Race and Racism in Modern Europe Essay

There have been many talks about racism and race in Europe. Germany has a record of implementing its program of gassing the Jews in concentration camps. Likewise, France has also its one share of French people discriminating or looking down on people who are Asians, Africans and others. Germany is bent on pursuing its Heimat policy on race. At the same time, France is also bent on implementing its Universalist race program. The following paragraphs explains how the similarities and differences between the German Heimat and the French Universalist race theories. Similarities between the German notion of Heimat and France’ Universalist. (challenges) Both the German notion of Heimat and France’s Universalist theory deal with the trend where many people in Germany and France are discriminating people because of their race. For, It is worthy to note that written on one side of the Berlin before it was finally torn down after the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union were the words â€Å"die Welt Ist Kein Ausland – es Gibt Keine Auslander†. This means â€Å"The world, the earth is not a foreign land, so there are no foreigners. This was written on the Western side of the wall which represents the democratic Germany as sponsored by the West or United States. Thus, many foreign born families called Gastarbeiter were freely hired to work in West Germany. In fact, Famous Swiss playwright gave the famous racial slur We called for manpower but people came instead. For, these foreigners or Gasterbeiters are foreigners who are hired only as temporary workers. The goes where the Turkish worker wanted to wear his turban ( clothe wrapped around the person’s head just like a hat) However, the German employer insisted using the turban was a violation of German uniform policy. This conflict of interest between the Turkish and the Germans in relation to the using of the Turban has been going on for several decades in the past. General Ataturk rose up in arms to persuade the people to accept the Turkish tradition of using the turban as a symbol the custom and tradition of the Turkish people. The General’s victories over the Western countries from the middle of the 1920 do the year 1930 periods brought Turkey into its new level as an equal partner with the other European Countries. This paved the way for the people of the Ottoman Empire which were corrupt, dying and weak to grant what the Turks wanted (Mandel, 27) Differences between the German notion of Heimat and France’ Universalist. (Challenges) The German Nation State is divided into a federalized nation which includes a strong state rights where German reforms in its political arena have proposed the importance of local, regional and the problem –laden religious variances (Applegate, 1990). For, the German government exerts lesser effort than its next door neighbor, France, to instill a united citizenry based on one German culture. For, the German culture is characterised by the failed Protestantism of German cultural efforts, the regional strengths, federalization of the German Government and the lack of similarity between what the German government stands for and what is identified as German culture have precipitated to the limiting of the probabilities of a centralized, national, created and installed German culture. In fact, the German government left to the local government heads as federal part of the entire German government to decide on matters relating to the cultural institutions that include the schools, most of the museums, historical societies and many associations. The local government executives only supplemented the national government of Germany. However, The France model is characterized by a no intervention policy relation between the government and the people living in the state. Likewise, The French scenario indicates that there is an understanding and cooperation between the French government and the local community executives. Also, the German government states that any German person born of German Parents is a German for life even if he or she changes citizenship during his lifetime. The German government does not recognized that a person born in German but not of German Parents as belonging to the German Race In 1871. This is known as the Jus Sanguinis rule. However, the French Government recognized a person as a French Citizen if he or she is born in France even if the parents are not pure French Citizens. Thus, the German government will not take care of the educational needs of its residents if they do not qualify as German citizens. The German government called these foreigners or non –Germans living in Germany as Auslander. The German government is the totality of the different regions within its territory. However, some regions do not have the same powers when it comes to voting on laws in the national legislative bodies (Auslander, 283). Also, German home or Heimat states that Germany is only for the Germans. The government will not help the non German nationalist living in their territories. This means that the Germans discriminately will never call the Asians, the Africans, the Malaysians, the Indonesians, the Japanese, the Koreans, the French, the Canadians, the Italians and other races. This is the policy under a new combined Germany that is well established in terms of the economy, in terms of huger number of its population, its capacity to grow and the strength of the German macho image. No wonder, the non- German population in Germany is very very low at only seven and 2/10 percent of the entire German population. Even the USSR’s