Europe's Implosion
The EU needs immigrants but feels threatened by them
When Europeans speak of integration, they are usually referring to nations, not immigrants; political entities, not individuals. Last Saturday, the European Union celebrated the integration of 10 new countries into what is now the largest trading bloc in the world. From Ljubljana to Lisbon, officials heralded a new era of peaceful and prosperous international cooperation. But if Europe is to continue to thrive, Europeans must begin to understand integration in a whole new way.
In a word, Europe is imploding. With their aging populations and declining birthrates, the nations of the EU have been forced to look beyond their borders to build a labor force large enough to sustain long-term economic growth. In the 1990s, an average of 857,000 immigrants a year changed the face of the original 15 nations in the EU, and the migration will continue.
Italy, for example, has the dubious distinction of having both the oldest population and the lowest birthrate in the world. Without immigrants, its population will shrink from 57 million today to 41 million in 2050. In Germany, the EU's largest nation, the number of senior citizens is projected to increase by 50% over the next three decades. A 2000 study by the United Nations concluded that if Germany did not accept 500,000 immigrants a year, it would have to raise its retirement age to 77 in order to have enough workers to finance pensions for the elderly.
A recent poll commissioned by the European Commission revealed that although 56% of Europeans understood the need for more immigrant labor, 80% favored more stringent immigration laws. Part of the problem is that most Europeans, with the exception of the British and the French, cannot grasp the idea of assimilation, the process by which "they" become "us." There is no civic myth ? like the U.S. "melting pot" ? that would enable them to envision unity in diversity. Nor is there an acceptance that minority and majority cultures can converge and influence one another. Immigrants are often seen as threats to social stability and national identity.
Until four years ago, for example, German naturalization law was based on blood rather than soil. A Russian-speaking ethnic German from Kazakhstan could automatically acquire German citizenship, but a German-born child of long-established Turkish immigrants could not. Now that the law has changed, Germans have only begun to expand the idea of "Germanness." The press uses such clumsy phrases as "Turkish co-citizens" and "Turks with German citizenship" to describe their new compatriots.
Germany isn't alone in struggling to add layers to its notion of an ethno-culturally defined nation state. Even in France, where an ideology of assimilation prevails, the level of cultural conformity expected of immigrants is high. The recent ban on Muslim head scarves in schools, for example, is based on the notion that there is only one way to be French.
Not surprisingly, phenotypic differences between the foreign and native-born do little to further belief in immigrant assimilation. In 1996, after a black, Dominican-born, naturalized citizen won the Miss Italia pageant, Italy was plunged into a national debate over the nature of "Italianness." The following year, new guidelines were issued requiring that contestants be born from at least one "full-blooded Italian" parent.
Though the standing of all things American is at a 10-year low in Europe, there is some acknowledgment that, when it comes to immigrants, we may have a model worth studying. Last weekend, a group of 70 Italian intellectuals and opinion makers gathered in Venice at a conference hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Rome to consider that possibility.
Intimately familiar with the successes of Italian Americans from Frank Sinatra to Sofia Coppola, many of the Italian attendees were indeed impressed by the assimilative capacity of the United States. Americans may still be fighting over the desirability of more immigration and over how to integrate newcomers, but history and national folklore have taught us lessons about multiethnicity that many Europeans know they don't yet understand.
"We are beginners in terms of [ethnic] integration," said one of the participants, Giulio Bosetti, managing editor of Reset, an Italian literary magazine that focuses on multiculturalism. "We have to compare our experience in dealing with [ethnic] differences with that of the United States."
More comfortable with the idea of cooperating nation states than with the prospect of competing ethnic groups, Italians attending the conference were understandably reluctant to accept the American model of immigrant integration for themselves. But after two days of hearing the successes and failures of the ongoing struggle in the United States to make e pluribus unum a reality, they appeared convinced of the need for a new approach to their immigrant future.
One aspect of the American experience did seem to take root: the idea that national culture can and should be viewed in terms of constant change, rather than as a finished product in need of preservation. As Laura Balbo, a prominent sociologist and former member of the Italian parliament, put it, the future demands that the citizens of the European Union admit that not just their political organization but their very identities are a "work in progress."
Europe's Implosion: The EU needs immigrants but feels threatened by them
- Thread starter CanOWorms
- Start date
another typical Frankie Jr. response x1000
He's never acknowledged the issue and blindly attacks people due to his super-patriotism.
It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. I don't post my opinions as new threads. I post news, articles, etc. from respected journalists, human rights groups, political groups such as the UN, etc.
The fact that you refuse to acknowledge them is just one of the manisfestations of your blind super-patriotism.
Anyways, I'm not sure how someone can claim this thread is a respost.
One thread is about a white supremacist group in the UK and a poll where 16% of the population is thinking about voting for them.
Another is about how the EU is accelerating problems with human rights issues.
And now this one about a recent article about how the EU is afraid of immigrants, yet needs them.
These are all separate issues. I humbly request that you start going to the Iraqi prisoner torture threads and say they're reposts.
One thread is about a white supremacist group in the UK and a poll where 16% of the population is thinking about voting for them.
