Migration and integration

Europe is a rapidly ageing continent. The birth-rates in the majority of the European countries is declining and already below the reproduction level. The Southern and Eastern European countries are comparably worst off, a slightly surprising fact when taking into consideration the stronger familiy ties especially in mediterranean societies of the EU. Of course Europe is not the only region worldwide that suffers from shrinking and ageing populations, Japan is another example for a rapidly ageing society. Nevertheless Europe definitely is a hotspot of demographic change. 

The challenges of an ageing and shrinking society have been discussed abundantly. The highly developed social systems, to date a unique feature of Europe, will bear the brunt of the pressure that stems from these changes. A shrinking working population will soon meet it's limitations when trying to finance the health insurance and pension bills growing as quickly as the perecentage of elderly people in European societies.

But why is this of interest for a network blogging on (cultural) relations between Latin America and Europe? Well, Europe has but one chance to meet the rising challenges of demographic change: to become an attractive destination for qualified migrants from around the globe and to manage the challange of integrating a rising number of immigrants living in European societies. Many members of this network have made first hand experiences of living in European cities as a migrant, and I would love to read about your experiences. I can unfortnately only contribute a European 'second hand' perspective of somebody who has been following the European (and especially the German) migration and integration policies during the last years.

Unfortunately the picture of Europe as a continent for migrants is a rather gloomy one. Even within the EU you will have difficulties in getting your university degrees homologated when moving from a member state to another. Especially when you are planning on working in a public sector like, say, education. For well qualified migrants from other parts of the world this is even more complicated or close to impossible. Additionally many European countries still force the second and third generations of migrants to choose between their European citizenship and the citizenship of their ancestor's country of origin. Maintaining stable dual-state identities is a privilege for EU Member State citizens.

Additionally Europe is focusing nearly exclusively on the challenges of regulating illegal migration instead of seeing the opportunities migration and integration have to offer.With Frontex there is a whole EU institution dedicating itself to 'protecting' European borders from migrants while you won't even find the words 'integration' or 'migration' in the names of one of the 27 directorate generals of the EU.

I would like to share a little story of what happened to an aunt of mine from Finland to clarify what I think is going wrong in Europe. My aunt started to fill in an application form for a Green Card to the US. She was just doing it out of curiosity, to see what kind of information they would ask for and how the process works in general. On the second page the questions started to become too detailed and she stopped filling out the form, closed the browser tab and forgot about it. Next day somebody from the US authorities called and asked her if she had had any problems while filling in the forms and why she had stopped. They told her she would have good chances to get a Green Card and should send the application in.

I am well aware that the USA are not a model state for a good migration and integration policy. But this little story shows all the difference between the old and the new continent. While the US realize the opportunities of migration (after all, their melting pot history was one of the factors that led to it's strength today), Europe is ageing in isolation. I for my part am sure that there is nobody in the EU picking up a phone in order to convince somebody to come to Europe. And if we are not even caring to make use of the abilities of highly qualified migrants, how will we ever be able to confront the challenges of integrating refugees or 'illegal' migrants from disadvantaged parts of the world?

The need for a second discovery of Latin America

Europe is in dire need of a second discovery of Latin America. But should we really be talking about discovery? The word has a very bad sound in European/Latin American history. Over centuries the European interpretation of discovery went hand in hand with conquest, exploitation and imperialistic expansionism. And the 'discovery' of Latin America deeply altered the social and cultural structures of the South American continent for ever. Our (the Europeans') ancestors killed millions, nearly destroyed a priceless cultural heritage and brought unique civilizations to the brink of extinction. Additionally the classical interpretation of discovery has a deeply Eurocentric smack. After all America did not come into existence when European sailors discovered that there was a whole unknown continent between Europe and India, but already looked back at thousands of years of cultural history.

But there are different meanings to the word of discovery. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the verb discover as:

1) to find unexpectedly or in the course of a search.
2) to become aware of (a fact or situation).
3) to be the first to find or observe (a place, substance, or scientific phenomenon).

