I simply do not believe that refugees or illegal migration are among Germany’s most pressing problems. Nevertheless, this issue dominates the public debate – and in a way that is in fact very harmful. This was already the case in the last federal election and, unfortunately, continues to be the case.
All this plays into the hands of the right wing, as they construct their usual threat scenarios, which are not only completely exaggerated, but also absolutely counterproductive, because they deliberately ignore essential aspects such as demographic change and the (in parts associated) shortage of skilled workers. Instead, they rail against foreigners with populist slogans such as “German culture is threatened by immigration,” “foreigners are taking jobs away from Germans,” and all that nonsense.
These people’s billionaire friends, especially the social media moguls, are pushing these fundamentally false illusions out of self-interest.
As a result, the entire political debate revolves around this one issue, even though Germany has many way more pressing problems: for example, foreign policy, particularly with regard to the regime in the US, the weakening economy, social justice, environmental protection, education, and so on.
The far-right AfD, which, together with large sections of the conservative camp, is responsible for making the issue of migration so prominent, is not interested in focusing on these much more important issues at all. The reason is simple: The AfD is a neoliberal party that pursues the interests of the upper class (even worse than CDU/CSU). But they hide this fact behind their racist rhetoric. It is exactly the same tactic that MAGA pursues: pretending to stand up for the little guy, but in fact exclusively representing the interests of billionaires, which are of course by no means in the interests of the citizens. To put it polemically: in order to divert attention from rampant lobbying, foreigners are being made the scapegoats.
If we don’t manage to finally reestablish a meaningful political discourse that addresses the country’s real problems instead of fueling blind hatred, we will end up just like the Americans – with an autocratic regime that is utterly incompetent and corrupt beyond belief, yet at the same time ruthless enough to terrorize its own citizens. We already had such a regime in Germany: namely, the Nazis in the Third Reich.
So in short, I consider the completely overrepresented debate on migration to be essentially a diversionary tactic. The aim is to obscure the real reasons for Germany’s economic decline and the falling standard of living – foreigners in Germany have nothing to do with either of these issues, but that is what the right wing wants citizens to believe. As I said, you only have to look at the US to see where this leads – a look at Germany’s history would also confirm this, but unfortunately many of my compatriots seem to want to deliberately ignore the horrors of Nazi rule so that they can have a scapegoat for all their problems: foreigners.
I simply do not believe that refugees or illegal migration are among Germany’s most pressing problems. Nevertheless, this issue dominates the public debate – and in a way that is in fact very harmful. This was already the case in the last federal election and, unfortunately, continues to be the case.
All this plays into the hands of the right wing, as they construct their usual threat scenarios, which are not only completely exaggerated, but also absolutely counterproductive, because they deliberately ignore essential aspects such as demographic change and the (in parts associated) shortage of skilled workers. Instead, they rail against foreigners with populist slogans such as “German culture is threatened by immigration,” “foreigners are taking jobs away from Germans,” and all that nonsense.
These people’s billionaire friends, especially the social media moguls, are pushing these fundamentally false illusions out of self-interest.
As a result, the entire political debate revolves around this one issue, even though Germany has many way more pressing problems: for example, foreign policy, particularly with regard to the regime in the US, the weakening economy, social justice, environmental protection, education, and so on.
The far-right AfD, which, together with large sections of the conservative camp, is responsible for making the issue of migration so prominent, is not interested in focusing on these much more important issues at all. The reason is simple: The AfD is a neoliberal party that pursues the interests of the upper class (even worse than CDU/CSU). But they hide this fact behind their racist rhetoric. It is exactly the same tactic that MAGA pursues: pretending to stand up for the little guy, but in fact exclusively representing the interests of billionaires, which are of course by no means in the interests of the citizens. To put it polemically: in order to divert attention from rampant lobbying, foreigners are being made the scapegoats.
If we don’t manage to finally reestablish a meaningful political discourse that addresses the country’s real problems instead of fueling blind hatred, we will end up just like the Americans – with an autocratic regime that is utterly incompetent and corrupt beyond belief, yet at the same time ruthless enough to terrorize its own citizens. We already had such a regime in Germany: namely, the Nazis in the Third Reich.
So in short, I consider the completely overrepresented debate on migration to be essentially a diversionary tactic. The aim is to obscure the real reasons for Germany’s economic decline and the falling standard of living – foreigners in Germany have nothing to do with either of these issues, but that is what the right wing wants citizens to believe. As I said, you only have to look at the US to see where this leads – a look at Germany’s history would also confirm this, but unfortunately many of my compatriots seem to want to deliberately ignore the horrors of Nazi rule so that they can have a scapegoat for all their problems: foreigners.