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BERLIN,
Aug 30 (IPS) - Germany is familiar with the larger issues that have
been threatening to stymie the U. N. Conference on Racism, which
opens in Durban, South Africa at the end of the month. After years
of debate and controversy, the government together with big business
this year set up a 5 billion U.S. dollar fund to compensate slave
labourers forced to toil in factories during the Nazi era.
Important
as they may be, German officials believe that such issues from the
past should not sideline the debate on combating racism, which continues
to rear its ugly head today.
''The
rows on issues such as colonialism and the Middle East conflict
stand in the way of us concentrating on problems much closer to
home,'' said a spokesperson for the German foreign ministry, expressing
the evident frustration of the German government.
Germany,
which will be represented in Durban by Foreign Minister Joschka
Fischer, is keen to go raise issues such as anti-Semitism at a time
when Jewish graveyards continue to be vandalised in the country,
neo- Nazi websites that spread hate messages worldwide, and racism
and intolerance in general.
Officials
and non-governmental organisations here fear, however, that instead
of giving much-needed backing to governments' efforts to combat
racism today, the conference will become hostage to a range of wider
perceived historical injustices.
The
Durban conference comes at an opportune time for Berlin. Germany's
Social Democrat-Green Party coalition government is in need of clear
condemnations of racism to support its own efforts to make immigration
acceptable and the life of immigrants tolerable.
''There
is a need in Germany, particularly at this moment, for clear signals
from Durban, that civilised society condemns racism and xenophobia,''
said a foreign ministry official.
This
is not just a question of upholding civilised values. Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder is hoping to garner cross-party political support
for the country's first-ever draft immigration bill, which was tabled
in parliament this month.
The
government wants to ease immigration to the country to combat a
shortage of highly-skilled labour, but fears that opposition conservative
politicians could whip up anti-foreigner sentiments among the populace
when campaigning for national elections begins next year.
Schroeder's
one-off scheme, launched last year to admit up to 20,000 computer
experts, signalled a sea change in government, which set up a cross-party
commission under Christian-Democrat politician Rita Suessmuth to
report on immigration issues.
''Until
March 2000 when Chancellor Schroeder launched his green- card initiative
(to attract high-technology workers), foreigners were seen as a
threat by all the political parties, against which the country had
to be defended,'' said Cornelia Schmalz-Jacobsen, a member of the
Suessmuth Commission and who used to be responsible for foreigners'
affairs under the previous conservative-liberal government of Chancellor
Helmut Kohl.
''German
people still think we are a homogenous population and anyone who
is not white and blond doesn't belong here,'' noted Schmalz- Jacobsen.
''I think the main work of the government will be to get it out
of the German people's system that the boat is not full, that we
have not reached the limit.''
This
may still be an uphill battle, particularly in parts of the depressed
east where unemployment is high and right-wing extremism a way of
life of many communities. Last week, the German interior ministry
reported a rise in right-wing extremist crimes in the first half
of 2001 compared to the same period a year earlier.
More
than 5,000 propaganda crimes, such as the display of the Nazi swastika
symbol, were registered, as were another 2,200 hate crimes, mostly
against foreigners. Yet mayors in eastern cities continue to describe
attacks against foreigners as ''fights between youths''.
The
number of militant extreme-right wingers, whose credo is to hate
foreigners, grew from 9,700 last year to more than 10,000 today,
says Germany's internal intelligence organisation, the Office for
the Protection of the Constitution (OPC). This trend has emerged
despite a government initiative to help neo-Nazis leave the extreme
right and return to mainstream society.
Despite
being banned last year, the neo-Nazi organisation Blood and Honour
continues its activities unabated, the OPC says. In the last 12
months, the number of neo-Nazi home pages on the Internet has more
than doubled to 1,000.
Coinciding
with the Durban conference, militant neo-Nazis and the extreme-right
National Party of Germany have planned a demonstration in Leipzig
against ''EU multiculturalism'', borrowing catch-phrases from left-wing
militants who have attracted recent attention with their violent
campaigns against globalisation.
Meanwhile,
initiatives launched by the government to help and to teach anti-racism
in schools seem to have run out of steam and local officials still
see it as acceptable to treat foreigners derisively and curtly.
In
the wake of a survey in North Rhine-Westphalia that 68 percent of
foreigners feel discriminated against by officials because of their
origins, Harald Schartau, minister for social affairs in the state
government of North Rhein-Westphalia, said: ''We must make it clear
(to officials) that specific decisions have nothing to do with peoples
country of origin or skin colour.''
''Our
own civil servants have to be schooled,'' agreed Schmalz- Jacobsen.
A bill that went before the German parliament in 1999 outlawing
discrimination against foreigners, and which failed to pass, has
still not been resurrected despite a requirement by the EU that
member states enact anti-discrimination laws by 2003.
Schmalz-Jacobsen,
a Free Democrat, was one of those who voted against the bill in
1999 because, she says, she could not see how to effectively combat
infractions against such a law. She now says she has changed her
mind ''because it could add considerably to a necessary improvement
in the climate regarding foreigners''.
In
particular, ''it would act as a signal to immigrants and German
society that we are serious about providing equal opportunities
for minorities,'' she says.
With
so much work still to be done to change perceptions and opinions
in Germany, officials in the foreign ministry regard as crucial
positive signals from the upcoming Durban conference. (END/IPS/HD/EU/YS/JS/01)
(*The
following is part of a series of articles ahead of the World Conference
Against Racism and Discrimination, Durban, South Africa, Aug. 31
- Sep. 7, 2001.)
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