Inclusion or Hysteria?

Many Europeans find it difficult to cope with the idea of having both a national and European identity, despite the fact that the issue of 'European identity' has been omnipresent in public debate since the EU's expansion eastwards. I came across a good example of this during a business trip in 2005.

I was sent to cover World Youth Day in Cologne for the German weekly Die Zeit. Pope Benedict XVI had just been appointed and this was his first visit to Germany since being elected. Quite unexpectedly, I found myself learning more about nationalism and attitudes towards Europe than about the state of Christianity and the Pope, who tended to remain very much in the background. Rat - her than seeing an emphasis on the Christian ideals of equality, humility and modesty, my dominant impression was that these boisterous young people were proclaiming the importance of identity and patriotism.

The atmosphere was similar to the public screening of a World Cup match. Over here, young people were waving huge red, white and blue flags and chanting "Vive la France"; over there, youthful voices were yelling "Bel - la Italia!"; and at the back a hundred youths in a sea of red and white flags screamed: "Polska!" They waved their flags at each other, wrapped them around themselves and sported headbands in their national colours. Alongside this conspicuous flaunting of national identity, the global pilgrims were also keen to show off their particular regional characteristics. Bavarians waved the Bavarian – not the German – flag, and travellers from Krakow wrote the name of their city on their Polish flags.

The people waving the EU flag were French. I had a word with them: "You're the only ones with a European flag..." - "Yes, nobody knows where we're from, it's quite a problem, they're all giving us funny looks and some people are saying... some stupid things to us about the EU, but... to be quite honest, we like the European idea." They cast a nervous glance over their shoulders to see if anyone had overheard their heresy.

Over the last decade, nothing has really changed in terms of the popularity of the European identity. On the contrary, the growth experienced by extreme right parties at the last European elections in May 2014 demonstrates a clear trend towards renationalization. And now the equally diffuse and moderately popular European sense of identity should – nay, must – be strengthened still further if we are to build a concept of Europe that is more inclusive of migrants and others. This will not be an easy task, but there is no other way for Germany and Europe to create an identity as a country and continent of immigration in the way that this has been achieved by the USA, Canada and Australia. But before I begin addressing the issue of an expanded concept of European identity, it should be noted that very few people have really grasped the fact that Germany has become an immigration country and Europe has become an immigration continent. Germany has now taken its place in the premier league of immigration countries.

This ignorance and rejection is currently the biggest hurdle to establishing a European identity that includes migrants. Many Europeans agree with the statement that "immigrants who live here are threatening my personal way of life and my values", as has been shown by a recent study published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Germany entitled “Die Abwertung der Anderen” [Devaluing Others]. The results of the FES study show that in Europe there is widespread hostility towards groups of other people, along with denigrating attitudes and prejudices towards anyone or anything perceived as 'foreign' or 'other'.

Very few people have really grasped the fact that Germany has become an immigration country and Europe has become an immigration continent.

Public approval of such derogatory statements is lowest in the Netherlands and highest in Poland and Hungary. When it came to levels of xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism, the study identified only minimal differences between the various countries. Europeans seem to be united by their rejection of foreigners: "Approximately half of all European respondents believed that there are too many immigrants in their country", says the study. And around half denounce Islam as a religion of intolerance. Prejudice and rejection even exists in the countries of Eastern Europe, where Muslims make up only a small percentage of the population.

Islam is viewed with universal suspicion. Particularly in Germany and Poland, the majority of people believe that Islam is incompatible with their culture. In the wake of the terrible attacks in Paris, it seems likely that this trend will only intensify across Europe.

One of the few politicians to take a positive, forward-looking approach to immigration is Germany's foreign minister. During a panel discussion at Berlin's Gorki Theatre, Franz Walter Steinmeier commented that Germany has finally come to understand that it is a country of immigration and that this factor should enrich its national identity. Many German citizens still fail to understand that immigration is a necessity for Germany. In his book published in autumn 2014 entitled “Die Deutschland-Blase. Das letzte Hurra einer großen Wirtschaftsnation”, Olaf Gersemann, business editor at Germany's Die Welt publishing group, wrote that Germany needs to take in 400,000 migrants every year in order to maintain its population levels.

