In a column for the Tagesspiegel John described the concern of Germans – becoming a minority in their own country – as unfounded.
It was only a matter of time before people in large cities in Germany were going to be people with a migration background, and the majority of the population, John wrote. This is already the case in Frankfurt am Main. Next to follow will probably be Stuttgart and Augsburg. As the Federal Statistical Office announced last week, every fourth inhabitant of Germany has foreign roots.
“The trend towards the rapidly growing proportion of migrants is irreversible,” John clarified. But that’s why there’s no need to be fearful, she said. For example, this can be seen in Rotterdam or Amsterdam, where immigrants already formed the majority.
“It turned out that the greatest fear of many primitive natives was unfounded, that they would become a meaningless minority themselves. It was a mistake to think that there would be a new majority to replace them.”
Finally, the new majority of the population consists of many educational, ethnic, religious, cultural and economic immigrant groups. These were partially divided among themselves. Thus, new political alliances have been formed beyond people with and without a migration background. John neglegted to mention that migrants and leftists were forming the most unlikely alliances.
In addition, the view of Holland affirms a second fact: economic and social advancement is no longer exclusively the responsibility of the local majority, but of society as a whole. “So,” John rejoiced, “many things will be different and some things better.”
But sadly she could not list any of the “better things”.
For 27 years, John was commissioner for foreigners’ affairs for the city-state of Berlin. She heads the Association of Social Movements in Berlin.
In 2007, John was elected head of the federal government’s antidiscrimination advisory board and in 2012, she was appointed ombudsman and government contact person for the families of the victims of murders of an alleged Nazi group.
“How often do you hear a derogatory, negative remark about immigrants in your own circles? People accept it or ignore it. Instead, you should broach the subject, and try to find out why people think that way. It is important not to give any space to such opinions which want to exclude some people,” John told Deutsche Welle.