DW-Top Stories-Immigration

can those in Germany share their knowledge, experiences, and wisdom in this matter?

many thanks!

What do you want to know?

First of all, PEGIDA is a group that worries about the Islamization of Europe in general, and of Germany in particular. Since October, they organize weekly demonstrations in the city of Dresden, to demonstrate against the current European and German policies for immigration.
This being Germany, most of the big political parties are judging theam as right-wing, racist, even neo-nazi, while many sociologists and other people simply view them as very conservative.
Of course, it is true that these demonstrations do attract the right-wing element.

In essence, PEGIDA's goal is to protect Christian-Jewish European culture against influences from immigrated minorities, especially Muslims. They want to tighten the immigration laws, of course stating that refugees from war and political/religious presecution must still be allowed. They want to enforce a better integration of immigrants. They want zero tolerance against delinquent immigrants. They position themselves against radicalism of any form, religious or political, and against any form of religious fundamentalism.

About the part of the article you quoted where they say that "many people would join if there was a demonstration in their city", it has to be said that there actually have been PEGIDA demonstrations in other cities - but to these, only a few hundred people attended.
Actually, in these cities the counter-demonstrations attracted much more people than the actual event.

In my personal opinion, their populist statements attract a great deal of people, especially when keeping in mind that there is a big Muslim minority in Germany, and that in the media, you never hear about the "good" ones, but only about the "bad" ones.
However, over the last weeks, the tone of their speeches has become increasingly aggressive - and of course, many right-wing organizations are happily joining the demonstrations to get public attention.

Many thanks, chrisbee! always good to get the view of folks with their "feet on the ground." the mass media here stateside is too biased for honest reporting.

Interestingly, that video isn't available for watching from Germany...

Thank you for the summary.

Unfortunately, as soon as you express any patriotism as a German in Germany, there are those who will immediately accuse you of being a Nazi...
Which, in my opinion, is the biggest difference between Germany and other free countries. In the US, or in the UK, or in France, patriotism is largely seen as being something goog. Not here, though. That has been ruined by some idiots in brown jumpers.

The video of the lady on the balcony pays fine in Holland.

I sympathize with the German people in their efforts to keep out undesirable immigrants. By undesirable, I mean those who refuse to assimilate into their host country's culture, demand special treatment, take advantage of social services, and so on. We have the same problem here in the US with illegal immigrants coming from Mexico and Central and South America. My home state of Alabama has enacted some of the toughest immigration laws in the country. Immediately the federal government gives us grief, the media accuses us of being redneck racists or neo-nazis, and shows images of the KKK, cross burnings, fire hose and dogs being used on people. So yes, I can identify with some of the German feelings.

When they were still in high school, my sons made friends with some German exchange students. We had them over to visit a lot. I always asked them about their hometowns, hobbies, etc. I even took a lot of them shooting, which they thoroughly enjoyed. When I asked about the "türkishe Männer" in Germany, they all got sour looks on their faces. When I asked why, they said it was because of the bad behaviors of most, especially the ones their ages and slightly older. I feel the same way about a lot of people around my town.

I know that there are good people in every group, but it is hard to see them at times.

Just my opinion here.

Good luck and stay safe.

It's ingrained in many Germans, and without trying to pick a fight, was done by the west after the war on purpose.

 

Some very good things you're saying there.
In my personal opinion, immigrants are a good thing as long as they integrate into the community - that starts with learning the language, and goes on through finding a job, making friends with the "natives", and generally respecting the host country's culture and values.
Unfortunately, there's always some who don't (want to) integrate, although in all fairness I have to say that this is not only a problem with Turkish/Arab/Muslim immigrants, but also very common among those from eastern Europe, especially Russia - they "band together", stick to their own language, hardly speak any German, and generally behave badly in public.
I am 100% sure that these are only exceptions, and I know that a great many (indeed, most) of the immigrants do integrate more or less well, but the bad fruit is what catches the public eye. And an increasing amount of people simply don't understand why the government cannot send those bad fruit back home.