I take it to be very much about immigration. There's a really strong vaguely nationalist anti-immigration movement through much of Europe at the moment and I think the song intends to parody the attitude. It's "Mein Land" as opposed to the immigrants' land, because there are people who believe they have a right to live somewhere and that immigrants do not, because the immigrants haven't been there as long.
It's a little early to be alluding to the current wave of success such attitudes are having, but things like Pim Fortuyn List have been popping up for a while. No question there's more to it, but I think its intended most obvious interpretation was a parody of nationalistic and territorial attitudes. And I think that's a pretty general theme. The recent "banking crisis" has made for a pretty great atmosphere for nationalist and anti-immigrant crap to thrive - that's true in Germany as much as elsewhere. The divisions between East and West, and between Catholic and Protestant Germany may well have played a role too, but Germany has its own issues regarding immigration, which shouldn't be disregarded. The millions of children of the Gastarbeiter (guest workers) of the 50s, 60s and 70s still attract a huge amount of controversy in some circles, for example the Turks (around 4-5% of the German population), many of whom are said to be unwilling to integrate. That despite the fact that Germany's government has made a VERY conscious effort since 1945 to ensure that children growing up in Germany understand very well what's wrong with scapegoating and being intolerant of specific ethnic groups (a.k.a racism).
So absolutely I think it's about immigration - nothing to do with "those damn immigrants", but rather "those silly nationalists" - and it's done in a slightly silly tongue-in-cheek style very much typical of Rammstein. Opposition to immigration is very much an international issue - not at all limited to the US, sadly - and I think the primary focus of the song is mocking those who think they can claim sole ownership of an area of land. America's a great example, since the folks complaining about Hispanic immigrants are guaranteed to be descended from people who came over within the last 600 years or so, and spent the next 3-400 years gradually killing off and "civilising" the actual natives.
I take it to be very much about immigration. There's a really strong vaguely nationalist anti-immigration movement through much of Europe at the moment and I think the song intends to parody the attitude. It's "Mein Land" as opposed to the immigrants' land, because there are people who believe they have a right to live somewhere and that immigrants do not, because the immigrants haven't been there as long.
It's a little early to be alluding to the current wave of success such attitudes are having, but things like Pim Fortuyn List have been popping up for a while. No question there's more to it, but I think its intended most obvious interpretation was a parody of nationalistic and territorial attitudes. And I think that's a pretty general theme. The recent "banking crisis" has made for a pretty great atmosphere for nationalist and anti-immigrant crap to thrive - that's true in Germany as much as elsewhere. The divisions between East and West, and between Catholic and Protestant Germany may well have played a role too, but Germany has its own issues regarding immigration, which shouldn't be disregarded. The millions of children of the Gastarbeiter (guest workers) of the 50s, 60s and 70s still attract a huge amount of controversy in some circles, for example the Turks (around 4-5% of the German population), many of whom are said to be unwilling to integrate. That despite the fact that Germany's government has made a VERY conscious effort since 1945 to ensure that children growing up in Germany understand very well what's wrong with scapegoating and being intolerant of specific ethnic groups (a.k.a racism).
So absolutely I think it's about immigration - nothing to do with "those damn immigrants", but rather "those silly nationalists" - and it's done in a slightly silly tongue-in-cheek style very much typical of Rammstein. Opposition to immigration is very much an international issue - not at all limited to the US, sadly - and I think the primary focus of the song is mocking those who think they can claim sole ownership of an area of land. America's a great example, since the folks complaining about Hispanic immigrants are guaranteed to be descended from people who came over within the last 600 years or so, and spent the next 3-400 years gradually killing off and "civilising" the actual natives.