@Xi:
F_alk, I think you are putting words in war_'s mouth. Why don’t you define your definitions of ‘multicultural?’ I do not like the ‘M’ word!
Sure, my definition of multicultural is about the following:
I believe war_ wants these folks to bring their differences. However, he wishes for them to learn our ways (to improve their situation[why they came])and teach us their ways so that we may learn, too. If they blend, rather than trying to create Little Uganda(make believe) or Little Havana(a real example), we as a nation become stronger.
That’s what i understand of it. Festivals of other cultures can (but need not) be a part of “their ways”. Of course, if you immigrate somewhere, and you want to become a citizen there, you have to accept the predominant culture, and “learn” it/ integrate yourself. The problem that often appears is that the hosts don’t want to integrate the newcomers as they think “the boat is already crowded”. Even more often, the host people show very little interest in learning about the newcomers cultures (“they must be inferior, why else would the people come here”).
Very dangerous thoughts, especially if you are thinking that unconciously!
a German festival(Oktoberfest, the largest one outside of Germany),
Tehehehe…. that’s what you hear of more or less every major Oktoberfest (which is Bavarian, not necessarily German ;) ). I think in Melbourne and Tokyo they claim the same.
@waraxis:
Ozone27 GDR was a police state in the ealier part of their short life, but at the end when people were leaving and going on telivision and talking bad about the government, and the GDR not doing a thing about it, that is a poor version of a police state.
Which TV did tehy use? Western stations or eastern stations? I can’t remember having seen “critical” voices on the east german TV.
The mass leaving was a phenomenon of only a few months before the breakdown, a year maximum. And the people did have to use other, more liberal eastern block countries to flee, like hungaria, where they stormed the west-german embassy and asked for exile. But, how could you explain that people are not allowed to go into friendly, socialist brother-countries anymore?
but over the years starting in the ealry 80s GDR was slowly losing its status as a police state. When they stop trying to stop people from leaving and letting people speak out in the GDR you know the police state is in trouble.
The mass demonstrations where the first sign of “speaking out”, more or less encouraged by M. Gorbachev.
I think the early 80s is too early for that claim of losing “police state” status. Even the day before the wall came down the central comittee of the SED had plans of how to use the army against its own people. The MfS (“Stasi”) still was in full action until the day of Honecker resigning.
The whole thing was a very fast development, and IMO the SED leaders underestimated the power of the people (hey, they were unarmed, how could they harm the party in all its power?) and the effect of the exodus on daily life.
For the TV shows, and east germans speaking up there, i repeat my question: was it broadcasted by a western station or an eastern station?
From all european eastern block countries, IMO the GDR and Romania kept being police states longer than the others (say Poland, Hungaria, CSSR etc).