Readers respond to Afua Hirsch’s piece approximately the German footballer,which asked why people of colour should occupy to ditch their national heritageI agree with Afua Hirsch that German-born Mesut Özil should feel free to celebrate his German and his Turkish identity (Identity is one thing you can’t steal from us, 25 July). The problem is that zil naively (one hopes) posed for a photograph with the Turkish president, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,an increasingly authoritarian leader who has imprisoned thousands of his own people as well as German journalists and used this photo to succor get himself re-elected.
None of this justifies Özil being made the scapegoat for Germany’s early exit from the World Cup, but we should not be surprised at German reaction to this provocative and unpatriotic act any more than we would be surprised at reaction in Britain to one of its dual-identity citizens posing for a photo with an Isis leader. And the last thing dual-identity citizens should do is identify with a country of their heritage that they occupy never lived in rather than Britain, and as Hirsch irresponsibly suggests. The former is a fantasy where they occupy no influence,the latter is their country of citizenship where they can and should contribute to the betterment of that society.
Stan Labovitch
Windsor, BerkshireContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com