This is a smart and thoughtful piece that looks at some of the underlying thought patterns (and historical patterns) that fuel Europeans' mistrust of immigrants, this attitude that the arrival of immigrants spells the beginning of the end for all that the locals hold dear:
"Does Immigration Mean 'France Is Over'? by Justin E. H. Smith
An excerpt:
"But like the celebrated tomato and so many other staples of various
European cuisines, European cultural identity too is a product of
longstanding networks of global exchange. These networks have tended to
function for the enrichment of Europe and to the detriment of the rest
of the world for the past several centuries, and it is this imbalance
that in large part explains current patterns of immigration. Europe has
never been self-contained[...]"
The piece is specifically about France, but almost everything here
(aside from the extensive colonial past) applies to Germany as well. (Although my experience differs from Smith's in that, in Germany, even for Americans, a visit to the immigration office never, never, never feels "more like a welcome ceremony"! However, I'm entirely sure I'm still treated a whole heck of a lot better there than someone from Africa is.)
Indeed, Smith also highlights the distinction Europeans
draw between "immigrants" on the one hand and "expatriates" on the other – as he delightfully puts it, expats are people who are "here for voluntary and
probably frivolous reasons, rather than out of economic necessity or
fear for my own survival or freedom."As an expat myself, I can only nod along – and then wonder why on Earth frivolous, fun reasons should be considered more valid than reasons of survival, necessity and freedom.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Also, speaking of Europe, this map visualizing Europe's languages, and how close or far from one another they are in terms of vocabulary, is awesome!
Lexical Distance Among the Languages of Europe
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