History Repeats Itself

As does the worst part of human nature

“What made America great back in the days was its ability to provide safe refuge to Jews who fled from Europe, Russians who escaped the oppressive Soviet regime, and Cubans who avoided Castro’s socialism. What made America great back in the days was its ability to offer opportunities of employment, business and artistic freedom to Africans, Asians and Latin Americans.”

I was on my way to the grocery store when I crossed paths with an old German man; he looked at me and with utmost disgust said only one word: Muslim. Although what he said was true but it somehow didn’t seem right. Maybe because of the rage in his eyes, the disgust in his tone – or maybe because usually you don’t see pedestrians calling out fellow pedestrians’ religious beliefs out loud – whatever the reason it disturbed me. It disturbed me not because I somehow took offense to my identity; it disturbed me because it came from a German. The same Germans who were once welcoming refugees with open arms and earned the fabled spiritual title of modern day Ansars from many are today becoming borderline xenophobes.

A couple of months ago there was an arson attack on one of the refugee shelters; miraculously there were no causalities or injuries. The attackers were tried in the court and their roots were to be found in the right wing political party called Alternativ Fuer Deutschland (AFD). During the trial one of the reporters from a local TV station asked the defendants’ lawyer to comment on the situation and the answer that the lawyer gave was in fact scarier than the attack itself: “What I don’t understand is that why is everyone fussing about this when there were no causalities”. The very mindset that there is no harm in an attack until there is any death or injury is appalling. This lack of compassion for another human life entirely based on his/her religion is something that the Germany of 1930s and 1940s was infamous for.

One can observe the same pattern across the Pacific as well where Donald Trump has taken it upon his shoulders to make America great again. His idea of making America great is by kicking the Muslims out of the country and building a wall on the Mexican borders to avoid the Hispanic “contamination”. The conservative Americans believe that these Hispanic and Asian immigrants are stealing their jobs, feeding on their social security and corrupting their society, hence they should be driven out of the country in order for America to regain its lost glory. When Trump showed interest in running for the president no one believed that he would be able to gather any support from the Americans. But ladies and gentleman behold today Trump has not only won the Republican nomination for the presidency but has also promised his followers that once he becomes the president he will suspend the immigration for Pakistanis and Saudis.

One can find a pattern in the history of these two great countries; both of them have a dark history of racial and religious discriminations and both of them grew out of it. But did the aborigines of these countries actually gave up on racism or became reluctant racists is the important question here. One of the researchers of Interdisciplinary studies at Humboldt University, Berlin conducted a research on 3^rd generation German nationals of Turkish descent. A focus group discussion was conducted and four questions were asked. Question No 1: Should they be given opportunities to integrate with us? 70% of the respondents said yes. Question No 2: Should they be given same employment opportunities like us? 74% of the respondents said yes. Question No 3: Should they be allowed to share their culture with us? 87% of the respondents said yes. Question No 4: Who is us? The unanimous response was “Us, Germans”. The interesting part of this study was that the white Germans didn’t recognise the German citizens of Turkish descent who have been living in Germany for 3 generations as Germans.

The one common cause that leads to such events is the belief by the locals and their leaders that they are great, that they are definitely the superior beings and anyone who is not like them is a misfit and shouldn’t be allowed to habitat in their country. Have a look at the Germany of 1930s and 1940s, the popular sentiment was that Germans are great and superior whereas the Jews are an inferior people and should either be killed or purged out of the region. Or the America of 1950s and 1960s that believed in the white supremacy and discriminated against the black, treated them like animals, lynched them and killed them in public to fuel their arrogance. Call it racism or reluctant racism the Germans and Americans grew out of all this and made up a society that was open, progressive and welcoming. Germany after the Second World War and at the end of holocaust episode became the safe haven for many; from Eastern European immigrants to LGBT movement victims; Germany provided home to those who had no one on their side, and this definitely made them the superior people. What made America great back in the days was its ability to provide safe refuge to Jews who fled from Europe, Russians who escaped the oppressive Soviet regime, and Cubans who avoided Castro’s socialism. What made America great back in the days was its ability to offer opportunities of employment, business and artistic freedom to Africans, Asians and Latin Americans.

Progressiveness of any society rests on its attitude towards research and innovation. An economy that is open to change, innovation and adheres to research outcomes is the one that grows. Such progressive and advanced societies welcome the researchers, scientists and innovators irrespective of their race, religion and nationality. Germany and America used to be such societies, when they used to welcome researchers and scientists from all over the world to present their research at their universities and research centers. Things are not the same anymore, students are denied access to entry and researchers whose papers are accepted at a particular conference are denied schengen visa because one or more country in the region believes that he/she is a threat to their public policy. Progressive and open societies welcome students and researchers – it is the areas of Taliban where students (Malala and her friends) are considered threat to their (Taliban) policies.

Recent events both in America and Germany have shown that History does repeat itself. It was Jews before, it is Muslims now. It was African-Americans before, it is Latin Americans now. It was Japanese before, it is South Asians now. The only things that have changed are the religion, the race and the nationalities – other than those everything remains the same.

It is time that the Germans and Americans realise that the reason why everyone wants to live in their countries is not to steal their jobs, or exhaust their social security or to spread crime in their societies in order to eventually make them “less” great than they are or used to be, it is because they are the societies everyone looks up, everyone wants to be a part of, everyone idealises. But if the present sentiments keep on growing then they will no longer be considered epitome of economic, social and humanitarian progression. They will once again step into the darkness, from which they once recovered to become who they are now, and this time it might be harder to grow out of it.