I was a little surprised to see such a frank piece published in a mainstream publication—the Richmond Times Dispatch.
I don’t have time today to analyze every bit of it, but wanted to post it before it’s too old (something that happens too often when I can’t get to my queue of articles worth posting).
The author, Patricia Strait, is an associate professor at the University of Richmond and dares to address the dreaded “N” word—Nationalism.
Rising Nationalism raises Global Tension:
Now that the budget debate is behind us for the moment, perhaps the public can turn its attention to a far more dangerous global phenomenon, the clash between rising nationalism and immigration.
A recent case in point is the massacre in Norway. Despite initial reports that the massacre in Norway was the senseless actions of a madman, the attack itself was actually meticulously planned and its victims carefully selected.
Many people asked if the gunman, Anders Behring Breivik, wanted to make an anti-immigration statement, particularly against Muslim immigration, why did he attack Norwegian children at a summer camp? In this case, the camp was no ordinary summer camp, but rather one for children whose parents belong to the ruling political entity known as the Labor Party.
When questioned by the police, Breivik indicated that the only way to get politicians to acknowledge the danger of Norway’s immigration policies was to kill their children — a chilling rationalization. However, it would be a grave error to label the recent events in Norway as the isolated actions of a mad man.
Breivik is only a small bubble in an otherwise simmering pot of violent nationalism that is gaining ground among countries that are experiencing high levels of immigration. In this instance, nationalism is defined as an intense desire to protect one’s nation from intrusions from nonnative populations whose culture, religion and language differ from those of the host population.
Such differences often include profound philosophical differences regarding the concepts of freedom and equal rights.
The level of alarm among nationalists has been increasing as Scandinavian countries, Ireland, Spain, Germany, France, and the U.K. experience a wave of unprecedented immigration. It is dangerous to simply dismiss Breivik and others like him (yes, there are others like him) as psychotic xenophobes.
Strait has three theories of immigration drivers. Read the article for the first two and then here is the third—MULTICULTURALISM IS GOOD and represents the natural order.
Here it is assumed that immigration represents the natural order of the universe as the world becomes more mobile and interconnected. Multiculturalism is a phenomenon that in itself should be protected and valued. Immigrants should not be forced to adapt but rather countries should encourage a pluralistic society. This mixing then creates a more advanced and sophisticated society.
It is in fact multicultural theory which is currently under attack by Sarkozy, Merkel, and Cameron, who have recently publically declared multiculturalism a failure. Indeed, they contend that multiculturalism creates not only an unsustainable and divided society, but a system that eventually leads to the demise of the host population as the immigrant birth rate overcomes the host population.
Multiculturalism is also the theory that best explains the increasing violence because advocates of multiculturalism did not anticipate the extent to which host populations would go to defend their native cultures.
How does it all end? According to Strait:
Is the means to end the violence to end immigration or to insist upon faster assimilation of immigrants into the host population? It would appear both of these options are currently being explored as host countries are rolling back their immigration quotas and at the same time insisting on rapid assimilation.
When elements such as religious differences, terrorism and clashing concepts of equal rights are thrown into the mix, the simmering pot of nationalism and multiculturalism threatens to boil over.
There is more, read it all and follow links, here.