Seen from The Americas, Europe looks like myriad of languages and religions with most of them having a score to settle for some injustice that took place recently or long time ago. In countries like Finland and the Baltic States, the main motive for independence was ethnic. The strife in the breakup of Yugoslavia is a recent tragic case of ethnic civil war.
Has Europe changed from the times when racism reached horrific proportions during Nazi Germany? Certainly it has but the seed of such hatred hasn’t been yet nipped from the bud.
Alfred Rosenberg, the Karl Marx of Nazi Germany’s mistaken race ideology, argued that Germany had become weak because religious groups like the Jews lived in the same country as the Germans. For Germany to regain its past greatness — he said — it had to banish the Jews and ensure that Aryans married their kind.
What a load of bologna! If that type of twisted reasoning is correct, then the US, Canada, Brazil, Australia have been undermined by hordes of migrants who adapted and became a part of such societies.
Europe, as opposed to The Americas, is still slow in realizing that a multicultural society is the way ahead. In some European Union countries, such a reality is still more of a theoretical treatise than a practical matter that government should enforce and encourage.
Possibly the UK is the most “tolerant” multicultural country in the EU with the least tolerant being the Baltic Republics.
High unemployment among foreigners in the EU and the treatment of some minorities are sad examples that Europe is still distant from creating a just and dynamic multicultural society.
June 17, 2007 at 6:22 pm
You know I have no problems with ethnicity; the Devil himself can move into my neighbourhood; man I’ll share a room with him/her but he better be in a union just like I am, for I am a migrant too. I’ll share bread with him or her but don’t under-cut me in the labour market. Don’t no one go taking the food off my table: that’s just a fact of life. It ain’t because he’s black or whatever. I will not work for less and that’s the way it should be. If it’s a case of working harder and faster then you got to keep up with that, you have to work harder and faster too, but please please, why work for less when you don’t have to, unless it’s not legal.
June 17, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Dear Paddy, many thanks for your comment. You bring up an interesting question on how migrants can undermine labor markets by not belonging in a union. One of the most important matters in the European Union and in countries like the U.S. IS to pass laws that don’t encourage migrants to work in the black. In the US this is a big problem. The reason why things have moved slowly on this front is because its convenient for companies to hire illegal migrants and pay them chicken-fee wages. Low labor costs helps keep down overheads.
June 20, 2007 at 1:47 pm
As someone born and bred in London, and from West Indian parentage, the UK is very tolerant and this is probably because of the Race Relations Act that was put in place back in the 60s. As a result, it has in most cases, given us the protection more so, than when my parents’ generation arrived in London.
We have had our race riots etc but it is only now, I’ve noticed an even greater tolerance towards us but also the rise of the right wing organization the BNP but this is probably due to the identity crisis especially in the white working class community. But this is a process we are going through, and I hope the outcome is that not only do we belong to the United Kingdom but we are committed to it.
June 20, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Hi Plaintain1, many thanks for your comment. One very important matter in defending the rights of minorities is through the law. Without any law protecting minorities from racism is like walking without a shirt in sub-freezing temperatures. As you mentioned, the Race Relations Act in the UK has played an important role. Advanced democratic countries don’t segregate but give room to other cultures and ethnicities to participate as equals in that country. It’s the best and most effective policy for the country.
June 12, 2008 at 12:52 pm
you write:
“In my opinion, the greatest challenge that our country faces is the destruction to our environment and biodiversity as well as our way of life.”
And then you are working towards destroying the Finnish culture and the Finnish language and the Finnish way of life? Quite the interesting approach. You apparently don’t respect native peoples’ rights to their own culture?
December 15, 2008 at 5:11 am
Enrique, have you managed to show ANY multicultural society which works?
No.
They all come with huge issues with one of more… Instability, lack of development, poverty, crime, intercultural conflict…
Multiculturalism never works, because it is too fragile system. In UK, your “wonderland”, they are suffering from cultural conflict. NONE of the problems UK had before multiculturalism has been solved, but plethora more have been introduced.
I know, you try to say that multiculturalism fails because few people start campaigning for monoculturalism. But that is the whole point…
Multiculturalism only works when there are no problems. It requires perfect, static conditions to stay together. First problem and multiculturalism falls apart into conflict.
And such static conditions are not possible. There will always be tensions, there will always be someone somewhere causing issues. Value of systems on which we build societies is determined by how well those systems survive from such hardships.
Monocultural societies do fine, they are by nature strong and robust. They take the blow and survive.
Multicultural ones fall apart. Turn into civil wars where monoculturalism is being driven with force of arms.
Enrique, prove that multiculturalism could work in real world. Then speak of spreading it. Else you just try to spread something that is more like plague. Source of suffering.
December 18, 2008 at 6:14 am
ENRIQE!!! ME BE WAITING FOR PROOF!!!
July 21, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Whether you like it or not, Europeans have a right to be proud of their culture. Most racism nowadays is due to a backlash against Europeans bring forced to diversify.