Anti-Immigration Abroad

A few weeks ago, I was disheartened this video that popped up in my suggested feed on YouTube. As a person of Turkish ethnicity and citizenship, I was aware of the high Turkish demographic in Germany due to the mass immigration following WWII; these immigrants helped literally and figuratively rebuild the country. After decades of progress following the Nazi party, a far-right political party/movement has been arising in the nation for the past several years.

In this video, a family of Turkish immigrants that owns a store is interviewed. They explain how they have been experiencing more and more blatant racism, even from their customers. The owner, who has been in Germany since he was 14, describes how people have been voicing their personal prejudices, instead of keeping it to themselves like in decades prior. This owner ties this to the public feeling empowered through the new far-right presence in the German government. The video moves on to explain that these feelings of hate are shared between Turkish immigrants, regardless of how long they been naturalized in Germany. According to one citizen, “When you are doing well, you are German. If you mess up, you are a (lazy) Turk.” Many Turkish-Germans told the reporter that they feel other Germans will never fully accept them, no matter what.

This party’s message is similar to that of Trump in America, Boris Johnson in the UK, and Marine Le Pen in France; nationalist movements. This international movement has been resulting in increased discrimination and hate crimes against immigrants all over. In our country alone, we have witnessed heightened discrimination towards Latin and Arab immigrants.

My Dad is a proud Turkish citizen, but he is not looked down upon in this country (probably because he is light in color). It is sad that an immigrant can feel at home in one country, but be resented in another. In fact, it is a travesty that anti-immigration values are still upheld by the public, as well as on the government level. No matter the country or its history, immigrants have always provided tremendous labor forces that enable economies to work. This world has seen immense manufactoring and entrepreneurial growth due to these people.