BERLIN, Germany 鈥 Daud Abuel is eating lunch with his family in an Arabic restaurant in Neukoelln, a southern Berlin district dominated by Muslim families.
With its high crime and high unemployment rates, Neukoelln is often cited by immigration critics as evidence of Germany鈥檚 multiculturalism failures.
Abuel, 46, is of Palestinian descent. He came to Germany 27 years ago on a scholarship, studied medicine, and now works as a doctor. And he is appalled by the recent surge in anti-immigration rhetoric in Germany.
鈥淚 speak perfect German. My wife speaks perfect German,鈥 Abuel said. 鈥淢y children were born here. My son is only 7 but he鈥檚 already in the fourth grade. I work in a hospital and I pay tax. What more can I do?鈥
Abuel is happy to be quoted, but he asks GlobalPost not to use his wife or children鈥檚 names.
鈥淎s a Muslim right now, I鈥檓 worried about speaking my mind,鈥 he said.
For decades, Germany largely ignored the question of how to integrate its immigrant communities. The bulk of the immigrants, Turkish 鈥済uest workers鈥 who came to fill low-skilled jobs during Germany鈥檚 post-war 鈥渆conomic miracle鈥 and their children, were considered guests only. They were always expected to go home when their work was done.
But most stayed, and Germany now has more than 4 million Muslims 鈥 a little over 5 percent of the population. In the summer, the long-neglected issue of their patchy integration burst onto the public stage after former central banker Thilo Sarrazin published 鈥淕ermany Does Away With Itself,鈥 a book arguing that immigration from Muslim countries was bringing about Germany鈥檚 gradual demise.
The debate came to a crescendo this month when Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech to her conservative party鈥檚 youth wing that multiculturalism, which she defined as the idea 鈥渢hat we are now living side by side and are happy about it,鈥 had 鈥渦tterly failed.鈥
Merkel tempered her remarks by saying that 鈥淚slam is now a part of Germany,鈥 but also added that Germany was defined by Christian values and that 鈥渢hose who do not accept this are in the wrong place here.鈥
While there are undoubtedly political reasons for Merkel鈥檚 uncharacteristically strong language 鈥 she is desperate to shore up conservative support to bolster her slumping poll figures 鈥 her rhetoric, like Sarrazin鈥檚 before her, has tapped into a deep anxiety among the German public.
鈥淚n Germany, the left has always successfully slapped the 鈥楴azi鈥 label on anyone who alluded to the problems of mass immigration,鈥 said Karl Schmitt, the acting head of an anti-Islam group called the Pax Europa Citizens鈥 Movement.
Schmitt was an active member of Merkel鈥檚 Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party for 15 years until he joined the new anti-Islam 鈥淔reedom Party,鈥 which has close ties with the firebrand Dutch anti-Islam politician, Geert Wilders.
He compares Muslim immigration to Germany with European colonization of the Americas. Citing passages of the Quran to back his case, he describes Islam as 鈥渁 hostile and malignant ideology.鈥
鈥淲e see an occupation in this mass immigration,鈥 he said.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/germany/101028/germany-immigration-multiculturalism