Hi,
a difficult and complex subject indeed. My apologies if this post is more a collection of random thoughts and free mental associations than a cohesive argument, but Im a bit busy with other things at the moment...
I really wonder what this "European culture" we should be proud of is. Do we have a common culture, or do we just consist of several different nations, each with their own culture? Heck, we have nations which are not sure if they even have something like a "national culture" at all! We in Germany have a regular discussion about that (the dreaded "Leitkultur" discussion). What is it that Germans connect with each other, do we have any common cultural roots we all share? While France for example has had its revolution, we Germans are just a bunch of old principalities put inside artificial borders rather late in history. Sure, we call ourselves to be the land of the poets and thinkers (Land der Dichter und Denker), meaning Goethe, Schiller et al., but that is a bit silly really and won't serve as a theme to identify with - other nations had their fair share of great poets and thinkers themselves, so nothing special there. What is it that defines us to be "German"? What exactly is it that we should be proud of? And how can we be proud to be Germans if all our actions still get eyed suspiciously by our neighbours? I remember the time of our reunion, when severe reservations of most of Europe had to be overcome who feared a new "super Germany", given our history. And if Nazis burn down an immigrant home in Germany, it immediately makes it to the headlines in foreign newspapers. The fact that there seem to be stronger anti-Semite movements in Poland or France won't be mentioned, though.
So if the biggest and economically strongest nation in Europe has problems with this, how should a whole continent full of historically old differences, rivalries etc. develop a feeling for a common culture? This seems to be the underlying problem with the question of the constitution as well. What kind of Europe is it that we want, a Europe focussing on becoming an economic superpower alone, as the Brits seem to favor, or a United States of Europe like the USA, where the citizens call themselves "Europeans" instead of "Germans", "Dutch" etc. as Fischer, our ex secretary of foreign affairs favored? It's a yet unsolved question and discussions about it have been delayed for too long, and this also plays a major role in the discussion about Turkey, muslim immigration etc.
Ironically, the author claims that nationalism would strengthen us against the dangers of muslim immigration, and yet France, which I believe to be the European country most proud of itself (and bordering arrogance in my view) seems to have the biggest problems with that, as the events in the French suburbs during this last weeks show.
What can we do to assimilate Muslims in our countries? Not much I guess. Do we have to do something? I don't know - as I understand it, there exist a lot of parallel cultures in the US as well (although I don't know how many Muslims there are?), and it seems to work - not perfectly, but it works. Why this does not work here I don't know, but I don't think the lack of nationalism is the problem, or maybe I misunderstand the author here. And we *need* immigration, given the declining birth rates, only maybe we should see to it that we get a broader mix of social classes in the future, not only the poor and the desperate.
Integrating Turkey into the EU could have its advantages besides the obvious strategical ones. It could become a mediator between Europe and the "Muslim World" (whatever that is), making Europe perhaps a trusted partner to talk with, a role which America unfortunately has lost for generations to come. Integrating Turkey *could* work because they are not a Muslim state but a laizist state - a fact which also could mean that it won't ever have the weight in the Muslim world as we hope. Of course, events like what happens in France right now won't be helpful to persuade the European population to accept Turkey as an EU state...
-Kylearan
a difficult and complex subject indeed. My apologies if this post is more a collection of random thoughts and free mental associations than a cohesive argument, but Im a bit busy with other things at the moment...
I really wonder what this "European culture" we should be proud of is. Do we have a common culture, or do we just consist of several different nations, each with their own culture? Heck, we have nations which are not sure if they even have something like a "national culture" at all! We in Germany have a regular discussion about that (the dreaded "Leitkultur" discussion). What is it that Germans connect with each other, do we have any common cultural roots we all share? While France for example has had its revolution, we Germans are just a bunch of old principalities put inside artificial borders rather late in history. Sure, we call ourselves to be the land of the poets and thinkers (Land der Dichter und Denker), meaning Goethe, Schiller et al., but that is a bit silly really and won't serve as a theme to identify with - other nations had their fair share of great poets and thinkers themselves, so nothing special there. What is it that defines us to be "German"? What exactly is it that we should be proud of? And how can we be proud to be Germans if all our actions still get eyed suspiciously by our neighbours? I remember the time of our reunion, when severe reservations of most of Europe had to be overcome who feared a new "super Germany", given our history. And if Nazis burn down an immigrant home in Germany, it immediately makes it to the headlines in foreign newspapers. The fact that there seem to be stronger anti-Semite movements in Poland or France won't be mentioned, though.
So if the biggest and economically strongest nation in Europe has problems with this, how should a whole continent full of historically old differences, rivalries etc. develop a feeling for a common culture? This seems to be the underlying problem with the question of the constitution as well. What kind of Europe is it that we want, a Europe focussing on becoming an economic superpower alone, as the Brits seem to favor, or a United States of Europe like the USA, where the citizens call themselves "Europeans" instead of "Germans", "Dutch" etc. as Fischer, our ex secretary of foreign affairs favored? It's a yet unsolved question and discussions about it have been delayed for too long, and this also plays a major role in the discussion about Turkey, muslim immigration etc.
Ironically, the author claims that nationalism would strengthen us against the dangers of muslim immigration, and yet France, which I believe to be the European country most proud of itself (and bordering arrogance in my view) seems to have the biggest problems with that, as the events in the French suburbs during this last weeks show.
What can we do to assimilate Muslims in our countries? Not much I guess. Do we have to do something? I don't know - as I understand it, there exist a lot of parallel cultures in the US as well (although I don't know how many Muslims there are?), and it seems to work - not perfectly, but it works. Why this does not work here I don't know, but I don't think the lack of nationalism is the problem, or maybe I misunderstand the author here. And we *need* immigration, given the declining birth rates, only maybe we should see to it that we get a broader mix of social classes in the future, not only the poor and the desperate.
Integrating Turkey into the EU could have its advantages besides the obvious strategical ones. It could become a mediator between Europe and the "Muslim World" (whatever that is), making Europe perhaps a trusted partner to talk with, a role which America unfortunately has lost for generations to come. Integrating Turkey *could* work because they are not a Muslim state but a laizist state - a fact which also could mean that it won't ever have the weight in the Muslim world as we hope. Of course, events like what happens in France right now won't be helpful to persuade the European population to accept Turkey as an EU state...
-Kylearan
There are two kinds of fools. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." - John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider