Election Day
Today is Election Day in Germany.
Somewhat earlier than expected (should have been next year), but social-democratic Chancellor Schröder found his reform efforts to be consistently thwarted by the conservative majority in the upper house of the German parliament or Federal Assembly, and thus gave up.
Or well, we'll see in ... about two or three hours whether it was really giving up, or just screwing things beyond belief.
Anyway, in paying my dues as a conscious citizen of an elective democracy, I volunteered as election helper. I had to show up at the local election office at around 07:30 (a.m., yes), meaning my usual wake-up time was severely changed. But what I want to say is...
... only today, when looking at all those voters, I found how much of an immigration country Germany actually is. It is a common habit that Germany doesn't admit to itself that we need immigrants, and that we need "good" or useful immigrants. Sounds weird? Look at what other typical countries like Canada, Australia, Switzerland, or Norway are doing: They select their would-be new citizens based on language capabilities, employment prospects, wealth, ...
While today, I met for the first time people who *cannot write*. I don't know if they were completely illiterate, but how could those guys *vote*?? And lots of Russian and other (Serbian, ex-Soviet, ...) immigrants without much knowledge of German... it's no wonder there's no foreign policy or immigration culture in Germany if this is all we get.
More updates maybe later.
Somewhat earlier than expected (should have been next year), but social-democratic Chancellor Schröder found his reform efforts to be consistently thwarted by the conservative majority in the upper house of the German parliament or Federal Assembly, and thus gave up.
Or well, we'll see in ... about two or three hours whether it was really giving up, or just screwing things beyond belief.
Anyway, in paying my dues as a conscious citizen of an elective democracy, I volunteered as election helper. I had to show up at the local election office at around 07:30 (a.m., yes), meaning my usual wake-up time was severely changed. But what I want to say is...
... only today, when looking at all those voters, I found how much of an immigration country Germany actually is. It is a common habit that Germany doesn't admit to itself that we need immigrants, and that we need "good" or useful immigrants. Sounds weird? Look at what other typical countries like Canada, Australia, Switzerland, or Norway are doing: They select their would-be new citizens based on language capabilities, employment prospects, wealth, ...
While today, I met for the first time people who *cannot write*. I don't know if they were completely illiterate, but how could those guys *vote*?? And lots of Russian and other (Serbian, ex-Soviet, ...) immigrants without much knowledge of German... it's no wonder there's no foreign policy or immigration culture in Germany if this is all we get.
More updates maybe later.
posted by PJS at
Sunday, September 18, 2005
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