By establishing a positive image of itself as a continent of immigration, Europe can not only address an economic and demographic imperative, but also seize an opportunity to forge its identity. Over recent years we have observed how overly anxious attempts to forge a national or European identity made up of individual characteristics (such as 'Christian', 'democrat', etc.) have been unconvincing. But of course there are a few misguided souls who are still trying to cling to them. At this point we are reminded of the unfortunate Leitkultur debate, which included arguments about whether Christianity is an essential element of the German identity.

By establishing a positive image of itself as a continent of immigration, Europe can not only address an economic and demographic imperative, but also seize an opportunity to forge its identity.

Lines were drawn between Christians and Muslims, quite regardless of the fact that almost half of the German population have now turned away from the Christian church. And the argument paid no attention to the lifestyles of religious people: perhaps a devout Catholic has much more in common with a faithful Muslim in terms of values and morals than with an atheist neighbour, who spends all his time at techno raves. In sociological terms, the Leitkultur discussion was a squalid little debate, and it is little wonder that it produced no satisfactory results. It was drawn with such a broad brush that in the end German citizens failed to recognize themselves within it.

There have also been countless attempts to construct a European identity through erecting barriers, rather than through professing a European identity in an affirmative way. We should remember the notion expressed in Germany's news magazine, Der Spiegel, by the author Durs Grünbein, who claimed that Europeans are more peace-loving and civilized than Americans. When we look back at the 20th century, the idea of peace-loving Europeans collapses like a house of cards. And even the incredible brutality of the civil war in the Balkans – in which men were forcibly castrated or forced to drink from petrol canisters – did not cause Grünbein to deviate from his belief that Europeans are civilized. At countless meetings and conferences, we have heard how the world can learn from Europe and why Europe is the home of democracy, human rights and tolerance.

The tendency of Europeans to only think of themselves as Europeans when they are being criticized by others (Americans, Chinese, Russians, etc.) is a sign of a keen desire for a sense of identity that is rarely expressed in public. So what does it mean for the weak European identity if another aspect is added to it? First of all, it means we have to distance ourselves more clearly from the "We are not..." types of definitions. Identities that encourage exclusion such as 'We are not Muslims not Indians, not Africans' are becoming increasingly less credible and true.

The tendency of Europeans to only think of themselves as Europeans when they are being criticized by others […] is a sign of a keen desire for a sense of identity that is rarely expressed in public.

Instead, Europe needs to focus on its place in the world as a hub between East and West, a global centre for trading and transiting, a melting pot. Europe has always been a busy trading region, a melting pot, a place where discoveries have been made thanks to contact with others, a centre for the exchange of ideas and for disputes – sometimes leading to armed conflict. There is no other region in the world where so many small countries (in terms of surface area) are packed so closely together. There is no other region whose geography is so broken up into tiny fragments and so interconnected. After Australia, Europe is the world's smallest continent. It is a particularly densely populated region, if we ignore Northern Scandinavia and Spain's mountainous centre. There is no point in trying to claim that Europeans are a peace-loving people. It would be more honest to recognize the bitter truth of Europe's extremely warlike history.

It is hardly surprising that Europeans are having a hard time pinning down their European identity. Over the course of its history, the continent has been shaped by so many different influences, from the Moors in Spain to over 500 years of Turkish rule in Bulgaria. Using terminology that highlights exclusion only leads to false statements in historical terms. Europe can only understand itself as a busy, turbulent global marketplace, a multi-ethnic state, and it can only represent a nomadic form of nationalism. Europeans could be viewed as multicultural by birth – if they allow themselves this openness and do not deny it out of fear, as is the case with the Pegida supporters who are currently demonstrating against Islam in parts of Eastern Germany.

The recently deceased German sociologist Ulrich Beck was one of the first to think of Europeans as cosmopolitan people. According to Beck – and also Jürgen Habermas – from its conception, the EU has been the most progressive political structure in a world that is caught between harking back to old nationalisms and the ubiquitous phenomena of globalization and the erection of barriers, driven forward by economic considerations. But, for Beck, Europe did not mean the end of the old nation states. He believed that the new Europe would embrace the old while gently changing it. The One – the transnational identity – does not exclude the Other – the original identity.

