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Racism in Germany
The issue of immigration has developed into a conflict-ridden issue of political mobilisation in Germany more so since the 1990s. Juxtaposed between the need for an immigrant workforce and the growing vociferousness of the right extremist parties, the political leadership is today divided on whether to opt for a greater integration of the Turks into society or to give in to more xenophobic and populist rhetoric.
Discourses on majoritarianism – or majority community-based nationalism – are an interesting parallel to the processes of globalisation presently being witnessed by pluralist societies of the contemporary world. Many of these discourses aim to eliminate inter-group differences in societies.
If managing inter-group differences has become the most challenging task for today’s democracies, it is also found that each state has its own unique way of responding to its cultural diversities. While in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic democracy like India, a new but growing thrust for a majoritarian religious identity is making minority religious communities feel alienated and insecure; in the west, we find that volatile disputes over the rights of the immigrants, indigenous people and other cultural minorities are opening up new debates on individual and group rights.
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