immigration
Multiculturalism in Italy: a Roman cocktail
Is Italy racist? This is the question posed by European media, some of which don’t hesitate to point to a lethal dose of racism particularly following the murder of two Senegalese in Florence. However, four journalists and a photographer sent to Rome by cafebabel.com chose instead to talk about the multicultural imprint of a nation which counts 5.4 million immigrants from non-EU countries. Of course, it’s not all sweetness. The Roma continue to battle for a decent future, while young Italians are fleeing a country which is losing its identity. However, second generation immigrants are aware of the civic role which they can play, while the piazza Vittoria in central Rome is a multicultural epicentre, a mixed drink shaken up in the most open of kitchens. In the view of these diverse facts, cafebabel.com is serving up a Roman cocktail which will warm you to embrace the ‘other’, turning away from the bar-side brawls stirred up by press-gang headlines. (Image: © Ehsan Maleki)
Contentious Guéant circular rejects work visas in France
France’s governmental memo on employment for their residing non-European students caused quite a commotion, and we’re not talking Jerry Maguire style. Graduates like Nabil Sebti are taking a stand against what could either turn into a long-term policy of sealing France off or be a strategy to gain votes in 2012 elections
immigration, university, protest, politics, claude guéant, racism, paris
Did you hear the one about the Turks who've been in Germany for fifty years?
1961. Hundreds of thousands of invited Turks start making their way to Germany to work: the so-called ‘guest workers’. The bilateral agreement between Turkey and Germany changed German society. To the German government the Turkish migrants were nothing more than compensation for labour shortages in Germany. However, as author Max Frisch famously announced just four years on: ‘We called for workforce and people came’. Fifty years later more than 2.5 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany. It is only recently that the integration debate has stalled, that third generation Germans are insulted as foreigners and that public ‘islam-bashing’ is officially back thanks to German former European central bank chairman and best-selling author Thilo Sarrazin. Is it time for a U-turn on all things multi-cultural?
- Read the special edition Did you hear the one about the Turks who've been in Germany for fifty years?
- Older migrants of Europe: forgotten until when?
- Meeting 4 of 500, 000 'Almanci' German Turks who returned 'home' over last 30 years
- Islam and Europe: a five step waltz
- Sila Sahin, Turkish-German actress and first 'muslim playboy model'
Liv Holm Andersen: 'Danes like to lose their sense of security'
She talks and laughs with Mediterranean hand gestures and speaks a bit of Greek, but don't be fooled. The 24-year-old is actually one of Denmark’s youngest politicians, a candidate for the Scandinavian’s country’s second smallest party Radikale Venstre in elections on 15 September. In Athens, we talk Europe, the Balkans and learning from Spain
immigration, politics, balkans, greece, bosnia and herzegovina, youth, right wing extremism
Skopje’s ‘Albanian neighbourhood’ in Old Bazaar, Çarshia
There are essential traces of the history of Albanians and Macedonians, evidence of survival and revival after the Balkan or world wars. Skopje’s ‘Albanian neighbourhood’ is in a corner where the çarshia (bazaar) lies below the citadel, says Anisa Ymeri
immigration, balkans, community, albania, shopping, macedonia, cities
Student duelling clubs in Europe: no Harry Potter magic in Germany
In mid-June the Alte Breslauer duelling club in Bonn petitioned its national umbrella organisation to stipulate German descent as a criterium for accepting the currently 1, 300 students into these legendary student societies. In June, a society in Mannheim allowed a German of Chinese descent to join. The case drags the just over 100 German duelling clubs, which are accused of harbouring extreme right-wing ideologies, into a negative rather than magical light
immigration, racism, germany, austria, china, students, society
Street integration test: German Youtube hit Tedros Teclebrhan
He hasn’t hit his wife for more than two months now, has never heard of the fall of a certain wall and thinks the chancellor before ‘Angelo Merte’ was Hitler... Within two weeks, the video of the man with the blond mustache became a German web hit. Over 5.5 million people have already clicked on it the promotional video, thinking the actor was a real migrant and thus not noticing the mirror being held up to German integration policy
Identikit of a pure, indigenous European
The True Finns are the third largest political party in Finland. Are these nationalists and eurosceptics an exception to the rule in their Nordic region? Alongside the new leader of the National Front party in France, Marine Le Pen, the collection of ‘Indigenous Britons’ in the UK and Italy's Northern League, Europe has never been more inhabited by so-called ‘pure’ Europeans. There are fewer than they would have us believe; at the risk of scaring those who wish it to stay that way
immigration, identity, tower of babel, racism, nationalism, poland, bloc identitaire
Discrimination in Germany? Well go to Korea then
Germany has long been legendary as an immigrant’s paradise. For several years now, more people have been leaving the country than are actually entering it. Among them are some of the most highly educated young Germans who are turning their backs on the country because of discrimination
Cameron vs. multiculturalism: British, Belgian, Spanish, Romanian press react
In a call for ‘muscular liberalism’ at the Munich security conference, the British prime minister blames multiculturalism for exacerbating Britain's problems with radical islamists. While cautiously commending Cameron's objectives, Europe’s press criticises his methods on the grounds that they play into the hands of the extreme right
immigration, angela merkel, politics, euweek, david cameron, united kingdom, multiculturalism
Lemon half moon cake for Danish far right party
In Denmark, the people’s 2010 revolution is lemon. The popular ‘citronhalvmåne’ cake is being sent in the tens to the offices of the far right Danish party, in protest of their immigration policies. Ironically, the crescent shape of the ‘lemon half-moon’ is also a muslim symbol – a perfect gift on the eve of Ramadan?