Our ancestors had a rather ignorant mindset for today's standards and clearly thought of the discovery of America as a mixture of the definitions 1 and 3, with a an emphasis of being the first to find a place. While Europe's approach to Latin America was that of arrogant ignorance for the already existing societies at that time, it is one of nescience today.

Latin America was home to the so called 'third wave of democratization' in the 1980's. It is one of the vital and growing regions of today's world and it's leading powers, like Brazil, have emerged from the global financial and economic crisis nearly unscathed. The economy of Latin America is among the most dynamic in the world. The continent gave birth to a unique culture, drawing from different traditions by blending indigenous Latin American cultural roots with European cultural roots.
In our changing world Latin America is one of the few regions that shares most of our values, that shares what we call 'western culture'. The region is thus a natural ally for Europe in working towards a multilateral world that endorses peace, respects human rights and promotes democracy.

Nevertheless the interest of Europe's elites for Latin America's political, economic and social developments is slim. Following the proverb coined for the European mass media's approach towards Africa 'no news is good news', European newspapers barely address political or social developments in Latin America. Only high tension conflicts like the political crisis in Honduras or the drug war in Mexico make it into European newspapers. Latin America mainly plays a role as a tourist destination or the destination of exchange programs. Even during the EMLA (Europe meets Latin America) forum at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy many presentations focused on these aspects! While the relations of Germany and Europe to the (re-)emerging powers of China and Russia are discussed intensely in the media and the general public, this is not true for Latin America. For example China is in the focus of German public interest due to it's role as the host country at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2009. One can only hope that Argentina's role as a host country in 2010 triggers a similar interest.

The ongoing negligence of Latin America is going to cost Europe dearly in terms of lost opportunities. Economically Europe is wasting it's historically grown privileged economic ties to Latin America and politically it is failing to recognize a potential ally in today's trend-setting debates. It is high time that Europe discovers Latin America again, but this time around in the sense of becoming aware of a continent of opportunities.

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La necesidad de un segundo descubrimiento de América Latina

Europa necesita con urgencia un segundo descubrimiento de América Latina. Pero tal vez no sea  “descubrimiento” el término adecuado. Dicho término implica un sentimiento negativo en la historia compartida de Europa y América Latina. Durante centenarios el concepto que Europa tuvo de descubrimiento, significaba conquista, explotación y expansionismo imperialista. Además el “descubrimiento” de América Latina cambió radicalmente y para siempre, las estructuras sociales y culturales del continente. Nuestros antecesores (los de los europeos) mataron millones de personas,  destruyeron prácticamente una herencia cultural invalorable y casi exterminaron una civilización única. Además la interpretación clásica de “descubrir” es profundamente europeo-centrista. Porque finalmente América no obtuvo relevancia, solo gracias a que marineros europeos se dieron cuenta de que había un continente desconocido entre Europa y la India, sino que ya tenía una historia cultural de miles de años.

Sin embargo hay diferentes significados para la palabra “descubrir”. Según el Diccionario de la Real Academia Española “descubrir” significa:

 1) Manifestar, hacer patente.

2) Hallar lo que estaba ignorado o escondido, principalmente tierras o mares desconocidos.

3) Venir en conocimiento de algo que se ignoraba.

 En comparación con una escala contemporánea, nuestros antecesores tenían la mente cerrada y claramente definieron el descubrimiento de América  en cumplimiento con la segunda definición. Mientras Europa en ese tiempo veía a las culturas existentes de América Latina con arrogancia, hoy en día las ignora.

América Latina fue transformada  a través de la “tercera ola de democratización” en los años 80. Es una de las regiones vitales y crecientes del mundo y sus poderes principales, como Brasil, han superado la crisis casi sin daños económicos. La economía de América Latina está entre las más dinámicas del mundo. El continente creó una cultura única, que mezcla las raíces culturales de Europa y las de la América Latina indígena.

En nuestro mundo, que está cambiando constantemente, América Latina es una de las pocas regiones que comparte la mayoría de nuestros valores y lo que nosotros llamamos “la cultura del occidente”. Por tanto la región es un aliado natural de Europa, en su esfuerzo de crear un mundo multilateral apoyando la paz universal, respetando los  derechos humanos y promoviendo la democracia.

