Initially we were told: we can handle it. Euphoric images of welcome were sent from Germany around the world. However, a few months later the word “fear” dominates discussions and makes it clear how changeable the mood is. For a long time many Germans have been pointing at others: both other countries and the others themselves, the newcomers, the foreigners, the refugees and immigrants, telling them: “Integrate!” Yet the fact that an entire continent and the community of Western values can throw its own ideals overboard in the space of a few months is hardly commented on. Are we currently slipping into an ideological dilemma? Are we betraying our own values out of fear of foreign ones? And what are we actually so afraid of?
We are living in a time which will go down in the history books as one in which our generation was challenged to stand up for the society which it wanted to be. So says political scientist Esra Küçük. At this historic moment the founder and long-time head of the “Young Islam Conference” questions our central values from the Enlightenment and encourages us to step out of our comfort zone. She now works at the Maxim Gorki Theater, creating a space to discuss such issues, the Gorki Forum. Her talk for ZEIT Forum Kultur is intended to initiate a critical discussion of our ideals, words and deeds.
Following her exclusive lecture, Esra Küçük will be in conversation with Heinrich Wefing, a journalist from Die ZEIT, together with audience, which is welcome to join in the discussion.
ZeIT FoRUm KuLTUr
