When was the last time you heard an official joke?

Exactly: it is as good as extinct.

On the one hand, this is due to the general phenomenon that today it is more common to tell conspiracy theories.

And then there are hardly any civil servants left.

From a purely legal point of view, of course.

But most of them no longer confront us as sovereignly as they used to in the post office, but rather as service partners, citizen carers and educational advisors on issues of sustainability and waste separation.

Berthold Kohler

Editor.

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    This change in the self-image of the members of the civil service did not only take place in its lowlands.

    Even the elite of the professional civil service in the Foreign Office want to be one with the people of the state, and even more so, with the population.

    The German diplomatic corps no longer wants to consist only of old white men who, as stiff-hipped as Waldheim once did, pace receptions and look down through their monocles on their unfortunate host countries.

    No, it wants to be as diverse, colorful and multicultural as the entire German society.

    Diversity is not a fuss

    Your prejudices don't quite believe that? Then you should now and then check out “internAA”, the staff magazine of the Federal Foreign Office, which the Bild newspaper gained additional readers this week. There are entire themed editions under headings such as “Diversity is no fuss”, “How diverse are we actually”, “Diversity and shaping foreign policy”, “Courage for diversity”, “Diversity as a sign of strength”, “Race and Diplomacy ”deal with the central questions of German foreign policy. Fortunately, it only has to take care of the pursuit of - horribile dictu - national interests on the margins.

    Much more important, at least "internAA" conveys this impression, seems to be that the German diplomats appear abroad as "a more authentic reflection of German society".

    That is why “the Federal Foreign Office is also committed to increasing the proportion of employees with a migration background within the workforce”.

    The Merkel government issued the order to the entire public service.

    However, the AA follows this instruction as exemplary as if it were a law of nature, as you can read in the editorial of the latest issue: "Nature teaches us that various ecosystems are ultimately more resistant than monocultures and life without change is inconceivable. "

    The mummies get gasps of breath

    The AA ecosystem has already changed so much that some mummies (ridicule for retired ambassadors) no longer recognize it. They already get a gasp while reading the employee sheet. Because it no longer reports who got the nice B6 post, but how various networks (“Diplomats of Color”, “Rainbow”) advocate diversity empathy and a non-discriminatory personnel strategy.

    However, there are apparently a few troglodytes sneaking through the aisles at Werderscher Markt who have not yet understood that they have to question their "established speaking and thinking habits" (dear colleagues: please don't forget your writing habits next time). These reactionary elements believe that diversity means that everyone can think and say what they want! Where even the AA still has some catching up to do when it comes to “breaking up racist thought patterns and freeing them from post-colonial reflexes”, as it was called in another editorial. After the first themed issue on the numerous dimensions of diversity, the authors were attacked from within their own ranks on social media,that in the latest issue a plea for a respectful culture of debate was necessary - among diplomats!

    The AA is not yet marching completely “at the forefront of the movement”, as its boss Heiko Maas wished when he was asked how “woke”, ie vigilant, his house was in the fight against discrimination lurking everywhere.

    But the Diverse Office is already well on the way to overcoming "the consequences of remnants of elitist-educated civic content", which an "internAA" author in the American State Department identified as a problem.

    The "pale & male phenomenon (pale & male)" to be recognized in the State Department is "an alarm signal for us too!"

    So that at the end of the day there is no misunderstanding: That wasn't an official joke either.