Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-21-Speech-4-055"
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"en.20000921.2.4-055"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I think we can safely say, from what we have heard this morning, that extremism and racism are two of the most important issues we have to deal with at present. The past few months in particular have seen a whole spate of racially motivated criminal acts in Germany. The events that took place in Dessau, Munich, Ludwigshafen, Düsseldorf are of such concern to us primarily because violent acts were committed against defenceless people with great indifference and coldbloodedness.
The fact that the crimes were committed in all these different places, however, shows that racism and right-wing extremism are not problems specific to East Germany, but are to be found throughout Germany, indeed throughout Europe. It does not help matters though, Mrs Schroedter and also Mr Schulz, to want to concentrate on tackling this problem in the new German Länder, singling these regions out for attention. It is true that the propaganda peddled by these groups, which have long been active in the old Länder, has, I regret to say, fallen on fertile ground in the new Länder in recent years, and that we undoubtedly need to take appropriate action. But hysteria makes for a poor counsellor. What we need is to show a united front in the fight against violence, but also to have faith and confidence in the ability of state and society to rid us of this monster.
It is in no one’s interests to assert that over 10% of people in the new Bundesländer are of a racist disposition, or to disparage them as such. 16 million citizens cannot, and will not, allow themselves to be labelled as such all because of the activities of an extremist minority. Our citizens have done nothing to deserve this, and nor, more to the point, have our young people, the vast majority of whom are tolerant and open-minded.
I would expressly like to draw attention to the various actions undertaken by the inhabitants of the new Bundesländer over the past few weeks and months, which have demonstrated repeatedly that they feel a great deal of solidarity with the victims of these crimes, and that we will not tolerate xenophobic machinations and acts of violence in our country."@en1
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