An Ethnic History of Europe since 1945 by Panikos Panayi

Author:Panikos Panayi [Panayi, Panikos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, General, World
ISBN: 9781317877943
Google: liapDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-10-08T03:40:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The Politicisation of Difference

Culture and Politics

The leaders of peoples which do not conform to the dominant real and created values of individual nation states manufacture their own alternative subnationalism. No grouping of any sort, whether ethnic or otherwise, can obtain recognition of its position unless it can organise and publicise itself. The politicisation of difference takes place in a variety of ways, and not all groups have the same level of development. A difference exists between, at one extreme, a newly arrived immigrant grouping in an inner-city area of a western European state and, at the other, the long-settled Slovak or Croatian people within the countries where they formed large groupings.

Any minority which wants to get itself noticed needs to create a counterculture. But by doing this, it is, like a nation state, involved in an artificial process which pays limited attention to the individual wishes of its component parts. But the exclusiveness of the dominant state makes this process inevitable. The development of a counter-culture represents the first step towards politicisation. Large minorities which have visions of becoming nation states create their own history, pointing to the difference in origin between themselves and the people who rule them. All minority groupings must develop their own media, especially newspapers. Immigrant communities of any size have done this, as well as importing newspapers from the homeland. Most longestablished peoples also have their own press, unless the state prohibits them from publicising themselves – as happened under the old order in eastern Europe. Minorities have developed their own radio broadcasts and even stations, as well as television programmes and channels, a situation which has become easier with the advent of satellite, cable and digital television. Along with the development of media, especially in the case of large minorities creating their own form of nationalism, come more symbolic aspects of ethnicity in the form of museums, national costumes and even national anthems.

Counter-cultures form the basis for political activism by ethnic groups, which can take a variety of forms, in common with all types of modern political manoeuvring. The most direct methods involve demonstrating, especially in cases where groupings feel that no other options are open to them. This can result in peaceful protests, such as anti-racist marches (which, invariably, bring more than one ethnic minority together), or demonstrations by individual groups demanding recognition of their status as ethnic minorities. More potently, violence can result, especially in instances in which individual communities feel that they have remained ignored and persecuted. Such disorder is predominantly perpetuated by young people.

Violence is a primitive form of political activity carried out by the disenfranchised. In order to succeed, ethnic minorities have to create their own political groupings, some of which become advanced enough to hold seats in the national assembly, although others remain more elementary. Immigrants rarely form their own political parties but, more commonly, develop their own groups campaigning for a particular issue. This applies especially to refugees who have fled a particular state and continue their activity from their exile.

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