Germany Sees More Discrimination in Times of Social Polarization
Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination Ferda Ataman, June 25, 2024. Photo: X/ @dwnews
June 26, 2024 Hour: 7:55 am
“The situation is serious. ‘Foreigners out’ sentiment and contempt for humanity have become normal,” Ataman warned.
On Tuesday, the German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency said that requests for advice soared by 22 percent in 2023 to a record high of almost 11,000.
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“Our case numbers show an alarming trend. More people than ever before are directly experiencing the increasing social polarization and radicalization,” said Independent Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination Ferda Ataman.
Most of the requests for advice, around 3,400, were about racial discrimination, followed by discrimination related to disability and chronic diseases as well as gender or gender identity with around 2,000 requests each.
“The situation is serious. ‘Foreigners out’ sentiment and contempt for humanity have become normal these days,” Ataman warned, calling on the government to quickly tackle the election promise to reform the General Equal Treatment Act.
In recent months, there has repeatedly been considerable media attention on citizens who take an openly xenophobic stance. A video of a group of young Germans who performed a racist rendition of the lyrics of a song named L’amour Toujours while making illegal Nazi gestures caused a particular outcry.
Germany is also seeing an increase in discriminatory tendencies in anti-Jewish incidents. According to the annual report of the RIAS association, also published on Tuesday, the number of such incidents jumped by 80 percent to almost 4,800 last year, fueled by the escalation of the Middle East conflict.
“Anti-Semitic ideas range from the far left to the far right and into the center of society. Only if we name this clearly can we fight against it,” said Daniel Botmann, managing director of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
Autor: teleSUR/ JF
Fuente: Xinhua
