Session 2
Immigration and Asylum
Dr. Murad Wilfried Hofmann
Bismillahi-r-rahmani-r-rahim, Ladies and gentlemen, sisters and brothers in Islam, as-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Whether immigration, of which asylum is just a mere variant, will be successful or not, in my view, depends on the following six factors: cultural affinity, level of education, distance to home country, degree of laicism and pluralism, collective memories and readiness to integrate.
Cultural affinity: Germany as a central power, having borders with no less than nine other countries, over the centuries absorbed a great many immigrants, from French Huguenots and Royalists during the 18th century and Polish farm workers in the 19th century to wave after wave of "guest workers" after World War II. At first, mainly Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards and Croatians were recruited. Later, up to 1974, most immigrants were Muslims, mainly coming from Turkey, but also from North Africa, Bosnia, Albania. Currently the number of Muslims in Germany is 3.3 million. The non-Muslim immigrants, being exclusively Catholic, have been absorbed to a point where they could be overlooked if there were no pizza restaurants around. In fact, that famous German soccer players from the Ruhr basin still carry Polish names is taken as normal. On the other hand, even after 40 years, the Muslim immigrants remain highly visible if only because of racial traits (black hair, darker skin, beards Muslim fashion, women's Islamic dress), organizations on ethnic lines, cultural habits (couscous, doner kebab) and religious elements (halal slaughtering, mosques built oriental style, fasting during Ramadan, etc.). Consequently the Muslim population presents more potential irritants than the immigration ever did. Their degree of "foreigness" is high and that alone is food for Islamophobia, particularly when the number of "Oriental" children in school comes close to reaching 50 percent, as is the case in big cities, including Berlin. It seems that all societies react panically, going into future shock, if their foreign element surpasses something like 14 percent.
Level of Education: The problem becomes more critical if the immigrants are seen as socially inferior for lacking education and language skills. In this respect Germany is particularly hard hit since the majority of Turkish guest workers there came from rural areas, without technical skills and without any command of German. In contrast, most Maghrebian Muslims coming to France knew French before coming. And the same is true for English as far as many of the Indian and Pakistanis and Bangladeshis in Britain is concerned. Language-wise they had a head start. This is reflected in the number of academically trained Muslims in France and the United Kingdom which is considerably higher than the respective figure for Turks in Germany. As a result, Muslims in England and – to a lesser degree – in France, have been able to reach higher social prestige that in Germany by Turks, reflected by the lordship of several British Muslims and institutions like the Markfield Institute for Higher Education. Of course, social upward mobility counteracts the instinct of discrimination.
Distance of Home Country: Curiously, the large distance separating Indo-Pakistanis from the subcontinent is a positive factor for their social integration while the geographic proximity of Turkey works in the opposite direction. Turks can reach their country of origin within two hours from Munich. To go there for vacations by car is no problem either. As a result, and due to the availability of Turkish cable and television satellites, Turkish immigrants focus on Turkey to such an extent that they continue far too long in the mental state of transit passengers. In fact, they continue to repatriate their dead to Turkey. In contrast, visiting India or Pakistan is prohibitively expensive for large Muslim families in Britain or anywhere else. And many Algerians and Tunisians, in particular, in France prefer not to return to North Africa because they are asylum seekers, formally or informally. In other words, the easier it is for immigrants not to break off the bridges behind them, the longer the process of integration.
Degree of laicism and pluralism: The accommodation of immigrants, of course, also depends on conditions on the side of the receiving nation. If they are pluralistic in ethnic and religious terms – like the United States, for instance – immigration is relatively easy. Where almost all families until recently were immigrants themselves, it is almost natural to take in furtherwise. In this respect, until two years ago, Germany was especially reticent. Typically, German citizenship is transferred not by residence (ius soli), but by blood (ius sanguinis). German blood? The country all too long maintained the fiction not to be an immigration country and thus, against all evidence, artificially treated its large Muslim immigration as temporary. This fiction has been dropped now as economists proved the necessity for the German economy to have qualified and controlled immigration. Already about 700,000 Turks have been nationalized now, without giving up their Turkish passport by the way. In this respect former colonial powers like the United Kingdom and France find it somewhat easier to cope with immigration. They had gotten used to trouble, so to speak. Equally important is the situation of religion in immigration countries. Muslims in France seem to profit from the French doctrine of laicite, which, since 1905, has been separating state and religion quite radically. At least in France, religion does not inimically blow into the face of Muslims. They cannot teach Islam in government schools, but at least there are no Christian classes either where children might be indoctrinated against Islam. In officially Catholic countries like Spain, Italy, Ireland and in countries with a state religion, like Great Britain and Scandinavia, or in countries with officially recognized churches like Austria and Germany, things are different. Or are they? In reality, as so often, all depends. It is indeed possible that Muslims can operate easier in a de-Christianized environment than in confrontation with strong and jealous churches. But it is also possible that Muslims and strongly believing Christians can form a coalition against the growing atheist and agnostic environment around them. In the last resort, it all depends on whether the Christian side realizes that it is now in a minority as well, sitting with the Muslims in the same boat.
Collective memories: The phenomenon just described is the result of what has been termed "collective memory", that is the historic hangover from times during which Islam and the Occident fought for supremacy around the Mediterranean. If such a memory exists, it should be especially prejudicial in Germany because Germans and the Austrians, their cousins, first met Islam on the battlefield, during the several Ottoman campaigns into central Europe. Just imagine the very same people regarded as a threat for centuries are now settling in German cities. This issue can be overstates, but until 11 September American Muslims had quite obviously profited for long from the fact that Islam had never appeared before as a threat to the American continent. The current wave in the U.S. of anti-Islamic religious nationalism ala Bush Jr. is vivid proof of the tricks that collective memory can play.
All these remarks boil down to the question whether immigrants and the countries receiving them in their future relationship envision integration or assimilation. The Muslims, as long as they remain Muslims, reject assimilation. They do no want to disappear in a melting pot. But, the Muslims must try to avoid ghetto-ization and insist that they are building blocks for a common house in which all the building blocks retain their identity and must rather recognize that they have something to offer, that they are not here to beg, but to contribute.
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