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Multiculturalism has failed.


Tempra

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Berlin, Germany (CNN) -- Multiculturalism in Germany has "absolutely failed," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told her party's youth wing at a conference Saturday.

"The approach of saying, 'Well, let's just go for a multicultural society, let's coexist and enjoy each other,' this very approach has failed, absolutely failed," she said in a speech.

The remarks echo a comment she made to CNN last month in response to a question from Becky Anderson about Germany's Muslim population.

"We've all understood now that immigrants are a part of our country, (but) they have to speak our language, they have receive an education here," Merkel told CNN's "Connect the World" program September 27.

Germany's population is about 5 percent Muslim, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life estimated last year. Its roughly 4 million Muslims make up the largest Muslim population in western Europe.

Strong words from the leader of Europe's most important country. Is assimilation the better approach to creating a stable society in an increasingly mobile and interconnected world? For all its faults, assimilation has worked very well for America and Canada. Is Europe's salad bowl approach--long touted as more humane and superior by Europeans--dead?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/17/germany.merkel.multiculturalism/index.html?hpt=T2

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Canada's a multicultural country. It's been policy since the 1970's, and has been championed in Canada since at least 1935. We are essentially the ones who started it.

I am sure in some universe that'll be defined as touting - watch your step.

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Canada's a multicultural country. It's been policy since the 1970's, and has been championed in Canada since at least 1935. We are essentially the ones who started it.

Many francophones and first nationers would disagree.

I don't think any country can claim they started mutliculturalism or even assimilation. These practices have been practiced for far longer than either the US or Canada have been in existence.

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Many francophones and first nationers would disagree.

I don't think any country can claim they started mutliculturalism or even assimilation. These practices have been practiced for far longer than either the US or Canada have been in existence.

In how many countries has it been official policy?

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Many francophones and first nationers would disagree.

I don't think any country can claim they started mutliculturalism or even assimilation. These practices have been practiced for far longer than either the US or Canada have been in existence.

Disagree about what?

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Legal protection. In a country that has it as policy smaller groups have more protection than in a country where it's not.

Such as? What legal protection does Canada offer its minority citizens that other western countries do not? Bilingual olympic ceremonies?

Anyways, Canada's policy is beside the point of this thread. Is multiculturalism better than assimilation? No society completely advocates one policy over the other. There are undeniably elements of assimilation in societies that practice multiculturalism and vice versa, but what is the proper balance?

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What's this assimilation you're speaking of? All those cities with Chinatown and Little Italy doesn't call to mind assimilated ways.

Immigrants need to learn English in North America (or French in Quebec), but it doesn't mean they've discarded their mother tongue. They and/or their children go to school, but what's the standard? Public? Private? Religious? Are they supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving, Labour Day, Fourth of July? How many native-born North Americans observe all those holidays? And it's not like they've checked their customs and celebrations at the door. There's just no nationaly observed days for them.

Given the absolute variety of peoples making up North America, what sort of assimilation could ever be possible? White and WASPy? Please.

And just because Canada passed legislation it doesn't mean it's working. (or correct)

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Such as? What legal protection does Canada offer its minority citizens that other western countries do not? Bilingual olympic ceremonies?

Protecting them and their culture from being assimilated. And the bilingual ceremonies are a result of Canada having two official languages not multiculturalism.

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What's this assimilation you're speaking of? All those cities with Chinatown and Little Italy doesn't call to mind assimilated ways.

I was thinking that too. Different groups have achieved different levels of assimilation in the U.S. Might happen more here than in Europe, but it's not as if no one speaks their native tongue if it's not English.

Are they supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving, Labour Day, Fourth of July? How many native-born North Americans observe all those holidays? And it's not like they've checked their customs and celebrations at the door. There's just no nationaly observed days for them.

Uh.... Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, most. Labor Day? How is that even meant to celebrated other than by taking a day off?

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Well, the Conservative Party in Germany did never accept the fact that Germany might have any immigration at all. The immigration we actually have were just so-called 'guests workers' which happened to remain her and father some children.

Right now there is a debate going on about the fact that (due to the fact that we never actually cared about them) some of these guest workers descendants (especially those from Turkey and Arabian countries) did not well integrate themselves into society. And there are of course some people out there who believe that these people will multiply and take over the country.

The multiculturalism issue is also somewhat connected to the fact that the Western World started to see the Islam as a threat after 2001. Some of the Conservatives don't think that the Islam can be a part of Germany or Europe. There was some, well, irritation after our President said during his speech at the 20th anniversary of the union of Germany that the Islam does belong to Germany.

There live about 80 million people here, and 4 millions are Muslims (or belong to this background).

