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Time - Man of the Year
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1993-04-08
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THE WEEKWORLD, Page 20Making Amends On Asylum
Germany's Social Democrats give in to a compromise on political
refugees
"History teaches us: today, it's against foreigners; tomorrow,
it's against the handicapped; and the day after, it's against
those who think differently." Thus spoke Bjorn Engholm, leader
of Germany's Social Democrats, at a special party congress in
Bonn on right-wing violence. After months of painful argument
over its long-standing defense of Germany's liberal immigration
policy, the opposition SPD heeded Engholm's call and voted to
move the party's position for political asylum closer to that of
the ruling center-right coalition. The decision to push for a
constitutional amendment to stem the influx of foreigners is
based on the belief that reducing the number of asylum seekers
will put a firebreak in the path of the xenophobic violence that
has torn through the country this year. Moreover, the delegates
reasoned, under their plan the truly persecuted would not be
turned away.
The shift opens the way for a compromise with Chancellor
Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats, who still feel the SPD has
not gone far enough to stanch the flow of refugees from the
east, 500,000 of whom are expected this year alone.