The federal anti-discrimination agency has a new boss. The matter has become political. The traffic light candidate for the office has been attacked by critics for weeks.
The Bundestag votes this Thursday on the replacement of the head of the federal anti-discrimination agency. In June, the federal cabinet proposed the journalist Ferda Ataman.
The personnel has been criticized for weeks by opposition politicians from the Union and AfD, but also by individual representatives of the governing party FDP. They deny Ataman’s suitability and describe her, among other things, as a “left-wing activist” who stands for “divisive identity politics”. Ataman is also attacked online. SPD leader Saskia Esken speaks of a “slanderous campaign”. But the majority for Ataman stands well.
Outrage over the “potato” statement
Among other things, Ferda Ataman caused discussions with a “Spiegel” column in 2020 when she defended the term “potato” for Germans without a migration background. The deletion of earlier tweets, which could be interpreted as polemical, was also criticized. Ataman said in June that she had deleted private tweets from her account for reasons of neutrality.
In the FDP, the former Secretary General Linda Teuteberg in particular repeatedly expressed criticism of the candidate. Most recently in the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”: Ataman stands in a special way “for divisive identity politics, defamation of dissidents and a lack of willingness to differentiate”. Identity politics divides people into inescapable group affiliations, so that only victims and the privileged face each other, said Teuteberg.
FDP would provoke coalition crisis
In all likelihood, the necessary majority of the traffic light parties for the candidate is in place, although some other free democrats had also expressed criticism. The FDP would provoke a coalition crisis if they did not agree to the personnel. Finally, the federal cabinet, in which FDP leader and Vice Chancellor Christian Lindner and other FDP ministers are represented, made the joint personnel proposal. He came from the Green-led Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, which is home to the anti-discrimination agency.
According to dpa information, there were two abstentions and only a few no votes in a test vote in the parliamentary group on Tuesday. FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told the “Bild” newspaper that although he “does not agree on all points” with Ataman and considers the potato statement to be “unacceptable”, a liberal democracy must endure “different opinions”. In addition, in an interview with the FDP parliamentary group, she described the potato statement as a mistake.
A few years ago, Ataman had already managed the public relations department of the anti-discrimination agency. She has the necessary experience for the position, “and that’s what matters,” said the FDP parliamentary group leader.
Union and AfD are against Ataman
Union and AfD reiterated their concerns before the election. The first parliamentary director of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei (CDU), said on Wednesday that the personnel proposal was the opposite of merger and split. Hamburg’s CDU leader Christoph Ploß tweeted: “Especially in this area we need more community and no left-wing splitters!” The first parliamentary director of the AfD parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, said that a woman should be elected anti-discrimination officer who “consistently discriminates against Germans”. The same could be read in comments on the Internet and in various media.
Representatives of the SPD and the Greens rejected the attacks. “The wonderful Ferda Ataman is supposed to lead the anti-discrimination agency – the reason for a slanderous campaign that leads to threats against her family,” wrote SPD leader Esken on Twitter and spoke of unfounded allegations. The deputy leader of the Greens parliamentary group, Agnieszka Brugger, wrote that she had experienced Ataman as “clever, very empathetic, friendly, dialogue-oriented, and reflective”. “What some people write about her doesn’t fit the person I met at all.”
The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency advises those affected on the basis of the General Equal Treatment Act on enforcing their rights if they are or have been discriminated against for racist, ethnic, gender or religious reasons. This can be, for example, discrimination because of the surname when looking for an apartment or when looking for a job because of age. The office also obtains statements from the other side and mediates amicable settlements. It also commissions studies, creates guidelines, brochures and guides and draws attention to discrimination issues through public relations work.
Source: Stern
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