leader Gorbachev’s call for a United Home in Germany was snubbed by Germany. In the same manner, Gorbachev’s one nation had disintegrated as each federal state set up their own government pulling away from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic’s umbrella. In fact, the Germans started the world war in its conviction to eradicate the Jews within its state as well as Jews living in countries close to Germany. For, Hitler wanted the German race not to be soiled by blood coming from the other races because he feels that the German race is the superior race. For, The German Heimat is defined as to all that is foreign or distant. Thus, Heimat means that being German does is not based on legal status, political loyalty, acquired knowledge. Thus, to be German is not an open or allowable choice. Also, the German race is divided into two factions. The first is the German Democaratic Republic that is allied to the United States and the West Germans who had been under the USSR’s control. The GDR Germans feel that the West Germans have drained their money as the unification of Germany pushed through with the breaking down of the USSR –build wall dividing the two Germanies (Peck, 75). However, the Universalist principle of France allows the citizens of other nations to freely become French citizens. The Article New Empire Within Britain (Rushdie, 129) states that Great Britain is not like Germany in terms. Also, Great Britain is not like South Africa. However, Many people in Great Britain had similar racist temperaments. For, many British Residents still call the United Kingdom born Asians as immigrants despite the fact that many of the Brown coloured as well as yellow coloured Asians have been born in the United Kingdom from Asian parents that have migrated there. In the same light, many of the people born in the United Kingdom from parents who came from Africa are still branded as immigrants. Thus, many of the black Britons and Yellow Britons are being identified as people coming from the countries outside the United Kingdom even if they had lived in Great Britain since their birth. Thus, they being discriminated in terms of jobs, privileges and the like. Surprisingly though, many immigrants from Rhodesia, South Africa and other non –white Britons are allowed to enter the United Kingdom because they have one or both parents who are British Citizens. The Article Symptomatic Politics, The Banning of Islamic Head Scarves in French Public Schools ( Scott, 106) states that the head master had expelled three Muslim girls from middle school because they would not remove their scarves. The school master felt that he was practicing secularism. In Fench, it means Laicite. The Catholic leaders as well as the Protestant church leaders joined the Muslim leaders as they decried this discrimination of because of religious beliefs. To bring the peace back, the Socialist Minister of Education brought the case to the Court of Law. The Court of Law decided in favor of the Muslim Girls. For, the Court stated that wearing of the scarves was part of the girls’ right to practice their faith. Thus, this does not violate the policies on Laicite. For, the scarves are similar to the crosses that the Catholics are using in school which is allowed in the school premises. Thus, the government of France is staunch on its endeavor to wipe out discrimination in whatever form or size. Here, the government saw the violation of the rights of the women to practice their religion by the use of scarves as a sign of a Nazi Germany style discriminatory attack by many of the British people’s on the rights of these three girls. The French Government interpreted this Headmaster reaction as a blow to the freedom of women. The French government’s Universalist stance states that neglecting these three Muslim girls the right to enter school because of their scarves would be like punishing them because the three girls would then have nothing to do but marry young, stay at home and take care of the husband, the children and the family home. The article Racist Visions For the Twenty –First Century: On the Cultural Politics of the French Radical Right (Stoler, 104 ) states that scholarly responsibility has not told the truth in terms of comprehending of the resilience and degree of a person’s race as social, political, and psychological arena that would curtail many of the peoples’ right to equal opportunity in employment, in school and other activities. This article admits that many of the countries in the world are still deeply and glaringly engaged directly or indirectly in the discrimination of people because of their race. The above data shows that there are similarities between the German race policy of Heimat and the French Race policy of Universalist. Likewise, the above data shows vividly the difference between the German Heimat and the French Universalist race theories. Conclusively  , many of the Germans are focusing on their racist policy of Heimat where the Germans abhor people that belong to other races. As proof, the Germans under Adolf Hitler’s leadership had implemented their plan to wipe out the entire Jew population both inside Germany and those living in neighboring European countries. However, the French position on racism is that the government is striving hard to decrease or even to eliminate the racism as soon as possible. In fact, many racism cases have been decided by the courts of law in favor of the discriminated parties like the three Muslim girls discussed below. Finally, France’s equally -based Universalist is a better policy than Germany’s Heimat discriminatory policy.