There are many things that are wrong with the German migration system. It often takes months, sometimes years, before people who arrive in Germany are allowed to work. This often damages their mental health, their self-esteem, integration and it costs the German state a lot of money. Rights use this to incite hatred against refugees or migrants.
Reaching Europe at all is also extremely dangerous. People risk everything by sailing across the Mediterranean on inflatable boats and are then framed as threats to law and order when they arrive on the shores. This episode attempts to devise solutions to these two problems, access to work and life-threatening escape routes. Win-win situation that serves both people on the run and German society.
The guest is Nazenin Wali, multimedia journalist at Deutsche Welle. She herself came to Germany from Afghanistan to work and knows the problems that come with it. Parts of her family came to Germany through resettlement programs. She is also very familiar with safe escape routes. Franziska Schindler, editor of wochentaz, is also a guest. During her studies she specialized in human rights and migration and has been dealing with the issues of flight and migration at taz for a long time. The episode is moderated by Alice of Lenthe.
Done? Six podcast episodes
During the “refugee summer of 2015”, Germany experienced an unusually high level of immigration within just a few months. Over 1.8 million people migrated or fled to Germany in 2015, many came from war zones, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
At that time, many people in Germany showed a great willingness to help, taking in refugees, donating clothes and toys and driving to the borders themselves to help. The most defining sentence of this time was probably the statement by the then CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel: “We can do it!”
At the same time, this time was also the beginning of a shift to the right in Germany. The AfD has gained strong popularity among the population over the last ten years – especially with the issue of migration. The centrist parties are now also calling for large-scale deportations and strict limits on migration.
This development will be the focus of six episodes of the podcast series “Done? Ten Years After Arrival” from mid-August to the end of December. Here, taz editors who are familiar with the events surrounding escape and migration over the last ten years, as well as media professionals who came to Germany in 2015, have their say.
The podcast series “Done? Ten years after arrival” is a project by taz Panter Foundation. In parallel to the six podcast episodes, there will be ten columns by these and other refugees under the title “Arrive” im taz focus on 10 years of refugee summer published.