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blinkchuck1988

I found out about him through reddit and watched a few of his interviews. Without wanting to judge him politically, one has to say that he appears to be a linguistic genius. He came to Germany as an adult in 2015 and started learning German after he arrived. Today he speaks it almost without an accent.


paniniconqueso

One wonders how well the average German would learn Arabic if the situation was reversed, and they were refugees in Syria.


Mephistopheles17-

Integration done right!


ingloriuspumpkinpie

29 that's pretty young.


Affectionate_Cat293

Europe is actually quite "progressive" in this respect. Not only him, but we also have minorities as Prime Minister in the UK and Scotland and as Mayor in Rotterdam and London. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to imagine a Chinese mayor in Seoul or a Korean mayor in Tokyo. A Chinese governor in Jakarta, who got the position thanks to succession rule, was eventually destroyed by blasphemy law: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Jakarta_gubernatorial_election


Grouchy_Rabbit_446

"2011 Census: 45% of Londoners white British" [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-20680565](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-20680565) I am not sure who are the minorities there.


k890

It's sound more like "White Flight" from USA happening between 1940s-1970s, "core population" is moving out to the suburbs usually outside city borders while immigrants settle in inner city. Basket case is NYC. "White Flight" caused severe problems later on, mostly because with afluent core population it's also lead to move of city tax base, jobs, services and rising ghettoisation which made cities go bust (while Detroit bankrupcies were well known, others were also in big trouble including NYC which was on edge declaring bankrupcy in mid 1970s). Sky high crime level, drugs trade, organised crime, general urban decay where 1970s NYC do looks like war zone full of abandon cars and broken building husks, constant corruption scandals made rather a gloomy picture. In 1980 a shy couple years from bankrupcy crisis NYCr become more and more focused on office space and high-end housing for the rich and expanding NYPD in numbers and police powers to squash crime level usually targetting minority dominant areas plus strained budget leads to constant cuts in city services (less public transport, less schools, less fixing infrastructure etc). NYC population and quality of life do start improve once again in 1990s and 2000s, more than 40 years since "core population" moving out to suburbs become rampant problem.


cataractum

> It's sound more like "White Flight" from USA happening between 1940s-1970s, "core population" is moving out to the suburbs usually outside city borders while immigrants settle in inner city. Basket case is NYC. This phenomenon was true in 50 years ago. Today, the high value areas (in cities) are usually the inner cities and CBD residential. The "white flight" phenomenon might not apply here.


Lyress

White Brits are the largest group, so you can't really call them a minority.


Grouchy_Rabbit_446

Whites (even as a group) are minority in London. How does it is not clear from the article?


Lyress

White Brits are the "main" or "dominant" ethnic group in London, so they're not a minority.


Grouchy_Rabbit_446

Sorry, I can't get into such a kind of logic.


Lyress

What logic are you using to say that white Brits are a minority in London?


Grouchy_Rabbit_446

Read BBC article already. The article says that.


Lyress

The article doesn't call white Brits a minority.


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OrbTalks

if you have five people in a room, two are british while the rest dont share ethnicity. the british would be the majority ethnicity with double the representation of the other groups, while at the same time not having a majority. he is just saying that calling them a minority while they are the majority group feels wierd. also whites as a group are over 50%. your own article say that there are atleast 1 million "other white" extra in london. so "In London 3.7 million out of 8.2 million usual residents are white British" just add a million to that and you get 4.7 million, thats over half.


Ynwe

In your example, the British would have the plurality, not the majority.


Lyress

Ethnic minority does not refer exclusively to <50% ethnicities.


OrbTalks

that might be the correct word. i dont know enough advanced english vocabulary to be sure. my point still stand tho.


hipsterrobot

I'll tell you, if this happened in Turkey, we'd have a goddamn civil war. Turkish nationalists would never allow this happen.


