When I was chatting with a friend in California, United States, he was asking how is life in Germany…I replied with optimistic tone “Great”…the next question he asked to me do you really feel safe to live and work in Germany and passed on the below link... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8347040.stm Will be worth enough to read that article from BBC before continuing reading mine..The title from BBC states “Is Germany a racist country?” After reading that article I felt I should make my comments simply because this country offered me something which I never imagined for in the past. It’s quite easy to stereotype the small minor incidents when it is related to foreigners. If one foreigner breaks the rule lets say not following the traffic rules could lead to a conclusion that all the foreigners are like this. Same holds good when the majorities perform some attacks on the minorities. These issues are always very sensitive in any sections of the society.
I can quote numerous examples of minorities having problems in different corners of the world. For eg. Muslims in India, Tamils in SriLanka, Indian Origin in Malaysia, off late Indians in Australia, Blacks in the past South Africa, America and the example goes on and on. There are always anti-social elements in any sections of the society. When you return from a football match in East Germany is equivalent to returning from a match where Manchester United lost and talk to Hooligans after the match. So England a racist country?
Since I made lot of fortunes in German society, met highly smart intellectuals in University, work and daily life, I can now blow my trumpet “Wow, I love Germans”. Just one small incident with some drunkard in the subway train in the future will make me to write “All Germans are Racist Idiots”. Ah my goodness how opportunistic I can be. Can I forget all the wonderful experiences I made in the past just for one small incident with one stranger?
I accept the fact that it takes really time to integrate in to German society. With my experiences here for four years, I can clearly say its mainly because of the language constraints. Just imagine a situation in England or US, when you go to a shop and you buy some articles and you can’t speak English. Would you expect them to be friendly and can you integrate in to the society with out English. Just because one can not speak German fluently and finds it hard to integrate in to the society can we stereotype that Germans are racists?
For sure, there exists in some places, some situations where you feel you are discriminated. Honestly speaking I faced even in Indian society being an Indian with respect to caste, color, creed and the language I spoke. I asked the same friend who is living in California, you live in United States for so many years. How many Americans would have invited you for a dinner? The answer was straightforward “Not even one”. Does that mean so many Germans invited me for a dinner that I am writing an article in support of this society? ;) Its not just one or two days of my life in Germany to defend her but its been mammoth four years of experience to break the shackles.
Let’s accept the fact that minorities are always at the level of scrutiny and there is always thin line between mistakes and acceptance. The rule of thumb is if you as a minority want to make some fortunes in foreign land always outshine the majorities. I should say I was blessed to meet highly smart rational intellectuals during my stay here and of course I also met some RACISTS. Is still Germany a racist country?
CONCLUSION: Stereotype never helps in life.. :)
Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S
7 comments:
good one.I believe racism is not because of the color. Its more about the race that is imprinted with that skin color. At the moment, a white in general is known to be civilized (by and large), and blacks/browns etc. are known to be a mixed bag. Imagine, the scenario wherein the so called developing nations were more civilized, would the color black/brown be looked at the same way?.
good one... I agree with you Sathish, in one year of stay at Hamburg, I had never felt any racism in North Germany. Life without Exceptions is meaningless, but exceptions alone cant make the life....
(btw, Muslims in our India are "SO CALLED" Minorities. In many places, I dont see them as Minorities. For a prospective India, we should abolish this Minority term and everyone shud be the same under the democracy we follow)
Well.. Racism exists in every part of the world...even in India...so does in Germany. The point is you should be happy as long as you dont undergo an incident... n u cannot accuse the whole country if u did.
And why would Walraff act as if he is black? Does he think ppl are so dumb that they cannot differentiate a real african and a clown in a carnival? They cannot potray something to solve a problem... this applies to the great tamil director balachander's worst film "paarthale paravasam"
Racism..stereotypes exists everywhere.. only education can overcome these things.
btw, a small correction in your post. Whites are the ones having trouble in south africa..not the blacks !! lol
Stay brown.. Peace
Thanks Sathish,
It's always been a pleasure to have you here.
Cheers
Henrik
Hi! Just read your post. Germans are not racist on the offset. Just inviting you for dinner or drinking beer with you wouldn't qualify for the absence of racism. Perhaps, you friend wasn't invited to an Americans' household, but that does not eliminate that there are several Indians who are well integrated in the American society.
From the corporate perspective, how many CEOs in Germany are foreigners? Take the US for instance. Your fellow countrymen - Vikram Pandit, Sanjay Jha, Vikram Dham, Indra Nooyi are all CEOs of multinational profitable companies. How many companies outsource their operations to India and how many German companies do the same?
You need to speak German in Germany. But, where else would one need German? India? US? UK? Australia? Its high time the Germans speak proper German, forget English. Several German kids themselves cannot demonstrate a proper command of their mother tongue. So, learning English and being competitive is far sighted.
Germany is a very conservative economy and their conservativeness is killing them. They still derive satisfaction from the post war growth that the baby boomers enjoyed, but the present day Germans, the 2nd generation needs to be more competitive.
The Germans, IMHO, are a confused lot. I have lived and worked in Germany for German clients. But its nowhere compared to the international population in the US. I wonder if you have been to the US at all. A fish in a well
Would have been great if you would have been dare enough to left your name when leaving the comment. Anyways, let me try to be diplomatic..because that's what I learned here by staying in this part of the world..
The article was "Is Germany a racist country"..it was never where Indians can be CEO or can be successful...Its very clear that language plays a big role in the success of any individual in a particular society...
A fish in the well...My teacher taught me "Frog in the well"...Fortunately or unfortunately this fish could survive in the well of Europe and could witness 16 different taste in the well... See the world more than American Dollars and CEO and fortunes...Life is beyond that... :)
Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S
I read your interesting article carefully. Now the issue which was raised by one of the commentators is not about American dollars and CEO but the willingness of German establishment or mainstream society to accept successful dark-skinned individuals from an alien culture or different culture. We cannot ignore that German society even at the highest level is struggling and battling to come to terms with the global Indian. Surely top German companies and the managers are not racist or else they would not have promoted these Indian performers or achievers. However when these Indian professionals wish to occupy top CEO or Management positions in Germany at the HQs all heckles are raised. I have lived, studied and worked in Germany and it is very clear that multi-kulti as they call it works very well and fine at a certain social level. This doesn't qualify the society as racist but what is disturbing for me is the social strata which is displaying this prejudiced emotion is highly educated, powerful and should know better. Again racism is not perhaps the right expression in this context but cultural unease with foreigners who don't belong to the same cultural and ethnic family.
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