BERLIN // A regional government in eastern Germany has ordered the operators of children's day-care centres to pledge allegiance to the constitution following recent cases in which neo-Nazis have attempted to set up kindergartens, work in them or influence their teaching.
The measure is aimed at halting what anti-Nazi campaigners say is a new and disturbing phenomenon: the indoctrination of toddlers by teachers and parents in the former communist east, which has a strong neo-Nazi presence.
In future, anyone who wants to open a nursery in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, one of Germany's 16 states, must sign a declaration that they and their teachers adhere to the democratic values enshrined in the country's Basic Law, the government announced late last month.
"I am concerned that right-wing extremists could become managers of kindergartens," said Manuela Schleswig, the social affairs minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Her decision follows a recent case in which a village in the state almost permitted a father of seven to take over a kindergarten that was about to close due to a shortage of funds.
A background check on the man, who offered to run the kindergarten free of charge, revealed he was a member of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), and he was not hired.
The NPD is openly xenophobic and anti-Semitic and extols a vision of a Fourth Reich containing only Germans. It is more extreme than other European anti-immigrant parties such as France's Front National, Austria's Freedom Party and the Dutch Party of Freedom.
Eastern Germany has been dogged by right-wing extremism ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Attacks on Jewish property and racist assaults on ethnic minorities are commonplace there.
The violence has been blamed in part on high unemployment that followed the rapid economic collapse in the east in the 1990s and on a lack of education about the Nazi period in schools during the communist regime.
Analysts say that despite a myriad of government initiatives to combat racism and lure people away from the Nazi scene, the far-right is becoming more deeply entrenched because the neo-Nazi youths of the 1990s have had children and are trying to influence the way they are taught in kindergartens and schools.
Nursery teachers and activists say there has been a growing incidence of far-right members either training to be kindergarten workers or seeking to influence nurseries, for example by supplying racist books. There is mounting concern that there may be enough neo-Nazi families in some regions to secure a majority on parent boards.
"There appears to be a strategy within the far-right scene to encourage young women to train for jobs in the teaching and welfare sectors because that offers the opportunity to convey national ideology later on," said Heike Radvan, an educational scientist at the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, an anti-racism group.
A recent editorial in the newspaper of the NPD encouraged members to go into teaching to promote "nationalist education" for young Germans.
"There are cases where right-wing mothers get involved in day-care centres, for example by helping to set up a playground, and in a second step try to bring in their ideology," said Ms Radvan. "For example they bring in a children's book that portrays a racist view of the world."
In one case, a mother who had argued against a school being called "School Against Racism" was found to have published recipes for swastika-shaped cakes on her private website.
The NPD openly espouses Nazi ideology but benefits from Germany's liberal laws on freedom of speech and is a legitimate party, which entitles it to public funding. It has solid support in the east, and is represented in the regional parliaments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony, another eastern state.
Immigrant groups have labelled parts of the east as no-go areas. Police recorded 891 far-right assaults in Germany last year, of which 382 were categorised as racist or anti-Semitic. There was a total of 18,750 far-right crimes, including offences such as arson, daubing swastikas on headstones in Jewish cemeteries or smashing the windows of restaurants run by immigrants.
In public statements, leaders of the NPD regularly praise the achievements of Hitler's regime and dismiss Germany's crimes during the Nazi era. Hitler salutes are commonplace at closed-door meetings and members talk about sending their opponents off in "freight trains", in reference to the trains that took Jews to the concentration camps, say former NPD members.
The Amadeu Antonio Foundation, named after a contract worker from Angola who was beaten to death by neo-Nazi youths in 1990, has been training kindergarten teachers to spot far-right parents by their clothes and tattoos, and is advising them on how to resist attempts by them to influence teaching.
In some cases far-right parents can be identified by the Nordic names they call their children. "Some parents bring in children and say their child is called 'Odin' or 'Heil Odin'. You have to think about how to deal with that," said Ms Radvan.
Critics say forcing Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's kindergarten operators to sign a declaration won't solve the problem. "I think it is nonsense and totally exaggerated to respond by issuing such a declaration," said Bernd Wagner, a leading analyst of the far-right scene. "It won't work because any NPD member would simply sign the pledge."
Mr Wagner said the emphasis should be placed on tackling neo-Nazi parents. "The children aren't infected in kindergartens, they're indoctrinated at home, where they have access to nationalist literature and where you sometimes get relatives greeting each other with Sieg Heil," he said.
"We urgently needed to address the welfare of children who grow up in such families and explore what scope local authorities have to deal with that."
@Email:dcrossland@thenational.ae
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
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Tries: Laumape, J Barrett
Conversions: B Barrett
Penalties: B Barrett
British & Irish Lions 15
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Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