One part of my identity has its roots in the Rhineland and Westphalia. But I was born and raised in Berlin, and later on I spent a year at school in the USA. I have always been fascinated by Berlin's history. Films showing Berlin in ruins make me feel physically sick because I identify so strongly with my hometown. But after living in the US, I find it hard to cope with feeling closed in. I long for broad horizons and loads of light. And now I often eat toast with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast. This seemingly banal culinary detail exists alongside rather less banal feelings. I cannot stand blanket anti-Americanism – particularly not from people who have never even glanced at the American constitution and who often have never visited the country. I protested about the NSA affair outside the German Chancellery and yet I think of myself as a transatlantic leftist. I have also lived in a few other countries, mainly in Eastern Europe, but also Spain.

Europe needs to focus on its place in the world as a hub between East and West, a global centre for trading and transiting, a melting pot.

But it is not necessary to experience so many different countries in order to develop a sense of nomadic nationalism. It just takes a class trip, a vacation, a pen pal, a friend in a chat room, or sometimes just an idea about a country (because nationalism is always totally subjective and irrational) to gain a broader sense of identity. Nomadic nationalists are not post-modern, anything-goes types of people. They do not create illusory worlds in eclectic fashion, but look for what they as individuals want to feel proud of, what has impressed them in the various countries that they have lived in or visited. These things provide them with an internal guideline.

Nationalism is not a one-size-fits-all concept. A migrant does not like the political conditions in Eritrea just because he comes from Eritrea and for a long time knew nothing else. He is trying to get away from this habitual way of thinking. But after thirty years he doesn't have to like German food more than Eritrean food. He may get used to eating with a knife and fork, but in fact he would rather eat his warm vegetable pitta with his hands. He is not a nihilist who has no interest in collective values, achievements and performances, but rather he defends certain good things about his region or country to other people. But when deciding what he feels belongs to him, he is not tied to a passport, a place of residence or a particular country.

Migrants can feel at home here if they adopt this kind of open approach to national identity. But it is necessary to be open in order to be able to – and want to – expand and modify one's own sense of identity. Of course it is possible to live in Europe like on a desert island, in a kind of parallel society when it comes to identity. But building these kinds of barriers takes energy and results in isolation and self-imposed cultural deprivation. There is no denying the differentiation of society, which of course also includes renationalisation and the trend towards returning to the provinces.

In an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, political scientist and journalist Antje Schrupp wrote: "People are not only diversifying (...) along the lines of gender, but also in line with other demographic characteristics such as age, religion, sexual identity, body shape, and so on. In all these aspects, there is a strong need for the previously invisible, the formerly marginalised, to be finally seen and recognised in all its difference. They want to have a public presence, to be named and taken into account. Fat people post photos of themselves online and blog about their experiences; Muslim women wear the headscarf more frequently than previously; old people no longer try to conceal their age; gays and lesbians marry and celebrate their love in public."

It is not possible for me to mention all the historical references in this respect, from the Renaissance to the Thirty Years' War, so I will concentrate on the events of the 20th and 21st centuries. The common experiences of the First and Second World Wars and the Holocaust are collective experiences that have affected all Europeans. And the bipolar world order of the Cold War was also experienced and suffered by West, Central and East Europeans, even if in different ways. The same is true of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the removal of the divisions that split Europe in two.

Migrants can feel at home here if they adopt this kind of open approach to national identity.

Apart from Belarus, every country in Europe is a democracy (it is questionable whether Russia should be counted as part of Europe – its political system could be viewed as an authoritarian state or, in similar euphemistic vein, a managed democracy). This is a key commonality that forges identity. And again, apart from Belarus, every country in Europe has abolished the death penalty (though this is not a priori a sign of democracy) and, at least at statutory level, operates policies that are tolerant towards minorities. In Europe (with certain limitations) there is generally a separation of state and religion. There is a need for some degree of reform in this respect – for example the German government still collects taxes for the Christian churches, pays the salaries of religious education teachers, funds church-run childcare and gives financial support to bishops.

If they are to feel a sense of belonging, migrants have to at least recognize these few crucial characteristics that are common to all European states. It is to be hoped that as many Europeans as possible will open themselves up to the idea of Europe as a migrant-friendly continent and play their part in creating an identity that is not too narrow in conceptual or intellectual terms, so that people from other continents have a chance of feeling that they belong, in principle at least, and have an identity as Europeans in the sense of nomadic nationalism.