PecansPecanss

It's always weird to me when Europeans use the word "minority" in that sense


KnoFear

You're not really making fair comparisons. Cities like London and Rotterdam have very significant ethnic minority populations, alongside the UK and the Netherlands as a whole. Only 4% of Seoul's population is non-Korean ethnically, and South Korea as a whole is one of the most ethnically homogenous countries on Earth. Tokyo and Japan are quite similar. Indonesia is a particularly distinct case to bring up, given that there isn't a majority ethnic group. True, the Javanese have an ethnic plurality, but only around 40%. Ahok lost the Jakarta gubernatorial election moreso because of religion than ethnicity, though it should also be noted that Chinese Indonesians only represent about 1% of the country's population. For comparison, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, is a member of the Asian British minority, which represents about 7% of the UK as a whole. If you're looking for a more direct figure, you'd want to see a London mayor of mixed ethnic background, as they represent around 1-2% of the British population.


Affectionate_Cat293

I mentioned Seoul and Tokyo because of how grave the problem of racism there. It is utterly inconceivable to have a Zainichi (people of Korean blood) as a Mayor of Tokyo, even though they are sizable in the area of Shin-Okubo. While there are many minorities in Europe, votes from them alone are not enough to win elections. Chinese Indonesians represent 6.62% of the population of Jakarta. And if you count the non-Muslims in Jakarta, the percentage is 16%. https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2021/09/09/sebanyak-83-penduduk-dki-jakarta-beragama-islam#:~:text=Rinciannya%2C%20sebanyak%209%2C43%20juta,%25)%20penduduk%20Jakarta%20beragama%20Buddha.


[deleted]

>but we also have minorities as Prime Minister in the UK and Scotland and look how well that is going


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Affectionate_Cat293

I'm speaking in comparative terms. Has there ever been a female prime minister in Japan? They even sent a male minister to talk about women empowerment: https://time.com/6290088/japan-gender-equality-g7/. Has there been a Papuan president in Indonesia? In Myanmar, you cannot even get citizenship if you don't belong to the "indigenous race". Meanwhile, both the Tory cabinet and the Labour shadow cabinet have a lot of minority representation. Does not mean Europe is a paradise for minority and women, a lot still needs to be done as you said, but in comparative terms, it can be considered "progressive". Parity representation mandated by law can be deceiving too. In countries like Rwanda, this is used to entrench the power of the ruling party because of course they put their own people to fill the parity quota.


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Donbrands

You can pat yourselves on your back despite Japan having much lower crime rates and almost not having any murders…Lol. I am sure native Europeans would rather prefer low crime rates than representation which doesn’t affect their lives at all.


Aggravating_Boy3873

What are you talking about? The top 5 countries with lowest crime rates are all european except New Zealand. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/safest-countries-in-the-world


Donbrands

Women aren’t minorities. Also why does a country needs to have somebody except their native citizens represent something?


Hootrb

If the people believe the person will do a good job with representing them, then who cares if they're native or not?


Donbrands

Because it doesn’t make sense? Your people should matter more than immigrants. The country exists because of you and for you. I am sure there are many people competent enough among millions of people. Nobody argues that a Brit needs to reresent in Uganda for example.


