The madness spreads to Belgium. And I’m not talking about Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
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The madness spreads to Belgium. And I’m not talking about Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
But is this liberalism as the title suggests? IMO, it’s more a form of nationalism, with little liberal thought involved — ie. that the Muslim students must be made to think of themselves as Belgians (or French, in the France case).
In the UK, right-wing politician Norman Tebbitt proposed a “cricket test” for prospective citizens; if they supported the English team, they were OK, but if they supported the Pakistani (etc) national team, forget it. Sounds a lot like this.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11255,605497,00.html
You are absolutely right. I’ve argued it before:
“Continental Europeans are still willing to jettison liberal ideas to preserve a concept dearer to their hearts: cultural homogeneity.”
Hmm. I should really think up some new post titles. And stop quoting myself.
re: ‘cultural homogeneity’ — yes, that’s hitting the nail on the head.
And it’s not just on the continent; the UK does it too — and possibly Ireland, although I’m not quite certain of that just yet. (It’s too early in Ireland’s history of immigration to tell, IMO.)
“Cultural homogeneity” will become an even bigger issue in some European countries, even as others bow to the inevitable. Just look at the demographics: a rapidly greying population in Western Europe bordering on the teeming, youthful millions in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
This is a reverse Borg: resistance is futile, you will be unassimilated. So do you rejoice and take advantage of what this offers – does Europe become London writ large – or make vain attempts to preserve your supposed national identity and stagnate, like Japan? (Hint: Belgium, France et. al. lack the attributes of an island nation with a cultural commitment to sharing the burden of economic decline.)
How nations respond to this challenge doesn’t impact just social norms but capital investment. This is a very real, long-term economic challenge and opportunity. Global investors move to London; they don’t invest in Japan.
Its the conceit at the heart of liberalism –in order to allow everyone to think what we like we’ve all got to think pretty much the same. Emma Rothschild, probably the sexiest writer on Eighteenth Century political thought ever, said it all (much better than that) years ago a great article I can’t find.