[Sim]

On January 27th, there are elections in two important German states, Hesse and Lower Saxony. Currently, the conservative CDU (Christian Democrats) is governing both states, but polls indicate that in Hesse, Prime Minister Roland Koch (CDU) may lose his majority, after 9 years in office -- so what better way is there to reclaim lost ground than by appealing to the basest instincts in the voters: Xenophobia and racism?



This is Roland Koch (Christian Democrat), known as a conservative hardliner within his party: When he won his first term in 1999, he used an infamous tactic: Starting a right-populist campaign against granting immigrants German citizenship. Thousands of voters gave their signature "against aliens" -- and Koch won the election.

When his party, the conservative CDU was facing a corruption scandal about illegal donations in 2000, he claimed some of these donations had been made by "Jewish people who want to keep their anonymity" -- until it was discovered no such Jewish donators existed, but Koch abused the sensitivity about Jews in Germany to cover misdeeds of his party. A firestorm of resignation demands against him broke out, but Roland Koch ignored all of them, obstinately clinged to office ... and won a 2nd term in 2003.

Now, facing the election for a possible 3rd term, Roland Koch has a bad standing: Polls show his CDU down to 40% (from 48% in 2003) and there is a chance the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) may form the new government. So Koch resorts to what he thinks he can do best: Far-right populism, to bait borderline-Nazis and xenophobes:


A German state governor has won applause from fellow conservatives for demanding a crackdown on "criminal young foreigners." Immigrant groups and political rivals say he is playing with fire in a debate that reveals the widespread xenophobia obstructing integration in Germany.

An assault by two foreign youths on a German pensioner has triggered conservative calls for a crackdown on "criminal young foreigners" and exposed deeply entrenched xenophobia that casts doubt on this country's ability ever to fully integrate its 15 million inhabitants with an immigrant background. (...)

But a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, Hesse state premier Roland Koch (more...), seized on the fact that the attackers weren't German and decided to launch a debate about foreign criminals.

"How much are we prepared to take from a small proportion of violent youths, who frequently have a foreign background?" Koch, who is struggling in his campaign to win a third term in a state election on January 27, told mass circulation Bild Zeitung in an interview published last Friday.

"We have spent too long showing a strange sociological understanding for groups that consciously commit violence as ethnic minorities," he went on.

How to Behave in a Civilized Country

"People who live in Germany must behave properly and refrain from using their fists. That's how one behaves in a civilized country," said Koch, apparently implying that your average immigrant isn't from a country as civilized as Germany, which has seen a series of vicious assaults by neo-Nazis on ethnic minorities in recent years.

Koch added that Germany wasn't a classic country of immigration such as Canada or Australia. "In our country we don't get many cultures meeting to form a new one. Germany has had a Christian-Occidental culture for centuries. Foreigners who don't stick to our rules don't belong here."

His quote "We have too many criminal young foreigners" made a banner front-page headline in Bild on Friday. The paper praised him in an editorial on Wednesday, writing: "At last our politicians are quarrelling about the really important issues -- the safety of our citizens! Fear of crime and violence by foreign criminals has been accompanying us on bus and subway journeys for a long time."

Koch's comments fuelled conservative calls for "foreign" criminals to be expelled from Germany and were echoed by Volker Kauder, head of the conservative parliamentary group in the federal parliament and a close ally of Merkel.

Kauder told Bild am Sonntag that crime by foreigners had "been a taboo in Germany" for too long. "We need education camps for hard cases, closed institutions with an overall concept for therapy. Foreigners aren't our enemies, but criminals are -- and we can no longer afford to accept their mocking laughter." (...)

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There was an immediate reaction by immigrant groups in Germany:

After weeks of enduring a xenophobic onslaught from Roland Koch, the governor of Hesse, Germany's immigrants are fed up. The conservatives' rhetoric, an open letter says, is feeding prejudice and fomenting a social split.

It was bound to happen. After weeks of being portrayed by Hesse Governor Roland Koch as being little better than uncivilized savages, Germany's immigrants on Thursday struck back.

In an open letter addressed to Chancellor Angela Merkel and to Koch -- both of the conservative Christian Democrats -- an association representing some 100 immigrant groups in Germany expressed its frustration at the populist tones coming from Koch, as he campaigns for re-election in a Jan. 27 state vote.

"Instead of open, constructive debate coupled with sober proposals based on the facts," the letter reads, "you are causing serious damage with your campaign polemic. A short-term success in a state election cannot be so valuable that it is worth feeding prejudice ... with the effect of a further social split." (...)

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Will Koch be successful with this ugly campaign? At least there seems to be a significant xenophobic potential in Germany:

(...) The political calculations made by Koch and his CDU forebears are as clear as they are cynical. A 2006 study undertaken by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, part of Bielefeld University, found that a huge number of Germans might be receptive to Koch's xenophobic offensive. Fully 59.4 percent of Germans either "agree" or "strongly agree" with the statement that too many foreigners live in Germany -- an increase of 6 percent over 2002. In addition, 35.3 percent of those polled agreed that foreigners should be sent home should there be a shortage of jobs in Germany, up from 27.7 percent in 2002. (...)

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But there is some hope as well: A recent poll found that 66% of all voters think it is "wrong" to focus on criminal foreigners in a campaign, only 26% think it is "right" (even 56% of the conservative CDU supporters reject Koch's campaign, 34% agree).

The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), hoping to win the Hesse election, reacted very harshly as well: Parliamentary SPD floor leader Peter Struck said "Roland Koch feels a clandestine joy about the beating up of the pensioner by immigrant youngsters, because that allowed him to start this xenophobic campaign".


Social Democrat (SPD) floor leader Peter Struck harshly attacked Roland Koch (CDU)

The CDU reacted with outrage on Struck's harsh attack, calling it "outrageous, indecent" and even demanded his resignation -- but Struck's reaction was just as clear: "Up yours!", he said, directed at the Christian Democrats.

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What do you think? Just normal for an important electoral campaign?

[Bondo]

What a hateful sleazeball. Decent people don't hype and run on these issues to win an election. He wouldn't know how to behave in a civilized country; he shouldn't be lecturing anyone else.

Quote

Foreigners who don't stick to our rules don't belong here."

Yeah! Those foreigners should have followed his example and blamed the jews!

Heres hoping he loses the election or gets run over by a bus or something.