From oneb!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!panix!news.intercon.com!howland.reston.ans.net!EU.net!sun4nl!ittpub.nl!ittpub.nl!sinan Mon Apr 18 16:05:08 PDT 1994 Article: 28428 of soc.culture.german Xref: oneb soc.culture.german:28428 soc.culture.europe:24687 Path: oneb!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!panix!news.intercon.com!howland.reston.ans.net!EU.net!sun4nl!ittpub.nl!ittpub.nl!sinan Newsgroups: soc.culture.german,soc.culture.europe,eunet.politics Subject: SENIOR U.S. DIPLOMAT CRITISIZES GERMANY... Message-ID: <1994Apr18.131959.1@ittpub.nl> From: sinan@ittpub.nl Date: 18 Apr 94 13:19:59 GMT Organization: ITT Publitec R+D BV, Amsterdam Nntp-Posting-Host: isstr Nntp-Posting-User: sinan Lines: 91 *** U.S. DIPLOMAT CALLS GERMANY ''RACIST'' 4/14/94 By THOM SHANKER Chicago Tribune BERLIN -- One of the United States' most senior career diplomats for Germany has described this nation as ''a racist society'' and has echoed criticisms that Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government has failed to provide the ''moral leadership'' required to halt neo-Nazi violence. Douglas Jones, in his last public address before retiring, said Thursday that the Kohl government is to blame for an environment in which minority civil rights are not respected. ''Although Chancellor Kohl has unequivocally condemned the anti-foreigner and anti-Semitic wave of violence, the German media too have criticized his political strategy -- if it can be called that -- on the issue,'' Jones said. Jones cited Kohl's refusal to visit survivors of skinhead firebomb attacks and his statements that Germany ''is not a country of immigration'' -- both of which are appeals to conservative voters. ''That would signal to me that the nearly 7 million foreigners who live here legally do not belong here and that I am justified in wanting them out,'' Jones said. ''And, to be honest with you, this sentiment is by no means limited to skinheads.'' His comments coincided with the release Thursday of annual crime statistics showing that right-wing extremist violence in Germany increased sharply in 1993. The Interior Ministry said right-wing attacks on the homeless or handicapped doubled to 300 last year. Felony assaults on foreigners and Jews remained the same, at about 700 cases. About 30 people have died in right-wing violence since Germany reunified in 1990. Last year, there were 18 cases of murder or attempted murder, which claimed eight lives. In 1992, there were 15 homicidal attacks and 17 people died. Jones said this violence against ''victims of convenience on the street'' suggests ''a deeper-seated social alienation and a lack of civic solidarity'' in modern Germany. Jones, who is assistant chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn and principal officer of Berlin's embassy- in-waiting, spent his life specializing in German politics, history and culture. A Chicago native, he studied in Germany during high school and college. His diplomatic resume in Germany also includes minister-counsel for political affairs in Bonn and consul general in Stuttgart. His speech, delivered in German, was not cleared by the State Department before its presentation at the Brandenburg Institute of Memorial Sites, whose responsibilities include preservation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp north of Berlin. ''I am not saying anything inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy. The views of this administration -- of any administration -- would be no different,'' Jones said before his speech. ''If Germany is not a racist society, why is its nationality law, which was written in 1913, predicated upon race?'' he asked his audience. ''Public attitudes about minority communities in Germany are ambivalent at best, hostile at worst.'' He criticized the government for rejecting ''the concept of a multicultural society as the standard'' and called on Germany to resolve a situation in which ''there is virtually no race-relations legislation. There is virtually no immigration policy.'' Other worrisome trends identified by Jones include significant financial support for Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russia's arch-nationalist, by German business and right-wing organizations. Jones said U.S. concerns ''about right-wing extremism in Germany are an outgrowth of our friendship and commitment -- not a desire to dictate morality.'' And he took issue with a common belief here that foreign news organizations, particularly U.S. ones, give disproportionate coverage to rightist violence in Germany. ''Violence aimed at foreigners is important news, with a unique historical resonance,'' Jones said. Among encouraging signs cited by Jones is public outrage expressed against right-wing violence, especially when ''hundreds of thousands of Germans have demonstrated in solidarity with victims.'' He complimented Germany for its ''unambiguous support for Israel and for survivors of the Holocaust,'' as well as a policy of generosity for victims of the war in former Yugoslavia.
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