Sin embargo, el interés de las élites europeas para los sucesos políticos, económicos y sociales en América Latina es escaso. En concordancia con la frase hecha sobre el punto de vista del periodismo europeo de África “que no haya noticias, es una buena noticia”, los periódicos europeos casi nunca tienen en cuenta el ámbito político y social de América Latina. Solamente conflictos de alta tensión como la crisis política en Honduras o la guerra contra los narcos en México y Colombia salen en los periódicos de Europa. América Latina se ve sobre todo como un destino turístico o un destino para programas de intercambio. Incluso durante el foro de EMLA (Europe meets Latin America) del Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, una mayoría de las presentaciones se concentraron en estos aspectos. Mientras las relaciones de Alemania y Europa con poderes emergentes como Rusia y China, es un tema discutido por los medios de comunicación y públicamente, este no es el caso con las relaciones con América Latina en partes grandes de Europa. Por ejemplo China está ahora en el centro de la atención pública de Alemania, por su papel como país invitado a la feria del libro 2009 en Frankfurt. Esperamos que la invitación de Argentina en 2010 cause la misma atención.

La negligencia prevalente de América Latina costará a Europa mucho en términos de oportunidades perdidas. Económicamente Europa está desperdiciando sus relaciones económicas privilegiadas con América Latina, que ha alcanzado gracias a procesos históricos; y en términos políticos está ignorando la oportunidad de ganar un aliado en los debates decisivos del futuro. Europa no tiene tiempo que perder para volver a descubrir América Latina, pero esta vez con el objetivo de venir en conocimiento de un continente lleno de oportunidades.

thoughts after Berlin: Expectations

I am no blogger. I suppose this is not the typical first sentence you would expect to read when accessing a new blog, but there is a point here. There is an infinity of blogs out there, talking about everything from personal vanities to world politics. But sometimes I am wondering how much blogs are still about communication and exchanging views. My aim with this blog is just that: facilitate personal interchanges and perhaps contribute on a very small scale to cultural exchanges between Europe and Latin America. This blog is part of a (hopefully growing) network of blogs by young people from Europe and Latin America looking to exchange their views and trying to take as many people as possible along on the way. This is what I refer to when I say that I do not consider myself a  blogger.

This network of blogs was born at a conference on cultural diplomacy in Berlin, attended by 30 young people from 20 nations from Europe, Latin America and beyond. The conference was originally meant to familiarize the participants with cultural diplomacy, facilitate networking among ambitious young people and spark leadership initiatives (civil society projects with cultural diplomacy relevancy) of small groups. Quite a schedule for a 5-days seminar and the homepage, the application procedure as well as the invitations for the conference just boosted the expectations.

The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) organizing these meetings first got my attention when they advertised a conference on cultural diplomacy in Berlin, involving a number of high profile speakers ranging from former heads of state and ambassadors to Havard professors. Since it would have been impossible to attend a conference on such a short notice (after all my employer wants to hear an elaborated excuse for having to ask for a week off), I decided to have a closer look at the program of the ICD. I soon found a variety of forums they organize between different regions of the world and applied for "Europe meets Latin America". I chose the forum because I speak Spanish and like Latin American literature.

But apart from that I also think that Europe is neglecting Latin America as an important region that will only grow in importance in the future. It seems like only Spain and Portugal have a perspective for ties between Europe and Latin America, most other Europeans like Latin American culture (or the cliché of salsa, fiesta and senoritas) but overlook the growing economic and political importance of the region. Just compare the international sections of El País and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and you will see what I mean.

Back to topic, what was I expecting? Well I was expecting to meet a lot of interesting people, learn about cultural diplomacy and spending some days in my former hometown Berlin. Actually this was already enough motivation for me to go there, I just can't spend enough time in Berlin. Probably the only German city I would stand living in for more than a couple of years.

I did not know what exactly to expect from the other participants. The ICD was trying to add a decidedly elitist flavour to it's program, so I was a bit afraid to find a bunch of guys and girls totally focused on brilliant future careers circling each other like predators. Fortunately I was far from right.