Another is about how the EU is accelerating problems with human rights issues.
And now this one about a recent article about how the EU is afraid of immigrants, yet needs them.
These are all separate issues. I humbly request that you start going to the Iraqi prisoner torture threads and say they're reposts.
sandorski
No Lifer
- Oct 10, 1999
- 70,877
- 6,415
- 126
It's quite simple really. As all 1 issue multi threaders, each thread is not justified simply because a different source states things supporting ones' view on the one issue. You have a chip against Europeans and/or the plight of Immigrants, make 1 super thread on it, post new sources to the one thread.
Can we make just 1 COW thread about evil xenophobic/racist/anti-immigration Europe, and mods please make it so he can't start any new ones.
Thanks!
it seems to me that I'm not the only one that is convinced that CanOworms has some strange thing against Europeans - a 2 minute search gives the following result of the threads he started- I'm sure if you search for 10 minutes you can find even more of these
CNN: 16% of British public considering to vote for white supremacist political party
Europe's Implosion: The EU needs immigrants but feels threatened by them-America teaches Europe that immigrants aren't evil
What can people expect for human rights in the EU?
Anti-Foreign Sentiment & Hatred Blazes Across Europe Leaving Few Unblemished - Jews in Europe cannot lead a normal life
European Political Superstars Meet to Organize Hate
UN chief blasts European treatment of immigrants
hands over the offical I-Repost-My-Own-Threads award to CanOworms
CNN: 16% of British public considering to vote for white supremacist political party
Europe's Implosion: The EU needs immigrants but feels threatened by them-America teaches Europe that immigrants aren't evil
What can people expect for human rights in the EU?
Anti-Foreign Sentiment & Hatred Blazes Across Europe Leaving Few Unblemished - Jews in Europe cannot lead a normal life
European Political Superstars Meet to Organize Hate
UN chief blasts European treatment of immigrants
hands over the offical I-Repost-My-Own-Threads award to CanOworms
Maybe OT: Do you know how hard it is to inmigrate legally to the US? While I read that 2000 mexicans cross the AZ border illegally everyday. WTF? Why doesn't the US do more to restrict illegal inmigration? That really pisses me off when I see in college all those highly educated foreign students that have a hard time staying in the US LEGALLY. At the end the US is not a melting point. Latinos fight for latinos, asians for asians and so on. All fighting the evil whites that keeps them down. Maybe Europe doesn't want to end up having to start celebrating other countries festivities because they are a big majority. I think all countries' citizens want an identitity. I guess Europe wants to preserve that.
Of course I have a chip about the plight of immigrants. It's a serious issue to me. Just like how many people have a chip about the Iraq war. It's justifiable, too.
I humbly request you to go in every Iraq-related thread or perhaps every Iraqi prisoner torture related thread and do the same thing. Until then, stop acting like an omnipotent power. These are all completely different issues unlike the Iraqi prisoner threads.
I'm not only talking about immigration! I'm talking about the overall environment, government-sanctioned actions against minorities, etc. You can't immigrate there when you're born there!
Just like the mods should make 1 Iraqi prisoner thread? Of course not! That's ridiculous. I did have one super-thread, and I tried to start another one, but people came in and started flaming to avoid the issue. So I just created new ones to try to get a clean thread where people could discuss like civilized people.
How are they all the same? Some are even months apart!
If I'm anti-European, then you're anti-American. And there are a ton of people that think that here. It's just not that simple. You can even look at my Anti-Foreign sentiment thread and see positive things there, yet you ignore it. I wonder why?
It's strange that you think you're morally superior, yet want the plight of minorities hidden.
I actually did do a mega-post on it. I wanted to start another one since it got too big, but people just kept flaming to avoid the issue.
Also, this is not targeted towards Europeans. I'm sure non-Europeans are not aware of this issue.
You sure its the way you are saying it is in the USA about latinos for latinos and asians for asians? We both live in CA, which is really diverse with its huge asian population and latino population and I really don't see either group trying to "keep" things the way they are. Then again it depends where we both live exactly. I could prolly go to the city i live in that is 90% white and talk about a lack of diverty, or I could stay on campus and visit surrounding areas (Which i do
) and see all sorts of different kinds of people walking around mingling with one another.And for college gradstudents....I think its always been a legal loophole to get in and it isn't because of any kind of racist view. Where I work (ii'm a student) occaisonally my boss wants to rip out her hair because they have to go through crazy amounts of paper work just to get in grad students in the labs because evreye once in a while you get the chance. But then agian, you gotta remember that its not like we are going to lock them out, because w/o them graduate schools would be 1/2 empty.
And why don't we restrict illegal immigration? I think part of it has to do with the fact that they will take jobs that graduate students might not want to
That and I think it is difficult to patrol the entire border anyways
If you look at the USA...i don't see anyone that hasn't assimilated...and i'm not saying the culture is lost. IT just gets "americanized"
Like if you want into a Tapioca Express and order a Boba and sit down listening to Jay Chou or something reading ESPN magainze But I would defintely agree that USA does a better job when it comes to the whole multicultural thing than Europe...
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