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EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate, ,

El furor se desahoga sobre quien aparece como indefenso”, decían Max Horkheimer y Theodor Adorno en La dialéctica de la Ilustración. La frase vuelve a la mente de quien ha visto las terribles escenas de Chemnitz y cómo una multitud llena de odio perseguía y agredía a personas solo por haber sido señaladas como “diferentes”, “extranjeras” y “extrañas”. La violencia sin límite se dirige contra quienes están cada vez más indefensos porque la sociedad no los reconoce como iguales. Los desfiles de líderes neonazis, vándalos violentos y representantes políticos de Alternativa para Alemania y otras formaciones menores de extrema derecha o los ataques en mercados han ocurrido en Sajonia, pero las conexiones y la movilización superaban los límites regionales.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Pegida rally in Dresden, Germany, in 2015. The anti-immigrant movement uses the term “das Abendland” as a synonym for Western Europe and its values. Credit Sean Gallup/Getty Images

EuropaUnión Europea, ,

Europe is being torn apart; divided by the aftershocks of the financial crisis, Europeans seem able to find common ground only in a common enemy. To hear Geert Wilders of the Netherlands or the U.K. Independence Party in Britain tell it, the crisis is not just about refugees: The influx of primarily Muslims is a threat to Western civilization itself, on par with the Arab invasions of the seventh century and the Ottoman invasions of the 16th.

It’s no coincidence that my country, Germany, has also seen a resurgence of a once-common, but more recently discarded, term: “das Abendland.” In English it is usually translated as “the Occident,” but its literal translation is quite poetic: “the Evening Land.”…  Seguir leyendo »

Germany Isn't Turning Backward

Europa, ,

I am a patriot. Being German, those words don’t come easily, particularly for a leftish, skeptical urbanite like myself. And particularly not now, just a few days before we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. But yes, I love my country.

The reason I say it out loud, now, is that I feel I have to defend Germany against those on the streets of Dresden who also call themselves “patriots” — “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West,” to be precise, which is the name of a loose alliance that brings thousands to the streets every Monday.…  Seguir leyendo »