On Monday, May 22, 2023 at 12:46:27 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
Europe's present predicament is that it is not a real power.
Is "Eurowhiteness", a new book by by Hans Kundnani, a fellow at Chatham House, its ticket out?
https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/08/17/having-shaken-off-nationalism-europe-risks-civilisationalism
"But of late some have tended to think of Europe in civilisational terms, an idea rooted not just in laws and
institutions but in history, culture and identity. To be European in that meaning is to be of a place, to belong
there, and therefore for others not to belong. That has unsettling implications for those who live in Europe yet
do not look traditionally European. Might eight decades of EU integration accidentally foment a form of ugly,
pan-continental bigotry?
...
Surely the rout of any and all forms of nationalism (apart from the odd populist) is one of the EU’s signature
achievements? Not so fast. Hannah Arendt, a German political theorist, warned in 1948 that one day people
might find a way to become “as narrowly and chauvinistically European as they were formerly German, Italian,
or French”. Mr Kundnani does not suggest that skinheads with tattoos of EU flags will soon start roaming the
streets of Brussels and Strasbourg. But he describes what he thinks is a “civilisational turn” in Europe of late.
It comes not just among the likes of Mr Orban. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, has defended the idea
of promoting European civilisation, the better to fend off rivals in China, America and beyond. ...
Mr Kundnani admits it is not easy to pin down where this civilisational turn comes from. In a sense, it is a
return to Europe’s roots: the emergence of country-first nationalism from the 18th century onwards came when
the continent’s common religious identity started to fade. Now it is the nation-state that is itself fading, seen
as inadequate in the face of global challenges which only a united continent can tackle. (Mr Kundnani also
indulges in a bit of left-wing rhetoric by pinning the blame on neoliberalism.)
That coincided with another change. Until recently, Europe was an unabashed believer in its model, keen to export
its softer version of capitalism and societal welfare. But since the euro-zone miasma in the 2010s, and after an
ugly refugee crisis in 2015, its confidence has taken a knock. Europe sees itself surrounded by threats, whether
from a rising China or Trumpism. Touting the idea of a civilisation capable of defending its interests is comforting
stuff. Mr Macron speaks often of a “Europe that protects”. Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign-policy chief, calls Europe
a “garden” that needs to fend off the “jungle” beyond its borders."
Extra bonus of Eurowhiteness:
"More broadly, the continent’s welcome integration in recent decades has created a notable blind spot, Mr Kundnani
argues. Defeating nationalism for the purposes of EU integration meant dwelling on the pinnacle of the horror it
created. Thus it was the Holocaust which Europe remembered as the one thing it had to “never again” allow to happen.
The role of (some) European countries in brutally colonising vast swathes of the globe was thereby swept under the
carpet."