A European anti-racism commission has detected "high levels of Islamophobia" and said that public discourse in Germany is increasingly xenophobic. "Blatant" racism from certain quarters has impacted mainstream politics.
Germany must step up efforts to prevent and counter extremism and neo-Nazism, the Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) said in a report published on Monday.
The report also stated there is strong evidence for extensive racial profiling by German police.
The ECRI recommended Germany should take action to:
Ensure that evidence of online hate speech is shared with the police;
Eliminate existing and prevent future racial profiling;
Establish a system of organizations that provide victims of discrimination with effective support;
Accelerate the National Action Plan on Integration, as children with migrant backgrounds are twice as likely to leave school without qualifications.
The report commended Germany's efforts to fight racism and discrimination, noting that "Germany warmly welcomed an extraordinarily large number of asylum seekers in 2015" and "invested many resources" in their inclusive integration.
However, the report said public discourse in the country has become increasingly xenophobic, noting "high levels of Islamophobia."
According to the ECRI, racism is "particularly blatant" in two sub organisations of a "new political party." The report found that the constant racist and xenophobic discourse from the extreme right has impacted mainstream political discourse.
The body also detected rising numbers of right-wing extremists "ready to use violence," with both right-wing and Islamist terrorists carrying-out racist attacks.
German Sinti and Roma are in need of special assistance with migrant Roma often being victims of exclusion and exploitation.
Hate speech
The survey found a large number of unreported hate crimes and said evidence of online hate speech that could lead to violence is "not systematically transmitted to the police."
The report praised German officials including Chancellor Angela Merkel for having publicly spoken out against hate speech but urged social networks to enforce their guidelines on omitting hate speech.
The body also urged Germany to take a stronger stance on the wellbeing of intersex children and their parents, and to set-up counselling services for them.
Should books with racist content be revised?
While somtimes only simple textual changes are needed to update a classic, removing racist slurs does not always eliminate ideologies of the past. Here are some examples that show how revising books is a delicate affair.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
'The Little Witch' (1957)
This classic of children's literature, by Otfried Preussler, was made into a film that came out in 2018. In a 2013 revision of the book, children getting dressed up as Blacks — described using the N-word — or a "Zigeuner" (gypsy) simply picked other costumes. The publisher's decision to change some words led to a heated debate in Germany.
Image: Studiocanal
'The Little Ghost' (1966)
Thienemann publishing house also decided to review Preussler's other classic books of German children literature, including "The Robber Hotzenplotz" books and "The Little Ghost" (made into a film in 2013). They reformulated for example the friendly ghost's reaction when he turns black. Such revisions shock purists: Should books be changed? And where should the line be drawn?
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
'Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver' (1960)
Experts view Michael Ende's popular children's novel as an allegory against the Nazis' ideology. During his lifetime, the author updated his book, turning references to China into a fictional country called Mandala. However, the latest version keeps the one use of the N-word to describe the Black boy in the tale. The latest movie adaption of the work was recently released in cinemas (photo).
Image: Warner Bros., Ilze Kitshoff
The 'Pippi Longstocking' series
The N-word was already removed or replaced from the English version of Astrid Lindgren's popular books during the 1950s. The German version had been reworked in the 1990s; however, it kept the term with a footnote mentioning that it was outdated. In 2009, all references to Pippi's dad were replaced with the "South Sea King."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
'The Story of Doctor Dolittle' (1920)
Hugh Lofting's classic was reworked for its 1988 edition; instead of coming from the "Land of the White Men," Doctor Dolittle is from the "Land of the Europeans." Similarly, references to the King of Jolliginki avoid mentioning the color of his skin. Despite efforts to make race invisible, the colonial ideologies of the time are still reflected in the plot and the depictions of the characters.
'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (1964)
In the original version of Roald Dahl's book, the Oompa-Loompas — small humans working in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory — are described as African Pygmies. The author made them come from a fictional country called Loompaland in a revised version from 1973. In the 1971 film (photo), they were played by actors with dwarfism and depicted as surreal creatures with orange skin and green hair.
Image: Imago/Zuma Press
'And Then There Were None' (1939)
The original title of Agatha Christie's masterpiece was "Ten Little N*gg*rs," based on the British blackface song that guides the plot of the mystery novel. The title of the US edition, released a month after the British one in 1939, used the last five words of the song instead. However, it has also had the problematic title "Ten Little Indians," which refers to an American rhyming song.
Image: Harper
'Tintin in the Congo' (1946)
Initially published as a serialized weekly in the 1930s, Belgian cartoonist Herge later produced a colored version of the work and revised one violent big-game hunting scene in 1976. The volume was strongly criticized for its racist content by the late 20th century. There have been attempts to ban the book; in English, it is sold with an extra explanation of the historical context.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' (1884)
Mark Twain's iconic classic is viewed as an anti-racist satire. It is also among the first American works to use vernacular English — and coarse language. The word "n*gg*r," a common racial slur in the mid-19th-century, is used over 200 times in the book. One revised version from 2011 replaces the N-word with "slave." Critics believe it is wrong to whitewash the historical context of such books.
