Thread by @AukeHoekstra

I would like to take a moment to celebrate a victory for decency. Specifically the decency of @AngelaMerkeICDU who, faced with Syrian refugees on one side and populists at home on the other, declared in 2015:

"Wir schaffen das"
(We'll manage this)
theguardian.com/world/2020/aug…

It would probably have been easier to weasel her way out of this human responsibility. Most other politicians were contemplating how to build walls and paint these refugees as somehow less human and less deserving of compassion than their voters. But Merkel stood tall.

As @philipoltermann details in the @guardian, these words where quoted back to Merkel endlessly by heartless populists who hoped to turn the plight of Syrian refugees into political gain and reframe the efforts at humanitarian help into a terrorist invasion. They didn't succeed.

Of course Syria still has a terrible regime so that making it possible for people to go home (which should always be the first priority) is still a far from ideal option. I'm not suggesting that these words were like a magic spell that made everything right. Far from it.

Of course most Syrian refugees are still stuck in Turkey under horrible circumstances while others risk their lives or even drown crossing the mediterranean sea. Integration policies have been suboptimal. Most European countries (like Hungary and Poland) are less brave.

Of course it hasn't been easy and of course many refugees still have trouble fitting in in Germany. But the terrorist bogeyman did not materialize and over 80% of children feel liked by their peers and strongly feel they belong in their German schools.

In the end, even though the populist right gained some seats in parliament, the German people showed they had learned the lessons from the second world war better than other countries. They proved Merkel right when she said:
"I put it simply: Germany is a strong country."

For me "Wir schaffen das" stands out as one of the bravest, most decent, and most important sentences spoken by a politician in recent years.

And I just wanted to take this moment to thank Angela Merkel for speaking them.