The Trump election; the Migrants situation in Europe and the Middle East; Black Lives Matter…
Last year was quite active in the rise of a very scary xenophobic public speech, maintained by uninhibited people who are now grabbing many powerful seats in our public institutions and governments all around the world. And I must admit, it scares me. As someone who studied history for many years, I can only see patterns that could cause the same mess humanity was at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of my close friends are telling me I am an alarmist, but still… I worry a lot when empathy, social values and community disappear in the public sphere, to make way to more individualistic purposes, shrouded by racism, sexism and savage capitalism. Yes, put me in the Carebear and “Socialist” camp, but I was raised to believe and want to live in a multicultural social-democratic country. I hate all the hate we now find more and more in the medias and public.
“A modern nation state cannot be built on an ontological notion of who belongs and who does not, whether it’s outright ethnic or pseudo-cultural. It needs to build on the notion of the nation as a community — a community including those who were born here, those who came to stay and those who will stay for a while and then return to their homes. The rights and duties of the members of this community should be defined by their achievements, and by the rule of law — not by whether they eat schnitzel or wear a head scarf.”
Anna Sauerbrey, What Is German?
from i never knew – mini
