Ok, at last a possible terror attack. Evidently, an Egyptian man overheard 3 men speaking Arabic at a bus stop, including the statement "Tomorrow we will stand as heroes before Allah". This caused a massive manhunt for the men, plus (unusually for Germany) tons of armed policemen wandering the subway stations.
I was on a bus going home from work, and I was surprised to see that the driver was pretty much using racial profiling to decide who could get on his bus unquestioned, and who couldn't. Normally the bus I take has a lot of people of Turkish or Arabic origin, but today there were none. Found out that the bus drivers were instructed to be careful. I'm not sure how to feel about that. I really don't like the way foreigners can be treated here in Germany, especially those who look foreign, i.e., people who aren't white, and I don't like racial profiling. On the other hand, if it stops someone from bombing my bus or subway train, well...
Ever since the Madrid bombings, I've tried to be vigilant while taking public transportation. Unlike in the US, many more people of all walks of life take the trains, etc. Mainly because driving and parking can be such a hassle. Lots of people who own cars still take the train to work, for just that reason. So it's a part of our lives, and when train bombings such as in Madrid and London happen, it affects us in a very personal way - that could be us! It's a bit creepy, especially since the fact is, it's way too difficult to prevent something like that happening - unless one sets up airport-style metal detectors at every train and bus stop!
Back to the issue of foreigners, I really think that it's not only the US war in Iraq that is causing problems here in Europe. Like I said above, foreigners can be treated like second class citizens. And even people who have gained German citizenship are not considered German. You can have the passport, but unless you look German, you'll never be accepted as German. I have a friend who is half German and half Ghanaian. She was born and raised here, German is her first language, went to university and all that - and people still ask where she is from, and how she learned such good German. And then we wonder why the young men and women from other countries can get angry enough to blow us (in Europe) up. Start treating them with respect, stop the discrimination, and maybe they will want to be a part of Germany, instead of wanting to destroy it. It's even legal here to not rent an apartment to someone because they are foreign or not white. Sheesh! Ok, enough of my ranting, gotta go buy a CD (Bryn Terfel, love his voice!)
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