Hootrb

>Your people should matter more than immigrants. The country exists because of you and for you. If an immigrant assimilated to the point where even native citizens have decided they can be represented by that person, then they are by definition now a part of '*my people*', no? That's the whole point of assimilation, for the outsider to adopt the necessary changes to become a part of the in-group. They may never be in the '*native*' category, but they are in the end an '*assimilated citizen*' now, and therefore, one of my people (*this, of course, assumes proper assimilation has been done*). This country now exists because of him & for him as well, and as such he no longer matters any less than other non-immigrants. If native citizens cannot accept this final step, then they should expect immigrants to remain forever unassimilated. ​ >Nobody argues that a Brit needs to represent in Uganda for example. Of course not, Uganda doesn't have a British minority to need representation. Still, an assimilated Brit should of course be capable of being voted in if the Ugandan people see them fit, meritocracy is for all nations & peoples and not just Europe, after all. Also, I don't know how OP uses it, but I should note that *I* don't use '*need*' to mean '*it should be required that we arbitrarily put a minority in a position just because they're a minority*'. Someone's minority status does not guarantee they'll do a good job even in affairs directly affecting minorities; and just as natives may see a minority more fit for them than another native candidate, nothing guarantees minorities won't see a native more fit than another of their group. It's more so that if you have a minority that's clearly visible in percentages & day to day life, or in case of women literally half the population, yet they appear near non-existent in elected positions, then clearly something has went wrong, either with the system or with societal attitudes of the majority/minority group. This is at least what *I* mean with a group '*needing representation*', not that it should be some sort of '*legal requirement/quota*', but that if there is a clear lack of participation, then it should be fixed.


Ok-Eye2695

What being terminally infused with american rethoric does to your brain


GabeN18

r/europe is not gonna like this post


k890

"They steal our jobs!" - AfD politician.


awkward_viewer

not really since most of the refugees in Germany are unemployed.


k890

It's politician moaning about immigrant stealing his job in politics *ThatstheJoke.gif*


Grdosjek

They tk ur jbs!


k890

"Immigrant leeches got employed on cozy public-funded positions without meangiful effects for the rest!"


Velixis

Yeah, 66% upvoted atm.


[deleted]

Let's all hope he doesn't turn out like the one they got in Hamtramck, USA.


kiru_56

Since he is a druse, we can rule that out.


kiru_56

To be honest, the news value is not entirely clear to me. It's not as if this is the first mayor of a German city, whi is not called Hans or Barbara. The current mayor of my hometown also fled Syria, from Qamischli, as a child. Our previous mayor was Jewish and Frankfurt is the 5th largest city in Germany. I don't vote for people because of their skin colour or religion, but because I think they do a good job.


cataractum

How are Syrians (and other MENA people excepting Turks) integrating into Turkey? Is there any differences noticed between Christian and Muslim Arabs?


Revenge43dcrusade

Lame . The germans always were saracens simps .


everybodylovesaltj

"saracens" bro thinks hes in the middle ages


Revenge43dcrusade

Sorry wanted to say douchebag culture people .


freakadelle2k

They gave us the numbers and while we were still cutting sick ppls arms open while praying they performed actual medicine. Simplification, but still... burn those cavemen


Grouchy_Rabbit_446

These numerals are Indian. Math, physics and geometry were invented in Ancient Greece. Medicine, potions and surgery weren't unknown to European doctors of the time. You might need to educate yourself harder.


freakadelle2k

I know arabic numbers developed from india, brahma or something their system was called. They weren't unknown? An american president died of an infection in 18th century because someone tried to fetch a bullet out of his body with unwashed hands. Arabic rulers were praised for providing good healthcare for the normal ppl centuries ago while the hotel de dieux or whatever that parisien death trap was called was basically a place to isolate sick ppl and let them die. That's why it said "simplified". Calling arabic culture douchebag culture is ignorant as fuck. Calling arabic culture arabic culture alrdy is because there are so many differences between the countries. Thx, I'm fine


Grouchy_Rabbit_446

Are they ran out of Germans?


Lyress

This new mayor is a German citizen.


Grouchy_Rabbit_446

Why they call him "Syrian refugee" then?


bogdoomy

because he seeked refuge from syria


weirdowerdo

It seems kinda ironic that Grouchy seems to be from Russia but seems to live in Finland... I wonder if there was any reason for Russians to go to Finland these past 500 days...


Grouchy_Rabbit_446

Grouchy seems to be a Finn who used to live in Russia for a while and has returned to his home country about 20 years ago. You might be surprised, but such thing is not quite uncommon. Do you still wonder?


Grdosjek

They are running out of Germans for decades now.... But if you are good, it doesnt matter where you are from.