On February 19, 2020 a 43-year old native German citizen walked into two shisha bars within 1.5 miles of each other, in the vicinity of Hanau and killed nine people, most of whom were of Kurdish descent. It is believed by the German authorities that these attacks were racially motivated and stemmed from far-right terrorist ideologies. Of the three German Kurds interviewed, Dilar, commented on the mainstream attitude of German citizens when relating to cross-culturalization. He says that he has noticed an upswing in far-right tones and stances both in politics as well as the media over the last several years. An example of this ethnocentrism is evident in the media’s use of the term Kurden-Terror, which translates into Kurdish terror. He states that this word is commonly used in the media when speaking about the Kurdish people. In Germany there also exists stereotypical views of those from the Middle East as well as North Africa, which further suggests that this ethnocentric position is not simply limited to those of Kurdish descent. The article also states the lack of voice given to the Kurdish people in German culture which demonstrates not only a lack of inclusion, cross-cultural acceptance, motivation to change, but also inhibits communication. The interviewee also states a failure in the culture to speak about racism: both Islamophobia as well as anti-Semitism. All of these factors, if true, could perhaps be traced to a failure on the part of leadership to bring about change or a lack of motivation to change. This act of terror reveals Germany’s culture of ethnocentrism, lack of inclusion, failure on the part of its leadership to either buy into the need to change or failure to motivate those key members in the society who can promote the change.
Ethnocentrism is the state of believing that a person’s native culture is superior to that of another (Ethnocentrism 2020). Within this article can be found several behaviors which may indicate this such as the media’s use of the term Kurden-Terror and sustained stereotypical views of people from both the Middle East and Northern Africa. Both of these acts suggest that Germany has a fear of those people whose culture is significantly different from theirs. The fact that the interviewer discloses an ongoing culture of avoidance of the subject of racism as well as the media’s use of a term associating terrorism with the Kurdish people demonstrate its culture of ethnocentrism, which is a part of a cycle between culture, attitude, values, and behavior. Within this cycle, the national culture impresses its attitude on the attitudes of the individual, which in turn develops a person’s attitude establishing his values. These values in turn influence a person’s behavior (Values 2020). In the case of this article, it is suggested that Germany’s culture of ethnocentrism led to the behavior of the terrorist attack.
The lack of inclusion on the part of Germany can likely be traced to a lack of belief in the need to be inclusive of other nationalities on the part of its leaders; resulting in a lack of motivation to advocate a need for this change to its culture. Schein’s theory of social change states that there are three stages. The first involves Unfreezing the culture; the second Changing it; and the third Refreezing it (Planned Change 2020). The first step of Unfreezing requires that leadership first see the need for a global change throughout the organization and convey this need to their subordinates through creating discomfort within the environment. This conveys not only to their subordinates the reason the current system is not working and will not be effective in the future, but also provides the remedy to the discomfort and how it will better both the organization and its members going forward. The key to the entire process is motivation on the part of leadership in conveying this need to key members of the organization which will filter down to each member. Without this support, the need for change will not be implemented. It appears as though German leadership has failed to adopt this need for change. It has certainly not conveyed this need to its key members in government. The second step in social change, Changing, requires leadership to implement the new changes. The final step, Refreezing, establishes the changes as the new way of doing business and includes metrics for monitoring progress.
Present within this article are elements of symbolism. Both attacks occurred at shisha bars. Shisha bars are hookah bars: locations in which people, usually from Arab or Asian descent, come and share the smoking of shisha communally. These bars are long established social institutions of those from these regions. Germany’s Kurdish population is known to frequent shisha bars, and the shooter chose this location because he knew that there would be a high concentration of his target present there. Symbolism is also present in the German media’s association of the Kurdish people with Kurdish terrorism. This association through media reinforces the attitudes of some native Germans against the Kurdish and eventually explains the behavior of some such as the attacker.
In summary, the recent shisha bar attack against German Kurdish citizens alludes to ethnocentrism, negative symbolism, lack of inclusion and motivation to change on the part of national leadership.
Resources
BBC. (2020, February). Germany shooting: ‘It was a shock but not a surprise’. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51576446.
Pennsylvania State University (2020). Lesson 02: Introduction to Culture: Ethnocentrism. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2041071/modules/items/27977824.
Pennsylvania State University (2020). Lesson 02: Introduction to Culture: Values. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2041071/modules/items/27977822.
Pennsylvania State University (2020). Lesson 05: Learning and Change in a Global Setting: Planned Change. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2041071/modules/items/27977845.
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