. The more languages children have the better. But stubbornly refusing to integrate into the host country is discourteous and unacceptable and I dont know why it is indulged anywhere. It should be a prior condition for residency that one must align linguistically and culturally with the host nation. Or go back home.

Let me just say that when the expression, 'Whinging Poms' was being bandied about by the Australians, I came down firmly on the side of the Ausies. If you decide that your future lies in another country, then the moment you step ashore you should embrace their culture. Keep some of your own by all means, especially your religion, it makes for a colourful, well integrated society. But if you don't like the way they do things, then shut up and get back on the boat!

Chalkey and I obviously singing from the same hymn book...