immigration, politics, food, junk food, gastronomy, sweet, right wing extremism
Angela Merkel: 'multiculti' German society failed, but islam 'has a place'
The German chancellor's statements on 16 October have provoked the Slovakian, British, Dutch and Polish media - both immigrants and host societies have to work on integration, or the extreme right will win. Press review
immigration, angela merkel, politics, germany, euweek, multiculturalism, integration
Voices: ‘Beurgeois’ behind French halal meat phenomenon
The French phenomenon comes courtesy of a class of young Frenchmen, northern African in origin and an example of a successful immigration model - in business
immigration, discrimination, france, ethnic minorities, society
Citizenship exams: spotlight western Europe
There's no European-wide citizenship test - it's obligatory by law in national governments only. The Brits and French started in 2005, followed by the Netherlands in 2006 and Germany in 2008, though Italy and Spain don't command it by law. Overview
immigration, italy, politics, germany, discrimination, poland, united kingdom
Berlin launch: Anti-islam book by German bank exec Thilo Sarrazin
The former politician launched his book 'Deutschland schafft sich ab' ('Germany abolishes itself' on 30 August in Berlin. Criticism of Germany's immigration policy is legitimate, writes the Italian, German and Austrian press, but don't attack muslims. Translated European press review selection
immigration, politics, germany, thilo sarrazin, euweek, integration, press review
Summer of riots: French of 'foreign origin' to lose citizenship, president warns
'French nationality should be stripped from anybody who has threatened the life of a police officer or anybody involved in public policing,' announced Nicolas Sarkozy on 30 July. A Frenchman looks at how the European media react
immigration, media, politics, racism, xenophobia, illegal immigrants, europe
Racism and discrimination for Brussels migrant workers
In the region of Brussels-Capital, discrimination in recruitment practices is a daily reality. At a time of economic stagnation, ethnic diversity is no longer a priority for businesses, which in turn makes integration in Belgium harder still
immigration, labour, belgium, racism, brussels, discrimination, poverty
Warsaw wannabe
Dare we call it the new Berlin? The Polish capital's showing off with its edgy art and theatre expos, amidst fancy glass towers which spring up like mushrooms in the otherwise socialist scope of the city. Euro 2012, which Poland co-hosts with the Ukraine, assures a further polishing-up of the international reputation of the eastern metropolis. Meanwhile there's only one neighbourhood to be on the other side of the city on the Vistula; the Amy-Winehouse-statued 'Praga' is an artist and party people hotspot. Five pan-European cafebabel.com journalists analyse 'WaWa' - as the locals affectionately call their city -in the antepenultimate city special edition of our monthly series
Melancholy in Berlin: views of three foreign writer residents
Very loosely, a 19-year-old Klaus Mann saw 1920s Berlin as 'seductive, gray, scabby, peeling, yet vibrant vitality, nervous, shimmering, phosphorescent, animated, full of tensions and promises.' Italian, Croatian and French writers Gianluca Falanga, Maksim Cristan and Maia Mazaurette give us their noughties take
immigration, eucrisis on the ground, labour, germany, berlin wall, berlin, culture
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