German central bank board member: Muslims are dumb

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Thilo Sarrazin has never been one to mince words. The German central bank board member and former senior city official in Berlin has long been a strident critic of German immigration policies, even going so far as to say in an interview last autumn that immigrants sponge off the state, are incapable of integrating themselves into German society and "constantly produce little girls in headscarves."

In the interview, which appeared in the cultural magazine Lettre International, he also said that "a large number of Arabs and Turks in (Berlin) ... have no productive function other than in the fruit and vegetable trade." In the same interview, he claimed that the Turks were "conquering Germany ... through a higher birthrate."

This week, though, the Social Democrat (SPD) seems to have outdone himself. German media outlets, including SPIEGEL, have published excerpts of his soon-to-be-published book on Germany's supposed demise. As Sarrazin makes abundantly clear, that demise comes as a result of immigration. The bluntness with which he presents his ideas has kicked off a debate in Germany, and within the center-left SPD, as to whether Sarrazin has crossed the line into racism and whether he should be censured.

In the excerpts that have been published, Sarrazin writes that Germany's Muslim immigrant families have profited from social welfare payments to a far greater degree than they have contributed to German prosperity. He also has raised the spectre of the country's Muslim population, due to what he claims are much higher birth rates among immigrants, soon overtaking that of the country's "autochthonous" population -- a term roughly synonymous with "indigenous."

"If the fertility rate of German autochthons remains at the level it has been at for the past 40 years, then in the course of the next three or four generations, the number of the Germans will sink to 20 million," he writes in the book. "And, incidentally, it is absolutely realistic that the Muslim population, through a combination of a higher birth rate and continuation of immigration, could grow by 2100 to 35 million." In another passage, he writes: "I don't want the country of my grandchildren and great grandchildren to be largely Muslim, or that Turkish or Arabic will be spoken in large areas, that women will wear headscarves and the daily rhythm is set by the call of the muezzin. If I want to experience that, I can just take a vacation in the Orient."

In another passage, Sarrazin seems to suggest that Muslim immigrants would rather work under the table than legally. Through the language used in his polemics, Sarrazin appears to be aiming to push the highly divisive debate over immigration and integration closer to that of right-wing populists elsewhere in Europe, like Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.

In a contribution for the mass-circulation tabloid Bild, Sarrazin wrote, in reference to the relative lack of success that immigrants have had in German schools and the country's low birth rates, "we are simply accepting that Germany is becoming smaller and dumber." Two months ago, Sarrazin created similar headlines by saying "we are becoming ... on average dumber" and linked that claim with integration "from Turkey, the Middle East and Africa."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,713796,00.html

[sandinista! 1,816]

how do you say deja vu in german anyways?

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how do you say deja vu in german anyways?

[HappyKnappy 30]

Yeah... someone google "Tokyo Hotel". I don't think they are Muslim, heck, I don't know what they are at this point

German, all kidding aside. I don't see any Muslim influence here, does anyone?

Edited August 26, 2010 by HappyKnappy

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

"a large number of Arabs and Turks in (Berlin) ... have no productive function other than in the fruit and vegetable trade."

That's bull. They trade in Döner and Currywurst.

[Ms. Squirrel 11]

EUR 1.80 for a Doener in Berlin?? We pay 3.40 here in Frankfurt! *outrage

Edited August 26, 2010 by Ms. Squirrel

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

EUR 1.80 for a Doener in Berlin?? We pay 3.40 here in Frankfurt! *outrage

I think it's an old picture. Will be in Berlin soon. Doubt I'll find any € 1.80 Döner.

[Anna C. 4]

Yeah that must be old... in 2006 in a shabby doener hut at the Munich Hauptbahnhof it was 3.50 Euros.

[alienlovechild 75]

"If the fertility rate of German autochthons remains at the level it has been at for the past 40 years, then in the course of the next three or four generations, the number of the Germans will sink to 20 million," he writes in the book. "And, incidentally, it is absolutely realistic that the Muslim population, through a combination of a higher birth rate and continuation of immigration, could grow by 2100 to 35 million."

Don't know if those numbers are exact but Germany's population has been dropping for decades and even the projected immigration numbers and births to those relatively new to Germany won't change things.

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More, from TIME.COM.

In Deutschland Schafft Sich Ab (roughly translating as "Germany Is Doing Away With Itself"), published in August, Sarrazin argues against further immigration by drawing links between lower-class heritage and a lack of intelligence. He also claims that the influx of immigrants from Turkey, the Middle East and Africa is watering down German culture.

...

Some worry that Sarrazin represents the start of a new trend: a shift toward Islamophobia, long a phenomenon on the fringe, among the German elite.

...

His complaints about the low education levels of Germany's immigrants are supported by statistics - 9.6% of immigrants, who make up 18% of the population, have no secondary-school diploma, compared with just 1.5% of Germans - experts reject his argument that innate low intelligence is the culprit. One of the main criticisms of Germany's integration policies ... is that in international comparisons, migrants in Germany tend to have the lowest level of education - a reflection, they say, of the country's failure to provide them with good schooling. "We have invested far too little in the education of the Turkish immigrants in the past and we are paying the price for it today," Hans Merkens, a sociologist at the Free University of Berlin, tells TIME. "To blame genetics for a lack of education among migrants is complete nonsense."

And even though many Germans may agree with Sarrazin that the country has kept its doors open for migrants far too long, the numbers appear to show that immigration is actually declining. In 2000, net immigration of Turks - Germany's largest minority - into the country was 10,130 people, but by 2005, the number had plunged to 1,746.

In a commentary published in the German weekly Der Spiegel, Reiner Klingholz, director of the Berlin Institute for Population and Development, a think tank, suggested Germany needs more, not less, immigration. The Federal Statistical Office predicts that even with steady net immigration of 150,000 to 200,000 people a year, the German population will decline by 12 million by 2050. "The average age in Germany would rise toward 60 by the year 2050, over 15% of the country's citizens would be over 80, and one-third of these would be senile. Such a society would no longer be capable of playing a role in the global economy," Klingholz wrote.

Some passages in Sarrazin's book are so polemical they are no doubt designed to intentionally provoke his countrymen: "I don't want the country of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be largely Muslim, or that Turkish or Arabic will be spoken in large areas, that women will wear headscarves and the daily rhythm is set by the call of the muezzin," says one. And to some commentators, the book's biggest strength is that it has raised debate - although not necessarily the right one. "Sarrazin has made it easy for his critics to evade the real issue," wrote the conservative daily Die Welt. "Instead of the blatant shortcomings of our policies, we are now discussing whether Sarrazin is a racist or not. What a missed opportunity."

[Peikko 1,575]

Life is difficult, society complicated, blaming 'them' is easy and a great distraction.

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Life is difficult, society complicated, blaming 'them' is easy and a great distraction.

And yet, man is not an island and sometimes others are not entirely without fault.

[mawilson 2,133]

I think it's an old picture. Will be in Berlin soon. Doubt I'll find any € 1.80 Döner.

Inflation that bad, eh?

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Inflation that bad, eh?

I blame the Turks!

[Peikko 1,575]

And yet, man is not an island and sometimes others are not entirely without fault.

Everyone has a finger in the pie - so what? Blaming 'them' because 'they' are not like 'us' distracts away from finding any real solutions - if any are to be found.