Erstellt am: 20. 4. 2011 - 15:32 Uhr

This time it's personal

The New State Secretary for Integration

The buzz started yesterday morning when new ÖVP Boss Michael Spindelegger (whose last name I have been singing in my head to the tune of Britney Spears' "Womanizer" since last week but that's another story) announced his choice for State Secretary for Integration. Eyebrows were raised when 24-year-old Sebastian Kurz was given the position and then the clicking started.

In the span of just over 24 hours, close to 8500 people clicked Like on a Facebook page called "Kurz als Integrationsstaatssekretär? - NEIN DANKE!!". There are a couple of other like-minded Facebook pages gaining popularity but I decided to get in touch with the man who created the "NEIN DANKE" one, Hikmet Kayahan, and ask him if the criticism isn't a bit on the harsh side and if we shouldn't be giving Sebastian Kurz a break. This is what Hikmet told me:

Okay. Still. Let's pretend we never laid eyes on the youtube video where Kurz talks about "Schwarz" being "geil". Let's pretend the whole Geilmobile Episode never happened. Let us block our ears to the chorus of naysayers who cry "SEXIST!" when they see some of Kurz's image-campaign ads. Let's look towards the future... what is Kurz supossed to be doing as Integration Secretary anyways? Dr.in Julia Mourão Permoser gave me the low-down on Kurz's new job description:

Wuuhuuu! Canada rocks when it comes to integration policies! I know this first-hand. The time has come my friends, for me to quote myself. This is a part of an article I wrote a couple of years ago:

I grew up in Canada, I have Canadian citizenship but what makes me most Canadian is that everything I am reflects the entire Canadian philosophy. In the United States, the idea is that its citizens represent a melting pot - a mixture of various cultures which blend together into one identity - American. The idea in Canada is that its citizens should represent a tossed salad, where each ingredient is good on its own but tossed together, the individual ingredients get even better.

I also have Austrian citizenship and I'm a complete mish-mash of cultural identities and I am, if you don't mind me saying so, an integration success story, a couple of times over (since I've lived in a few countries in my life and I always managed to integrate quite nicely thank you very much).

We've been trying to get an interview with Sebastian Kurz here at FM4 but no luck so far. As soon as we do, you'll be the first to hear the new Secretary's take on all the raised eyebrows pointed in his direction. In the meantime, Mr. Kurz, if you're reading this... congrats on your new job and if you want to brush up your knowledge on what integration is all about and what makes an Austrian Austrian, I suggest you read this.