In Germany, 17% of Residents Lack Full Democratic Rights
It’s not a democracy when one-sixth of all residents have limited or no democratic representation. It’s a formula for exploitation and an open door for reactionary ideology.
For the past few years, Germany’s political establishment has been warning that democracy is under threat. The menace, they say, is the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Yet for 14 million non-citizen residents of Germany — or 17% of the German population — the reality is that Germany is, in practice, already not a democracy, as they lack basic rights.
Non-citizens in Germany can have a wide range of statuses, from non-German EU citizens to refugees with a “Duldung” — literally “toleration.” Rights accorded to non-citizens vary greatly with the precise residence title, impacting job market access and educational opportunities, freedom of movement within and outside of Germany, and the certainty with which one may remain in the country.
Despite the hierarchy of freedoms granted by this spectrum of permits, all non-citizen residents are united by two things which set them apart from German nationals: an eligibility for deportation, and an absent or restricted right to vote, the definitional right in any democracy.
A line linking these two deprivations is easily drawn. An enfranchised immigrant population would be capable of campaigning and voting for protection from deportation. Transforming democracy from a right to a privilege that must be “earned” through citizenship creates a demographic that has fewer means to protect itself from the state. An unavoidable consequence is the weakening of the working class as a whole.
Many residence permits are conditioned on employment or school enrollment. Dependence on an employer not only for a livelihood, but also for permission to remain in Germany, drastically increases the risk to any worker wishing to agitate for better conditions. In the same vein, the threat of being fired from a job or expelled from a university suppresses dissent against Germany’s support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza and expanding colonization of the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria. Completing the circle, acquiescence to the foreign policy of German imperialism has even become a requirement for being deemed worthy of the citizenship needed to obtain democratic representation.
On the flip side, certain residence permits prohibit work or study. Residents with these permits who cannot make ends meet on, or are not eligible for, state assistance are thereby forced to work under the table. Removed from labor rights and protections, workers in this position can find themselves in extremely exploitative conditions with no recourse to unions or labor courts.
The implications are not limited to non-citizens. A pool of more easily exploitable workers undermines wages and working conditions for everyone. Worsening economic prospects subsequently accelerate the swing to the Far Right. And when good jobs become scarcer, militarization increases, as military careers start to look like stable, well-paid options.
If the political establishment were truly committed to peace, democracy, and stopping the rise of fascism, it would contend with the reactionary reality of borders and residence permits. But the ruling class is primarily committed to dividing the working class and protecting profits, for which borders are extremely useful.
Capitalists live off the exploitation of workers. Borders provide a mechanism for stripping some workers of the rights which protect them from this exploitation. Democracy cannot exist as long as borders do, no matter what social chauvinists say.
