[Paris, 2011. Where was he from? Foto Rb]
Migrants do still come to
Europe from non-European countries, both legally and illegally. The latter case
was so tragically on the news recently as two boats full of so many desperate
migrants sank near the island of Lampedusa.
The right to movement over any area of the planet should not be questioned. Tragedies such as Lampedusa should not happen. People are entitled to look towards a better future. They should in fact be protected from exploitation of any kind.
In addition to the most dreadful of losses, the loss of human life, there are other problems.
Even though migration is now regulated by law in several European countries, some lamentable sentiments of distrust and dislike have emerged. What has subsided in Europe, or at least in some countries in Europe, is, to an extent, acceptance of any number and type of migrants, and some right-wing political ideologies have built on this even on a racist level.
Even though migration is now regulated by law in several European countries, some lamentable sentiments of distrust and dislike have emerged. What has subsided in Europe, or at least in some countries in Europe, is, to an extent, acceptance of any number and type of migrants, and some right-wing political ideologies have built on this even on a racist level.
Yet, on the one hand Europe is
almost by definition an intercultural and multicultural area, both historically
through many interactions of various national cultures over the centuries, and
also since the member countries became more integrated at EU level, and people
can now move freely from one country to the next. On many levels, from cuisine
to high culture, interaction has been in place among various EU member
countries for years. How can multiculturalism, then, be questioned? Is it not
constitutive of our identity?
In relation to non-European
migrants, various national states in the EU have partly differing policies, but
a level of integration has been achieved in a number of countries through
education, intermarriage, antiracist legislation, commercial exchange, and so
on.
Even in a country which in
this respect is of recent enough immigration, such as Italy, the present
Minister for Integration is Kashetu (Cécile) Kyenge, born in Congo.
Is it maybe wrong and too
optimistic to maintain that despite difficulties it would be difficult to think
that multiculturalism has lost importance in Europe?
Is multiculturalism not there
to stay even though in times of unemployment, and for irrational
social-psychological reasons, some people are afraid of foreigners, and other
people advocate “small nations” as more valid than a continental identity?
The present writer, by the
way, feels that he is European rather than Italian, and more in general
affiliated to the human race and affected by cosmopolitanism, which he
perceives as a positive value.
[Roberto Bertoni]
