Germany: Weather System Named ‘Ahmet’ in Diversity Campaign

Germany’s DWD weather service on Tuesday used Ahmet as the official name for a low pressure system over Romania that’s headed for Germany and Poland and set to bump into Lisa, another low over Italy, and Alexander, a high over Scotland.

Fourteen sponsored names designated by the Institute for Meteorology at Berlin’s Free University await Europe in the coming months, including Bozena and Dimitrios.

As part of a campaign by journalists from migrant backgrounds, names from Arabic, Kurdish, Slavic and other communities will feature on Germany’s weather maps in 2021, supplementing classic German names such as Günter and Angela.

{snip}

“So far, our weather had mostly typical German names only, even though some 26% of people in Germany have migrant roots,” declared NdM chair Ferda Ataman, who along with other diversity advocates challenged Interior Minister Horst Seehofer in July to examine police attitudes to racism and racial profiling.

“Making the weather more diverse is only a symbolic step … What’s important is that social diversity finally becomes normal, everywhere,” said the Berlin-based journalist from Bavaria who has Turkish parents.

{snip}

Reactions to the campaign came Tuesday, with far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) federal parliamentarian Sebastian Münzenmaier posting a Tweet giving the weather low Ahmet a Turkish meme and labeling the NdM campaign “diversity mania.”

{snip}