... and the fear might evaporate.

“If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self-righteousness on which his morale depends on might evaporate.”
George Orwell, 1984



photograph by Vivian Maier via

The Migrant Acceptance Index

According to an index that is based on three questions Gallup asked in 138 countries in 2016 and 2017, nine of the ten countries that score a 2.39 or lower are Eastern European countries, most of them  located along the Balkan route. They also happen to be the ones most strongly opposed to accepting Syrian refugees. In Macedonia, Montenegro and Hungary, at least two-thirds say that their countries should not admit Syrian refugees ... a predisposition these countries already had before any "influx of refugees" (via).

But there is evidence that people in these countries -- many of which have long histories of conflicts with neighboring countries -- were already predisposed to be suspicious of outsiders, and the influx of refugees further inflamed these attitudes. Even before the crisis, the majority across Eastern Europe said that migration levels in their countries should be decreased. The same is true of Israel, where three in four residents in 2012 -- the year before the country finished building a fence along its border with Egypt to keep out migrants from Africa -- said they wanted immigration decreased. 

The three questions:
Immigrants living in this country                                  A good thing
An immigrant becoming your neighbor                         A bad thing
An immigrant marrying one of your close relatives       (It depends)*

The least accepting countries:
1) Macedonia: 1.47
2) Montenegro: 1.63
3) Hungary: 1.69
4) Serbia: 1.80
5) Slovakia: 1.83

The most accepting countries:
1) Iceland: 8.26
2) New Zealand: 8.25
3) Rwanda: 8.16
4) Sierra Leone: 8.05
5) Mali: 8.03

 
- - - - -
photograph via

"(...) in times of crisis or danger, it grew into a paranoid xenophobia." Excerpt.

The primary mentality existing in a society where local cultures and the corporate ideal predominated, created self-contained compartments identified as exclusive and impervious to penetration by aliens or outsiders. Each social and cultural compartment contained within itself a sense of its own unique and exclusive identity, shared by no other community. Everyhing done in that community centered historically upon the members of that community. This sense of exclusiveness existed in a less harmful state of being for centuries, but in times of crisis or danger, it grew into a paranoid xenophobia.



Communities based upon the principle of association functioned at their best when all the distinct and different sub-groups lived alongside and amongst one another under the assumption of peace. If, however, dissension overtook the endeavor of peaceful association and even cooperation among the different groups, and suspicion grew to the point of increased violence and warfare, then the joint endeavor had failed and paranoid xenophobia marked the associationist principle.



Under such circumstances in the 19th century some states and societies identified assimilationism as a new goal for social cooperation. By eradicating all the cultural differences that distinguised the diverse groups from one another, the tension and violence that had grown powerful could perhaps decrease or disappear. If such an effort failed, then the assimilationism could become the tool of a xenophobic majority seeking to create a single national community. Ethnic cleansing or exportation of various "minorities" beyond the boundaries of the new national sphere would emerge as methods of xenophobic unification.
(Reid, 2000:185)

- - - - - - - - -
- Reid, J. J. (2000). Crisis of the Ottoman Empire. Prelude to Collapse 1839-1878. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des östlichen Europa, Band 57. Stuttgart. Franz Steiner Verlag.
- photographs (Fieldgate Mansions, 1973-1984) by David Hoffman via

The League of Ordinary Non-Gentlemen

Today, Italians go to the polls. Immigration has become the key issue which automatically means that the radical right has a party programme: Italians first. The party Lega Nord per l'Indipendenza della Padania (The Northern League) was founded by Umberto Bossi who in 2017 was sentenced to two years and three months' imprisonment for using hundreds of thousands of euros in public funds to pay personal expenses. Former Northern League treasurer Francesco Belsito was sentenced to two years and six months. Umberto Bossi's son Renzo, by the way, was also convicted and given a sentence of one year and six months (via and via and via).



