Back to basics

Timothy Garton Ash today in the Guardian goes back, perhaps boringly, to the final photo of the world football cup, France 2000. The hands of the winning team were certainly colourful, and the success of France seemed to be the success of a multicultural team. Well, Europe has gone a long way from that moment. It was the same year in which I happily decided to live in The Netherlands, by then the most tolerant and multicultural country that I could spot in Europe. Wow, was I wrong. Six years, crashing planes, bombs in the tube, Afghanistan and Iraq abroad, meanwhile here in NL two murders and lots of right wing populism have changed the panorama in ways that might have seem impossible to the naïve migrant that I was. The elections following 2000 have bring to power all sort of conservative governments in the region, and politicians from all colours have gravely or hysterically talked about the multicultural drama, have done all sorts of foreigner bashing, have passed law aiming at reduce or simply eliminate immigration. Europe today looks very much like the scary fortress. But still, today guys like Garton Ash talk about the need of an inclusive society. In his words, the french national football team is the unique french instance that represent the multicultural real population of france today. He does not go as far as to predict (or desire, after all he is english) that they will win the world cup, but the plea in his lines to repeat the inclusiveness of football in other french institutions is clear enough.

Now, thinking again in The Netherlands, and being member of the green party, one might think that the migration issue is clear and well defined by my co-religionists. One might guess that we being the opposite pole of the right wing populism in power today, and having a tradition of considering multiculturalism as a fundamental value of Europe, one or two clicks into the websites of our party will arrive to clear cut positions, supporting inclusive policies, more migration instead of less and strong programs of migrant support. Sadly, that guess will be wrong. European greens have been cornered, as many other progressive movements in european societies today. It seems that the image of the retrograde imam calling for suicide missions from a state-subsidized mosque, or the 70+ first generation immigrants that still does not talk dutch, has dulled our ideas, or scared our principles away. So instead of call for the advantages of open societies and inclusive labour policies, we are mired in nuanced statements about the relevance of cultural integration, the need to control migration flows (as if three thousands years of european history would have taught nothing) and in general, a general, sympathetic, but ultimately inconclusive call for emancipation.

Coming back to Garton Ash, he did some fast field research in the banlieus from Paris. A single message seems to surface. Migrants, dispossessed migrants, are not waiting for nice, intellectuals and nuanced political positions. One word, perhaps difficult to understand for the emancipated middle class european of today repeats in the mouths of the migrant. Respect. A society that includes percentages always higher that ten percent, and increasing, of migrants, must for once and for all, consider what they are asking for. And this is not more state support, more subsidies, or better integration courses. It is simple respect. Politicians of europe, progressive politicians of europe must understand that the last years of Bush, war against terror and clash of civilizations have only brought distrust to the migrant. And as any other human being, migrants do want to feel respected. There is an increasing need of a political message that besides all the needed nuances, get across a simple line. Migrants are a fundamental part of europe today. And they deserve respect. They must be talking partners and the rest of the society, for a change, must hear.

So if we keep any desire to remain true to our cosmopolitan ideas, lets start at home. The world, as always, is moving to Europe. Shall we take seriously the ones that already arrived? Shall we go back to our basic ideas of democracy and hear the people that we aim to represent?