‘Race’ has no place in the German constitution — or does it?
“No person shall be favored or disfavored because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavored because of disability,” reads Section 3 of Article 3 of the German constitution, the “Basic Law.”
Following the anti-racism protests triggered by the police killing of George Floyd in the US, two German Green party politicians called for this paragraph of the constitution to be changed.
“The word race should be removed from the Basic Law (Germany’s Constitution). There is no such thing as race, there are only people,” wrote Green co-chair Robert Habeck and party vice-president for the state of Schleswig-Holstein Aminata Touré in the German daily Tageszeitung. They refrained from suggesting an alternative word or an exact alteration.
The word “Rasse” in German, rendered as “race” in the official translation of German law, is described in the German Duden dictionary as dated and potentially discriminatory. The term also translates to “breed,” used for animals.
Green party co-chair Annalena Baerbock told DW: “‘ All people are equal before the law’ is the first article of our constitution, and Article 3 in its current form undermines this. I think striking the word ‘race’ is an essential step.”
On Friday, Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht from the Social Democrat SPD said she basically agreed with that demand.
Read more: EU has a racism problem, too
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Should books with racist content be revised?
‘The Little Witch’ (1957)
This classic of children’s literature, by Otfried Preussler, was made into a film that came out earlier this year. In a 2013 revision of the book, children getting dressed up as a “Neger” — a derogatory word that can either be translated as “negro” or “nigger” — or a “Zigeuner” (gypsy) simply picked other costumes. The publisher’s decision to change some words led to a heated debate in Germany.
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Should books with racist content be revised?
‘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?
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Should books with racist content be revised?
‘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 term “Neger,” used once to describe the black boy in the tale. The latest movie adaption of the work was recently released in cinemas (photo).
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Should books with racist content be revised?
The ‘Pippi Longstocking’ series
The word “negro” 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 as the “Negerkönig” (Negro King) were replaced with the “South Sea King.”
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Should books with racist content be revised?
‘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.
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Should books with racist content be revised?
‘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.
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Should books with racist content be revised?
‘And Then There Were None’ (1939)
The original title of Agatha Christie’s masterpiece was “Ten Little Niggers,” 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.
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Should books with racist content be revised?
‘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.
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Should books with racist content be revised?
‘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 “nigger,” 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.
The term race is outdated and is in itself perceived as racist, says Hendrik Cremer from Germany’s independent Human Rights Institute. “This term irritates people, makes them speechless, is seen as hurtful,” he says.
The term goes back to colonialism in the 18th century, he explains.
And under the rule of National Socialists (Nazis) in Germany in the 1930s and 40s, the racist ideology “resulted in monstrous crimes against humanity,” he told DW in an interview.
Are there different human races?
Researchers at Jena University published a paper last year stating that a division into “races” on the basis of skin color, eye color, or the shape of the skull was what led to persecution, enslavement and the killing of millions of people. The academics state clearly that there are no different human races in a biological sense.
The concept of different human races is in itself a result of racism, not its prerequisite,” they write in the “Jena Declaration.”
Read more: Germany struggles to face its own police racism
Indeed, anthropological genetics have shown that the division of humankind into smaller, discrete categories based on particular physical characteristics is not really possible: Down to a molecular level there are so few differences between populations that humans cannot actually be divided into discrete “races,” because most genetic traits instead vary on a continuous basis and human biology is very homogeneous compared to the greater genetic variation in other closely related species like apes.
Politicians from across Germany’s political spectrum are taking part in the current debate. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) definitely wants the term to stay. Conservatives within Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are skeptical about changing the Constitution. Thorsten Frei of the CDU agrees that the Constitution should be modified where it is out of date, but he cautions that “we have to fight racism in our society,” and questions whether the removal of Article 3 would have a real impact.
It’s not easy to change the Basic Law
“Our constitution quite clearly condemns racism,” argues Marko Buschmann from the liberal Free Democrats (FDP). “But it needs even clearer language.” The socialist Left party points out that it first put forward a motion to remove the term ten years ago. “Only racists believe there are different human races,” Left Party MP Jan Korte said in a DW interview.
Read more: Never again dictatorship: Germany’s Basic Law
Johannes Fechner, the legal affairs spokesman for the co-ruling Social Democrats (SPD), has demanded that the term be removed also from Germany’s criminal code and the Anti-Discrimination Act.
The small city-state of Bremen has led the way and removed the term “race” from its local Constitution and replaced it with “racial discrimination.” The local SPD, the Greens, and the Left party had joined forces, arguing that Germany carried the burden of its Nazi history and should be especially careful with such wordings. Other states have also modified their respective legal documents.
Other European countries including France, Finland, or Sweden removed the term race long ago, says Cremer.
Changing the constitution is not easy: It requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament. This may be difficult to achieve.
“Ethnic identity” is the term that Bundestag parliamentarian Karamba Diaby, who is black, has proposed to replace the term “race.” But, he says, the discussion has only just begun.
You can find more stories on Germany here.
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/race-has-no-place-in-the-german-constitution-or-does-it/a-53790056?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf