My own perspective is British, but this is something Im seeing crop up in many European countries.The topic of immigration is possibly the most popular debate going on right now. In the U.K, immigration is consistently in the papers, our leaders are continually speaking about it, and it is always discussed on political shows such as Question Time. Its become so popular that we have elected UKIP, a right-wing party who advocates strong immigration policy, as our European representative, not to mention their continued growth in successful elections around the country.The rise of right wing parties advocating stronger immigration control can be seen in many other countries - France, Germany, Spain etc, and these parties are all gaining popularity.Firstly, I think that as we live in Democracy, the will of the people must be heard. If immigration is consistently polling as the number 1 issue people want changing, if the rise of stricter immigration policy parties continue, and if people continue to protest (as shown in Germany recently), the issue must be adressed by government.I feel that isnt particularly the case. If we look to Germany recently - the protest was organized by very shady people, but the elected officials immediately branded those whom worry about immigration as in the same boat as the nazis in pinstripes who organized the protest. Look at the recent comments made in France - people who worry about immigration are spiteful. Theres a continued backlash in many of these countries by the elected, which is often presented in ways similar to above - evoke themes of racism, patriotism (often seen as a dirty word in Europe), xenophobia in relation to anti-immigration worries in an effort to simply brush it away. If we take an extreme example - Look at sweden. The fear to criticize immigration is so strong that there are numerous examples where when newspapers report on crimes committed by immigrants - the blurred out, anonymized photos they use in their articles are actually whitewashed. As in, made to look as if the immigrants are from European descent. Sweden simply refuses to have any form of discussion on the issue.Not only do I find this problematic (and wonder if these parties are beginning to rely on an immigrant vote - sort of how the left in the US relies on the hispanic & black vote), I feel its counterproductive. When the government brushes aside these valid concerns, the populous who do worry will feel embittered and turn to their only remaining solution - these right wing parties.So, my first two points are - that, as a democracy, the will of people must be adressed, and that the popularity of the issue and the rise of certain political parties across the european spectrum highlight how much of an issue this is. Further, theres a fear by politicians to adress these concerns, whether they be it simply for being labelled as racist or for some other reason, and that some politicians conversely use the labels just mentioned to actively shut down discussion.My final point would be of that of culture. When I read threads and discussions about this, I see comments such as - so what? culture changes all the time, deal with it. Many, siminlar in vain. The question I ask is - why should we? If these countries believe they have certain cultural identities, social functions and beliefs and attitudes, why should they not fight to keep those going? I honestly doubt that such a blaise attitude would be shown if a group of Europeans entered into African/Asian spheres and began to dramatically change the culture and society - no one would dare say who cares for fear of being labelled a racist, or an imperialist, or some long winded think-peice articulating on the ongoing effects of colonialism in a post colonial word.Theres a very clear and open public opinion that mass immigration is beginning, or has already begun, to effect european culture in negative ways. I think people are certainly within their rights to want to have this issue adressed. I think there are certainly truths within these sentiments - I also think mass immigration has its positives. But I dont think those positives are worth the negatives, and I feel that with controlled immigration (instead of a system we have now), many of those positives will continue to be felt.So CMV, Change my view!Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. Wed just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to read through our rules. If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which, downvotes dont change views! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our popular topics wiki first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to message us. Happy CMVing!
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 10:18:49 +0000
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