Familieninterne Barrieren der Integration (Internal family barriers to integration) (original) (raw)
Geoghegan begins her talk on a biographical note, drawing parallels between the barriers to personal development, self-determination and individualism that prevailed in the de-facto theocracy (Catholic Ireland) in which she grew up and those erected by traditional Muslim families in Germany. She then juxtaposes "tradition" and "modernity" as ideal types and expands on her thesis that integration is a process of transition from the traditional to the modern. Because people with a Turkish migrant background in Germany frequently complain that politicians demand "integration" without actually explaining what they mean by it, she analyses the various dimensions of the process, explaining why, in her view, it is not possible to leave any of these dimensions out. And finally she endeavours to allay Turkish migrants' fears that the internalisation of modern "German" values will be their undoing. She points out that the only values that migrants are obliged to internalise are those enshrined in the German constitution (or Basic Law / Grundgesetz): the inviolability of human dignity; the right to free development of the personality; equal rights for men and women; freedom of faith and conscience (which includes the freedom to leave a faith or to forgo religion); and freedom of expression. Referring to the recent "honour killing" in Hamburg of a young Afghan migrant, Morsal, whose only "crime" was that she wanted to "live like a German", Geoghegan points out that traditional families must realise that the above-mentioned basic rights laid down in Articles 1 to 5 of the Basic Law literally come before the right of parents to bring up their children that is set down in Article 6 of the German Basic Law. In other words, these parents must accept that their children have the right to live a modern, self-determined life. She concludes with a piece of wisdom from Goethe: "Children should get two things from their parents: roots and wings."
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