Pushbacks – the forcible expulsion of migrants – gained further notoriety this week when the term was crowned Germany’s worst word of 2021.
A jury of writers and linguists selected the term, adopted as an English loan word in German, because it “sugar-coats an inhumane process” in which people are banished from Europe’s borders.
The word was used by activists, politicians and the media to describe claims of migrants being sometimes violently chased across borders, including by guards in Poland and Belarus, men armed with batons in Croatia and sea patrols in Greece.
The practice was blamed by name this week for an escalation in Mediterranean migrant deaths in 2021 which led to an average of five people per day drowning or disappearing in the sea.
But the German panel objected that “the use of this term hides the violence and sometimes deadly consequences that can be associated with forcing migrants away”.
It criticised the fact that even critics of pushbacks used the term, after rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Council of Europe condemned the practice by that name.
The government’s former chief spokesman Steffen Seibert used the expression last October when he denied that German police had been involved in pushbacks, despite reports to the contrary.
The term was chosen as “Non-Word of the Year” ahead of other contenders such as “language police”, deemed an unfair attack on people calling for inclusive terminology.
The jury also criticised the use of Nazi terminology by people making far-fetched comparisons between Germany’s darkest chapter and today’s coronavirus restrictions.
These included the use of the term “vaccine Nazi” for supporters of immunisation and “Enabling Act” for German health laws, alluding to a 1933 statute that gave sweeping powers to Hitler’s regime.
Some unvaccinated protesters wore yellow badges recalling the Star of David that Jew were forced to wear under the Nazis. The anti-vaccine protest scene has attracted scrutiny from German intelligence services.
Examples such as these constituted a “mockery of the victims of the Nazi dictatorship”, said the linguistic hall of shame panel.
There were more than 1,300 submissions for the award. A word may be eligible for censure because it offends human rights or democracy or is used as a jarring euphemism.
Previous winners included “climate hysteria” as a way of sneering at green initiatives and “collateral damage” as a euphemism for civilian deaths.
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
AIDA%20RETURNS
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Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The Indoor Cricket World Cup
When: September 16-23
Where: Insportz, Dubai
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
The%20Beekeeper
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Tomb%20Raider%20I%E2%80%93III%20Remastered
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The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupe
Price, base: Dh201,153
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 204hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%209
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Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
WITHIN%20SAND
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
Dubai Rugby Sevens, December 5 -7
World Sevens Series Pools
A – Fiji, France, Argentina, Japan
B – United States, Australia, Scotland, Ireland
C – New Zealand, Samoa, Canada, Wales
D – South Africa, England, Spain, Kenya
