Thursday, October 1, 2015

Basic Law in the German News

This week, the Bundestag did something that you figured would come sooner or later.  They printed off the first twenty-odd parts of the Basic Law (their Constitution) in Arabic.  It's the introduction of the basic rights and supposed to be one of those things that they want the 'new' guests to read and grasp.

If you go over to the Bundestag site.....there's a 136-page copy of the entire Basic Law, in English.  For non-Germans who'd like an introduction to the Basic Law, it's a good read and can be done in four hours.

Germans live and breathe off the Basic Law.  It's a document which goes through an occasional update and written in a simplistic fashion.  It prescribes personal rights and liberties.  It also prescribes the effective way of which the federal government apparatus will function, and how the states will fit into the overall situation.  It's roughly 145 articles, and deal with just about everything necessary.

The translation into Arabic?  It's a necessary thing, I agree.  Germans are content people....highly organized and extremely developed as a culture and society.  You need to fit into the society or you will have problems.

Most Syrians have the ability to read and comprehend.  If you asked them about having read their own Syrian Constitution....I suspect that almost everyone has read it at least in their school years.  The last update was in 2012, but it hasn't changed that much since it was written in the spring of 1964.   No one much argues over the character of the Syrian Constitution....it's just that it hasn't been used as the basis of leadership or preserving society in a peaceful or productive fashion.

My humble guess is that the Basic Law in Arabic brochure will be handed out and people led into some discussion groups to understand that Germans are picky about rights, safety and security.  You have rights, and if you just play by the rules.....you could be part of the 'greatest nation on Earth' (Germans will grin and nod absolute approval when you say that phrase).

As for this effort to make the multi-cultural thing work?  The brochure will just be another effort to drag multi-culture across some imaginary line....limping and dazed, but still breathing in some fashion.

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