A few weeks ago I had the Internet equivalent of a shouting match (in German) on YouTube with a fellow immigrant. A UK national and a Serb both getting irate at the same time, not to be recommended.
His claims, which I tried, logically, to refute were that you cannot have a successful multicultural society as long as there were Muslims here (there was no word "fundamentalist" in that sentence, hence the difference of opinion), and that Germany was being swamped with Muslim immigrants.
My contention - which is the product of 11 years worth of observation - that a lot of the so-called "Muslim" immigrants have adapted, drink beer, eat pork, and only attend mosques during Ramadan (like those Christians who go to church at Christmas and Easter and that is about it), he would not even consider. My view is unchanged despite his arguments.
Many immigrants of all backgrounds assimilate - like I have, for example (quite what the British are supposed to do to become fully Germanised, I have not quite worked out. Atheists fit in very well here, I always was the rational, logical, organised type, and I will happily drink Warsteiner, Paulaner, Bitburger usw!).
A few weeks ago, as she occasionally does, my wife had a gathering of the diaspora. To attend you have to be Thai (more immigrants!), Buddhist and female (which rules me out on all three counts). On such occasions I feel obliged to clear off out of the way. One favourite activity is to go to the Karstadt department store, sit down in the elegant coffee-bar there and drink coffee. Occasionally you get two of the staff there chuntering away in Italian (more immigrants!).
On my way back from doing so, I decided to put the theory of my Serbian friend (well "friend" might not be an accurate description, but it is at least not unfriendly!) to the test. Walking down Zeil, Frankfurt's principal shopping street, I set about counting how many Muslims I could spot. This is not that easy - men for example cannot easily be designated according to their faith, so you are limited to counting women wearing the archetypal clothing plus accompanying husbands and children.
As a very good systems analyst (NB!!!!) I will tell you that this form of data collection is prone to inaccuracy, as the criteria are not precise enough, but for the sake of argument it will do.
The stats anyway were interesting. Total count of people on Zeil in that sample - 2,119. Total number of obvious Muslims - 7.
Swamped by Muslim immigrants? Not if that sample is anything to go by.
In case that sample was based upon a poor selection process, I tried it again on Wednesday during the latest gathering of the diaspora. Gorgeous sunny summer's day, 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit). After the cup of coffee at Karstadt, I headed down to the banks of the Main, walked a bit, and then sat down and soaked up the sun, and watched the crowd go past.
For female fashion fans, you will be interested to know that shorts are very much in fashion this year, at least during the heat of summer. No fundamentalist female Muslim (or one married to a male fundamentalist believer) would be seen wearing anything such, that said.
Count from Wednesday early evening (the gathering of the diaspora went on a bit longer NB) - 3,277 people seen on the banks of the Main, number of obvious Muslims - 4!
Definitely being swamped are we? Certainly not in Frankfurt, even if I cannot speak for the rest of Germany!
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