The reaction of the SPD to this wave of violence was to capitulate and take up the demands of the conservative alliance. Things are much the same today. During the election campaign for the state parliament in Hessen in 1999, no social democrat or Green was prepared to go on the offensive to defend the right to dual citizenship against the nationalistic campaign being waged by the CDU at the time. Instead, on their own initiative and fawning to the CDU, they quickly decided to advocate the reduction of dual citizenship to a much smaller group of potential claimants. In light of the current campaign by the conservative alliance and the everyday practice of German organs of state, it is no wonder that the scale of racist and radical right-wing attacks has markedly increased since then.
Nazi thugs feel they have been given the green light.
Today one still comes across those who believe that the SPD and Greens will prevent an abolition of the right to asylum. In terms of practice, however, there is little to separate the Red-Greens from the conservatives. For his part, Schily has described the CDU's new white paper as a sound basis for achieving a compromise in relation to the legal regulation of immigration. But we can and must talk about everything else. There won't be much leeway when it comes to the asylum procedure.