Human Rights - Racism Rolls Over, Snores

Yesterday, in my post "Racism Isn't Dead, It's Just Sleeping," I linked to an article posted at Raw Story about skinheads/Neo-Nazis in Germany attacking people of Indian descent, and the subsequent response by the Jewish community (thanks, guys, you pointed out how we all are at risk from these swine!). Today, Angela Merkel offers her tepid response:

Although she declined to explicitly blame the incident on the far right, Merkel told a cabinet meeting that last weekend's violence, and the fact no one had intervened to stop it, was "extraordinarily deplorable and shameful".

[...]

Merkel called for a quick and thorough investigation to determine whether members of right-wing extremist groups were behind the attack.

She added that the government this week would examine its programmes to fight the far right, indicating that the international community held Germany to a high standard because of its Nazi past.

"Such cases hurt Germany's image in the world," Steg said, citing Merkel's remarks to the cabinet.

Well, gee, Angela. We shouldn't beat the crap out of innocent people who happen to be different from us because it will "hurt [our] image"? That's a good lesson to be teachin' your younguns. What next, "do it if you must but only where no one will see you and don't get caught"?

Let's hope the generally wussy Indian government makes this an issue. For all of Indira Gandhi's faults (and they were legion), at least she understood that, in dealing with other and somewhat recalcitrant governments, sometimes a swift kick in the nuts was what worked best.

Stumble It!