The founder of this party is the man who married in 1975, aged 35, and promised his wife to finish his university studies soon. After all, he was not really working and his mother was paying for his studies, so he had to hurry. In 1979, he told everyone that he had finally received his doctorate degree and would soon start to work as a doctor at the hospital Del Ponte in Varese. His proud wife bought him a beautiful brown briefcase which he left with every morning when he went to work, at the hospital, as a doctor. One day in 1981, in the meantime he had obtained his second degree, his wife went to university where - surprise, surprise - she learned that her wonderful husband had never finished his studies and never worked as a doctor (via and via). His son Renzo, of course, is completely different. Okay, he was charged with embezzlement too but at least he really got a degree. In fact, it was a bachelor's degree in Economics and Management at Kristal University in Albania. In 2013, Renzo Bossi was charged with corruption in Albania because "he earned a degree in social sciences without spending a single day in university. He has never been in Albania and he doesn't know the language" (via and via).
Now, the party's leader is Matteo Salvini. He studied at the University of Milan, never graduated but at least never pretended to have. Salvini was also involved in Bossi's fraud (via), he is a strong supporter of the football team A.C. Milan (which - what a coincidence - was owned by Berlusconi until last year), he supports Trump, opposes the embargo against Russia and same-sex marriage ... because, you know, traditional family values. He is the man who is going to rescue Italy by suggesting the introduction of segregation in public transport with reserved seats for "real" citizens of Milan but also for women to protect them from savage immigrants who he is going to deport as he is about to start a "controlled ethnic cleansing" (via and via).
This is not about the right, the left, or the centre. This is a party that offers no solution to any problem. Instead, it rides on the current wave of populist nationalism telling people how unfairly they are treated, that they themselves are not part of the so-called system but concerned about "the people" who they are fighting for making sure Italians get what they deserve. It is only about gaining votes with a rhetoric the world has not yet got tired of. This is also about a lack of style, class, and diplomacy in politics.



images via

The -ism Series (23): Populism

"Populism is the claim to raise 'the people' against 'the others' - against rulers, the political class; and/or against those who are not seen as part of the people, against those seen as 'foreign', as 'alien'."
Pelinka, 2008



Populism, the claim to represent and fight for the true wishes and interests of "the people", does not refer to a specific programme but to a specific technique, i.e., mobilising people against "those above" such as the government or the parliament, political parties, elites that can be defined in most different ways.




Contemporary populism which is currently rather widespread in Europe is characterised by "its cry for more democracy". This so-called cry for more democracy has potentially harmful aspects since it can be instrumentalised by plebiscites. "By stressing the plebisciterian against the representative component of democracy, populism is majority-oriented and tends to define democracy as majority rule. This leads to the populist tendency to play down or ignore the basic rights of individuals and minorities - be they ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities. As liberal democracy is based on the principle of majority rule as well as on the principle of minorty protection, this aspect of populism, creates at least tensions between liberal democracy as it is understood today and any kind of populist agenda: Liberal democracy is not just government by the majority - it guarantees at the same time protection of minorities and individuals." (Pelinka, 2008)




- Pelinka, A. (2008) The Rise of Populism, 39-48, in: Swoboda, H. & Wiersma, J. M. (eds.) Democracy, Populism and Minority Rights. Renner Institut
- photographs by the great Vivian Maier (1926-2009) via and via and via and via and via

Collective Angst and Opposition to Immigration

Awareness of group history has an impact on social identity as it promotes a sense of common fate and fosters ingroup cohesion. Collective history is fundamental since "history grounds social identity and, thereby, makes social identity possible". Group history becomes more important for social identity when group members are concerned about losing their connectedness to the past. This happens when they are, for instance, afraid to lose their cultural identity, unity, and distinctiveness through immigrant minorities. The potential loss of historical continuity affects different group members in different ways. The authors hypothesise that those who strongly identify with the ingroup will suffer most when historical continuity is disrupted. It is also assumed that these higher identifiers have enhanced levels of collective angst.


Jamaican immigrants arriving at Gatwick Airport, 22nd March 1962, before the Immigration Bill becomes law.

In their studies, Jetten and Wohl measured identity preservation and protection and manipulated historical continuity by providing information about contemporary English continuity with its past.


Greek women arrive in Wellington, New Zealand, in the 1960s

Here is an example for high historical continuity condition and for low historical continuity in brackets:

"Until recently England was generally thought of as a gentle, fabled land freeze-framed sometime in the 1930s, home of the post office, country pub and vicarage. It’s now better known for vibrant cities with great nightlife and attractions, contrasted with green and pleasant countryside. It is incredible how these two sides of England can go so well together and both represent the England of today [But, it is also clear that this is no longer true for the present England. In fact, the English we know today and the English of yesteryear are two very different peoples]." 

Chinatown, London, 1955

The authors also measured collective angst and opposition to immigration. Results show that "group processes do not operate in a time-vacuum" and that the past, the present and the future are very much linked to each other shaping group actions. When the past is manipulated and presented less connected to the present, high identifiers suffer more and are particularly opposed to immigration. while lower identifiers feel less threatened by discontinuity ... and immigrants.


An Italian immigrant working in the Bedfordshire brickfields, 24th September 1955

Although the sample was rather small and only few items were used to measure complex constructs, the results are rather interesting. Hopefully, more research will follow.


Polish Church of St Bride's, Glasgow, 2nd April 1955

- Jetten, J. & Wohl, M. J. A. (2012). The past as a determinant of the present: Historical continuity, collective angst, and opposition to immigration. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 442-450
- photographs (first one by Keystone/Hutton Archive/Getty Images) via and via and via and  (Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images) via and (Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images) via, copyright by the respective owners

This posting was originally published on Science Google+ on 24th of January 2015