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What's this assimilation you're speaking of? All those cities with Chinatown and Little Italy doesn't call to mind assimilated ways.

Immigrants need to learn English in North America (or French in Quebec), but it doesn't mean they've discarded their mother tongue. They and/or their children go to school, but what's the standard? Public? Private? Religious? Are they supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving, Labour Day, Fourth of July? How many native-born North Americans observe all those holidays? And it's not like they've checked their customs and celebrations at the door. There's just no nationaly observed days for them.

I don't know that the existence of Chinatowns or Little Italys says anything about assimilation so much as past periods of rapid immigration. It's certainly true that first generation immigrants continue to use their mother tongues, but their kids don't, even if they do understand a lot of it. By the third generation, they're lucky to understand a few words. Whatever official policy there is on multiculturalism, it really has no bearing on assimilation, something that has worked pretty well in Canada.

Given the absolute variety of peoples making up North America, what sort of assimilation could ever be possible? White and WASPy? Please.

And just because Canada passed legislation it doesn't mean it's working. (or correct)

It's interesting to note that "multiculturalism" in Canada developed not because of current immigration patterns (i.e. mostly from Asia, non-European countries, etc.) but from the argument that people of central and eastern European descent - especially on the Prairies - were left out of the bicultural/bilingual model.

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I was thinking that too. Different groups have achieved different levels of assimilation in the U.S. Might happen more here than in Europe, but it's not as if no one speaks their native tongue if it's not English.

Uh.... Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, most. Labor Day? How is that even meant to celebrated other than by taking a day off?

I wouldn't attempt to suggest how many people in the US actively celebrate Thanksgiving or Fourth of July. Most? Pretty vague. And even if it's celebrated, how many eat turkey, for example? Vegetarianism and all that. Labour Day was my attempt to avoid religious holidays like Christmas and Easter.

Chinese New Year, anyone? Not just celebrated in China, even if there's no formally observed holiday in North America.

Mutilculturalism is a fine fine thing, if you want fancy new clothing or exotic cuisine. However, it falls apart when the religious and mystic parts of the culture comes into focus. There's nothing wrong with accepting and celebrating ethnic diversity. There's stuff to be learned from it. But protection of a foreign culture in a new land? That goes too far. That's how you wind up with sharia and kirpans worn in public schools. I'm the first to roll my eyes at the 'speak English' crowd, because they go beyond speaking English and seem to venture into xenophobia and some non-existent homogeneous utopia. But there's a big difference between melding cultures and carrying over things things from your former culture into your new one that clashes with laws and well established formal norms. There has to be give and take on both sides.

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Many francophones and first nationers would disagree.

I don't think any country can claim they started mutliculturalism or even assimilation. These practices have been practiced for far longer than either the US or Canada have been in existence.

No, not really. Both Francophones and First Nations have issues, but they aren't related to multiculturalism.

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What's this assimilation you're speaking of? All those cities with Chinatown and Little Italy doesn't call to mind assimilated ways.

Immigrants need to learn English in North America (or French in Quebec), but it doesn't mean they've discarded their mother tongue. They and/or their children go to school, but what's the standard? Public? Private? Religious? Are they supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving, Labour Day, Fourth of July? How many native-born North Americans observe all those holidays? And it's not like they've checked their customs and celebrations at the door. There's just no nationaly observed days for them.

Given the absolute variety of peoples making up North America, what sort of assimilation could ever be possible? White and WASPy? Please.

And just because Canada passed legislation it doesn't mean it's working. (or correct)

Right. No society completely advocates assimilation in place of multiculturalism.

I am not sure that Chinatown (and to a MUCH lesser extent little italy) is representative of the typical immigrant experience in America. Still, there are strong elements of assimilation within both communities. For example, students from Chinatown and Little Italy who attend public school still attend an English speaking public school with a curriculum not set by a Chinese or Italian board of education. They learn subjects that are in line with students not only in their city, but also their state and country.

Perhaps there is a problem with terminology. As I see it, assimilation is akin to a melting pot and mutliculturalism is akin to the salad bowl theory of integration. I think the melting pot is the apt description of what takes place in the US. Many non-irish citizens celebrate st. patty's days. A variety of ethnic cuisines (mexican, chinese, italian, etc) have been adapted and added to the national cuisine. Every new wave of immigrants gets added to the fold and helps create a common culture. Obviously, the larger the the group of immigrants, the more profound their impact will be on the common culture.

I doubt Merkel wants to force immigrants to wear lederhosen or eat sauerkraut, but instead shift away from the salad-bowl approach towards the melting pot approach.

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