Culture and conflict in Berlin. Randomizer, in Tuesday's Souciant.
A few years ago in Dusseldorf, and I picked up on some subtle anti-Arabic signals that surprised me. Coming from Detroit, it reminded me of the kind of tolerated racism that occurs here against blacks. We have the largest Middle Eastern population in the US in Dearborn, yet this community isn't viewed as one that can be casually discriminated against. IMHO racism depends upon a narrative, and the success of this narrative limits the extent of its expression. One good thing about travel, is that you experience the same subject matter in different cultural narratives (which tends to dispel them.)
Ahh, interesting. Yes, I know Dearborn well. I can't think of another place like it in the US. In Germany, Muslims tend to serve as proxies for Jews. The discrimination can be very similar. Turks, Palestinians, there's no difference to the haters, really. Their religion always comes first.
The political situation in Germany has been very polarized in recent years. There are fiercely anti-racist Germans, especially in the West. Those are the folks you'll tend to meet vacationing in Muslim countries, and Israel. Easterners tend to be more reactionary on questions of immigration and diversity. Not exclusively, but they get over-represented, particularly in places like Berlin, which is, of course, in the eastern half of the country.