Dear comrades,
You have written an open letter to the party leadership, the social democratic members of the Bundestag and the federal government in which you call on them to stand up for dignity, uphold human rights, defend the right to asylum and live by social democratic values.
Over 12,000 comrades have now signed the open letter. As members of the Bundestag, we are also addressees of this letter and would like to respond to you in this way.
First things first: We are very grateful to you for writing this letter. We share your sadness, your anger and your doubts about the current discourse. Let us be clear: we too believe that the course currently being taken by the SPD on migration and asylum policy is wrong.
We are aware that many political demands for stricter asylum and migration policies are reactions to Solingen. It is understandable that many people in Germany feel insecure after such a horrific attack and would like to see political measures that create more security.
We must take this uncertainty seriously. At the same time, this obliges us to propose political measures that genuinely contribute to greater security and are not actionism. We can only create more security if we honestly identify the background to attacks like the one in Solingen and tackle the actual causes of such acts.
That is why it is right to tighten gun laws, prevent terrorist financing and stop hate messages online and offline. However, it is also important to proceed with a sense of proportion and to weigh up security and civil liberties responsibly. Not every tightening of the law is expedient, not every new competence for security authorities is necessary and proportionate. For us, it is very clear that we need more prevention of Islamism, more prevention of right-wing extremism and more work on democracy.
The fight against right-wing extremism and Islamist radicalization can only succeed in a politically enlightened society. For us, this also includes strengthening social security in our society.
Anyone who breaks down current security policy issues into migration policy is making things far too easy for themselves. Security policy issues must not be inadmissibly mixed up with migration policy. Here, too, we agree with you. This argument suggests connections that are demonstrably not there: Migration is not the cause of attacks. Anyone who reflexively calls for more border controls, more deportations and more repressive measures in migration policy after terrorist attacks is implying a causal connection. This sets a spiral in motion. The next incident can only lead to the conclusion that even stricter measures are needed, which hardly or not at all lead to more security. Right-wingers use every further incident as an opportunity to continue this spiral and advance their own agenda.
If we get involved in this, we will achieve an ever greater shift in public discourse. We should be doing the opposite: Take a stand, consistently oppose the right-wing agenda and break through this constructed chain of argumentation.
For us, in terms of the “security package”, this means that we are particularly critical of the proposed exclusion of social benefits, random checks, the comparison of biometric data, border controls and refoulement as well as the expansion of detention. In recent days and weeks, we have already campaigned within the parliamentary group to prevent planned measures on these points in particular and will continue to do so.
In the coming weeks, the budget negotiations will also focus on saving and strengthening key migration and participation policy projects. Right now, we must not cut funding for integration courses, psychosocial counseling or the budget of the Integration Commissioner. Instead, we must maintain and expand the budget allocations in these areas in particular.
Instead of fighting defensive battles on asylum policy, we want to rededicate ourselves to projects that make people’s lives easier and breathe the spirit of solidarity: whether in facilitating family reunification, citizenship, residence rights for victims of domestic violence or faster opportunities for refugees and other migrants to earn their own living here.
It must be clear that it is wrong to react to attacks like the one in Solingen with debates about asylum and migration. We know that we also have to convince our colleagues and comrades of this.
We are therefore very grateful to you for reinforcing our convictions with your letter, backing us up and contradicting the reflexive call for a tougher stance on migration policy. We ask you to uphold this contradiction. Together with you, we want to continue to defend the right to asylum, stand up for the dignity of all people and fight for a social democracy that does the same.
With solidarity greetings
Rasha Nasr, Member of Parliament
Robin Mesarosch, Member of the Bundestag
Ye-One Rhie, MdB
Katrin Michel, Member of the Bundestag
Hakan Demir, Member of Parliament
Derya Türk-Nachbaur, Member of the Bundestag
Jan Dieren, Member of the Bundestag
Sebastian Roloff, Member of the Bundestag
Leni Breymaier, Member of the Bundestag
Jessica Rosenthal, Member of the Bundestag
Karamba Diaby, Member of the Bundestag
Tina Rudolph, Member of the Bundestag
Felix Döring, Member of the Bundestag
Mathias Stein, Member of the Bundestag
Axel Echeverria, Member of the Bundestag
Nadja Sthamer, Member of the Bundestag
Fabian Funke, Member of the Bundestag
Ruppert Stüwe, Member of the Bundestag
Manuel Gava, Member of the Bundestag
Emily Vontz, Member of the Bundestag
Anke Hennig, Member of the Bundestag
Carolin Wagner, Member of the Bundestag
Carlos Kasper, Member of the Bundestag
Maja Wallstein, Member of the Bundestag
Anna Kassautzki, Member of the Bundestag
Carmen Wegge, Member of the Bundestag
Helmut Kleebank, Member of the Bundestag
Gülistan Yüksel, Member of the Bundestag
Tim Klüssendorf, Member of the Bundestag
Annika Klose, Member of the Bundestag
Erik von Malottki, Member of the Bundestag
Holger Mann, Member of the Bundestag
Zanda Martens, Member of the Bundestag
Takis Mehmet Ali, Member of the Bundestag
Dirk-Ulrich Mende, Member of the German Bundestag