Berlin Multikulti: Germany, ‘foreigners’ and ‘world‐openness’

Abstract

Abstract As post‐reunification Berlin rebuilds as the capital of Germany, as one powerbase in a federal Europe, as a gateway to Eastern Europe and as, in many respects, a global city, a number of important public initiatives have emerged by way of what can be called ‐ rightly or wrongly ‐ multi‐culturalism. Many such initiatives have gained particular urgency following the events in Solingen and Mölln, seeking not only to oppose racism, but to encourage greater general acceptance of new flows of people and cultural phenomena. Within a total population of 3.5 million persons in Berlin, so‐called foreigners’ (Ausländer) account for 12 per cent or over 406,600. This article concerns initiatives of three major bodies concerned with the representation of foreigners’ or ethnic minorities in the public sphere in Berlin. Initiatives by the Commissioner for Foreigners’ Affairs (Ausländerbeauftragte), the Workshop of Cultures (Werkstatt der Kulturen), and the new public broadcasting station ‘SFB4 Radio Multikulti’ are examined and discussed in light of how they seek to alter the representation of ethnic minorities in public space, to dispose of a range of common terms concerning such minorities ‐ including Ausländer (foreigners'), Gastarbeiter ('guest‐workers'), Zuwanderer ('migrants'), hierlebende Nichtdeutsche ('here‐living‐non‐Germans'), to deconstruct the idea of ‘German‐ness’ itself, and to develop a widespread sense of Weltoffenheit ('liberal mindedness/cosmopolitanism’ or, literally translated, ‘world‐openness').