Bad News for Multi-Culturalism in Europe
Well it seems that Europeans are beginning to wake-up to the fact that multi-culturalism simply doesn't work. The BBC reported today that anti-Muslim views are becoming more widespread in Europe. Everything from French laws forbidding the wearing of traditional Islamic headscarves to a poll conducted in Germany claiming that 80% of people associate Islam with terrorism and the oppression of women. Of course the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) is concerned and wishes to use the media to try to promote tolerance. Will that really change many peoples' opinions, which are based on real-world experiences?
The hard truth is multi-culturalism simply doesn't work, and we only have to look to the experiences of the Balkans and even the former Soviet Union to see the tragic consequences of such experiments. A more sane alternative is what Alain de Benoist terms ethno-pluralism. Like multi-culturalism, ethno-pluralism celebrates the full diversity of cultures and ethnicities around the world. But unlike multi-culturalism, ethno-pluralism recognizes that true diversity can only flourish in their appropriate social contexts. Arab culture can only flourish within Arab societies, European culture can only flourish in European societies, etc. This is certainly different from the multi-culturalist paradigm that several cultures can flourish together within the same society. Arab and European culture simply cannot flourish side by side within an European society and vice versa. The two cultures adhere to completely different value systems; and in large because Arab society is based on Islamic teachings while European society has largely been based on Christian teachings. The two cultures are simply not compatible, which is why they have often gone to war with each other (remember something called the Crusades?). A good book that further articulates this is Roger Scruton's The West and the Rest: Globalization and the Terrorist Threat.
So hopefully for Europe this is a step in the right direction. Only time will tell.
The hard truth is multi-culturalism simply doesn't work, and we only have to look to the experiences of the Balkans and even the former Soviet Union to see the tragic consequences of such experiments. A more sane alternative is what Alain de Benoist terms ethno-pluralism. Like multi-culturalism, ethno-pluralism celebrates the full diversity of cultures and ethnicities around the world. But unlike multi-culturalism, ethno-pluralism recognizes that true diversity can only flourish in their appropriate social contexts. Arab culture can only flourish within Arab societies, European culture can only flourish in European societies, etc. This is certainly different from the multi-culturalist paradigm that several cultures can flourish together within the same society. Arab and European culture simply cannot flourish side by side within an European society and vice versa. The two cultures adhere to completely different value systems; and in large because Arab society is based on Islamic teachings while European society has largely been based on Christian teachings. The two cultures are simply not compatible, which is why they have often gone to war with each other (remember something called the Crusades?). A good book that further articulates this is Roger Scruton's The West and the Rest: Globalization and the Terrorist Threat.
So hopefully for Europe this is a step in the right direction. Only time will tell.
posted by Perun at
4:41 PM
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