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Reflections on the Demand for a German Lead Culture [Leitkultur] (November 4, 2000)

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Everyday Exclusion

Fereshta Ludin can doubtless imagine what is meant by “German lead culture.” So can the Muslim associations, which no longer want to practice their religion in ramshackle meeting places hidden in courtyards and which have therefore applied for building permits for mosques. Authorities and residents of most communities can’t stand the thought of seeing a minaret when they look out the window. On the other hand, bells chiming from nearby Christian churches are still considered normal although these churches are continually losing both members and meaning. The same thing is happening with regard to religious instruction. Members of the Islamic faith have been living here for forty years. But while it is taken for granted that the two main Christian confessions can be taught in schools, many still think the demand for corresponding instruction for Muslims will lead to the usurpation of German schools by fanatical Koran preachers.

Of course the issue not only concerns Islam. What about Orthodox instruction for schoolchildren of Greek or Serbian heritage? In contrast to France – as many people here don’t realize – there is no laicism in Germany. State and religion are not strictly separated. In this country, the two Christian confessions are given preferential treatment, and up to now few efforts had been made either to introduce laicism, thereby making religion a private matter, or to grant equal status to the religious faiths of immigrants.

“Lead culture” – is it really just a meaningless phrase? The dominance of an invisible “lead culture” by no means affects only matters of religion. Serhat Z., for example, can’t find a trainee position. By now, he knows for sure that it has to do with his background. After numerous rejections he put it to the test. He called various small companies asking about an apprenticeship; sometimes he gave his own name and sometimes he invented a German-sounding one. When his real, “foreign” name was used, the conversation usually came to a halt rather quickly. Young people from immigrant families usually have more trouble finding trainee positions. It has nothing to do with their level of education. Studies have shown that people in decision-making positions in this country’s numerous small companies view the cultural heritage of young people of foreign descent as a problem. In particular, young Turkish men are thought likely to disrupt the working environment, supposedly because they lose their tempers easily when it comes to matters of honor.

With girls, however, it is often assumed that they would have to refuse certain tasks on religious grounds. Every perceptible difference is considered a deficit from the get-go. Immigrant youths who succeed in small companies despite the odds are constantly told that they are “just like Germans.” In most companies, integration means nothing more than absorption into the “lead culture.” The qualities attributed to immigrants by company decision makers are not unusual. Immigrants are often considered the embodiment of premodern traditions – and thus at best simply fossilized; usually, however, they are regarded as undemocratic and misogynist, and at worst as fanatical and violent.

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