The term post-migrant is defined in the IDA e.V. glossary as follows:
“The term post-migrant describes a social order that is characterised by migration. Political, cultural, and social changes in a society are no longer considered in isolation from migration movements but rather understood as (co-)conditioned by migration. The prefix ‘post’ indicates that societal negotiation processes within a post-migrant society occur not during but after migration. The heterogeneous composition of society is politically recognised, so that its structures and institutions are subsequently (post-migrant) adapted to the reality of migration… Thus, in almost all European states, the core conflict of post-migrant societies becomes apparent, namely the conflict between the advocacy and rejection of a plural and heterogeneous society that has arisen in the course of migration movements.” 339
The concept of the post-migrant society goes back to the social scientist, political advisor, and activist Prof. Naika Foroutan, whose definition is adopted by IDA e.V.340 Foroutan describes herself as a “partial activist”. In a podcast entitled “The Strength of a Partial Activism”, she expressed great pleasure that many academics no longer separate scientific and activist action so strictly.341 Foroutan’s vision is to rethink “the relationship between migration, society, and plurality with a post-migrant perspective and to direct the view to […] lifeworlds in which migration becomes the starting point of thinking.” 342
In Foroutan’s post-migrant society, migration is to become the starting point of an analytical perspective in order to “look beyond the migration moment (…) at negotiations that accompany this empirical, narrative, and discursive act.” 343 The “post” in post-migrant is to be understood as a call for the deconstruction of dominant migration narratives.
Just as in the postcolonial view, rejection of migration is considered racism. According to Naika Foroutan, anyone who lives on German territory is German.344 Border controls are said to secure the privileges of the ruling class and maintain an allegedly capitalism-induced inequality towards the so-called Global South (see Nationalism).
Socio-economic facts, however, show that due to immigration into the social systems, the actually measured inequality in Germany is increasing.345 With grotesque accusations of racism, the post-migrant discourse deconstructs the migration-induced rising inequality: the blame lies with the racist host society, which, through oppression, denies migrants an allegedly given promise of participation (see CRT). This alleged promise forms the “subversive level”, which Naika Foroutan describes as the “normative” access.346 The normative access is to make processes of exclusion visible and to enforce one’s own identity-political claims through political negotiations against the majority society (see Inclusion). Politically, the communist utopia of “equality for all” is to be realised and enforced with the help of post-migrant alliances (see Self-Organisation).
As a cultural metanarrative, the term integration is to serve due to the paradigm shift: away from allegedly violent demands towards an “expanded concept of integration” that focuses not on the compatibility of migrants but on the transformation of the entire society.347 The previously common use of integration (integration of migrants through their own efforts into the existing structures of society) is thereby turned on its head.
As a result of this paradigm shift, political measures are justified in the name of integration that contradict the goal of classical integration by 100%: all integration achievements are to be provided as adaptations by the dominant society; notions of integration that demand adaptation, performance, and willingness to integrate from migrants are considered racist, as they allegedly lead to problematic assimilation.348 Now experts from science are to determine what Germany should look like as a “plural society of the many” as a result of post-migrantisation (see Negotiations).
The word “equality” appears 52 times in Foroutan’s essay “What Does a Post-Migrant Society Analysis Want?”, always meaning equality of outcome. Equality is not about equal rights but about special rights for equality of outcome. The post-migrant vision regards so-called “representation gaps” not as integration deficits of migrants but as integration deficits of the majority society.349 Any statistical underrepresentation of an allegedly marginalised collective in a particular area is potentially considered a representation gap (see Equity). Alleged gaps in economic, academic, media, and political areas are to be closed through identity-political quotas. As an example, Foroutan mentions the lower proportion of people with a migration background in areas such as journalism or politics: there, structural changes are overdue (so-called “openings”).350 As a first step, Foroutan demands quotas for the Bundestag and the public service for persons with a migration background.
In an interview with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Naika Foroutan demands “re-education programmes” for the German population:
“Being able to deal with plurality is not a matter of course. For many, it settles in through everyday contacts, but for many— especially those who do not have these experiences—it does not. So one has to teach it, just as we in Germany were taught through the great re-education programme of the Allies not to be as antisemitic as before 8 May 1945.” 351
Large parts of society are to be re-educated in order to integrate them into the new German post-migrant society. Racism research is to be further strengthened; anti-racism training is to be implemented everywhere.
The fight against racism is to be linked with the fight against climate change (see Climate Justice). The government is to ensure that a visionary promise of equality (equality for all) is politically enshrined:
“Just as Fridays for Future have set a visionary climate goal, an anti-racism pact with equality goals up to 2030 would have to be formulated, against which future governments must be measured and monitored.” 352