Hacker News Reader

Comment by emsy | Hacker News Reader

Hopefully the exposure to foreign professionals will lead to a decrease in xenophobia. So I think it's the other way around. It's not that there are fewer foreigners there because of right wing politics, but the right wing politics are flourishing because there are fewer foreigners (add to that the economic after-effects of the GDR that are still lingering more than 30 years later).

View on HN

Xenophobes are mad :

1) Because of foreigners with no work, they are thought of to 'cost money'

2) Because of foreigners with (good) work, because they are 'stealing' their jobs or have a better life

You can't win.

> It's not that there are fewer foreigners there because of right wing politics

Actually, you're wrong. Nazism in Eastern Germany has been pointed out to drastically reduce the attractivity for foreigners.

Been that way ever since the 2015 anti-refugee riots and the rise of Pegida: https://www.br.de/nachricht/pegida-schadet-dresden-100.html

The fact that people of color regularly get beaten up in public transport over there only strengthens the problem. The Nazi terrorism is winning.

I'm sure you have some sources for your bold claims. Also, I think you may have gotten the point of my comment wrong. The comment I replied to made it sound like it's a bad idea to build in the saxony area because of racism, which is a wrong way to think about this, because this will only let the problem persist. Of course, this will only work if law enforcement will punish right wing violence.

Alone in 2019, there were over 1.000 right-wing associated violent attacks in East Germany: https://taz.de/Rechte-Gewalt-in-Ostdeutschland/!5676492/

That number does notably not include non-violent attacks like threats, derogatory comments or slurs, as well as the ever-present discrimination against non-Germans.

The police tend to BE right wing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com