FRONT PAGE
Our world is experiencing a multicultural revolution that brings with it risks of culture conflicts linked to the new situation created by immigration with no prospect of return to the country of origin. These conflicts or tensions are linked to the arrival in Europe of non-Christian populations that have ways of life very different from those of the host population. Conflicts linked to the legacy of history, because many of these immigrants come from colonised countries and now live side by side with their former colonisers in a particularly ambiguous psychological relationship: Islam, which was long considered by Europeans a religion of colonizers, has become the second religion in many areas of Europe. We can also register legal conflicts between personal statutes and the law of the host countries. To these conflicts are added social and economic conflicts with the formation of ghettoes in the suburbs of big cities. These tensions and conflicts are further exacerbated by reactions to the globalized world and the affirmation of personal or ethnic identities. At one time, the immigrant sought integration in the new nation, and cherished the dream of acquiring a new national identity; today’s immigrant, by contrast, has no intention of breaking away from his roots. Immigration seems only to reinvigorate his own self-affirmation, the attachment to his own traditions, his own culture. For his part, the citizen who sees foreigners advancing these claims is reinforced in the defence of his own traditions and identity. So, the alien, the bringer of a different culture, is seen as the bringer of uncertainty, of worrying innovations, of anxiety: he can be a friend but can also become an enemy. In antiquity the rules were clear: the foreigner was an outsider: he was not a member of the polis, i.e. of the city. Pluralism, backed by the fears linked to globalization, can open the doors to new ethnic and religious conflicts, to manifestations of xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism. We have now entered a new and particularly dangerous phase with the emergence of terrorism: the alien, the foreigner, is no longer a friend, but may potentially become an enemy. The technique of terrorist attacks, carried out by kamikaze chosen from individuals well integrated in the host society, is conceived to destroy every social fabric, to diffuse throughout society a mistrust that engenders fear, fear of the alien. In Holland, the murder of Theo van Gogh had deep repercussions in a country that has always been a model of openness, hospitality and tolerance: something had now snapped in people’s minds. The immigrant, once a friend, thus becomes a person with two faces: capable of participating in the social life of the land that accepted him into its fold, of studying, of creating a family and at the same time of preparing the most horrible acts. Destroying trust, the sense of hospitality, is the objective of terrorism, because a society cannot function without a minimum of trust, solidarity and friendship. If the terrorism that exploits cultural and religious diversities were to succeed in spreading fear, mistrust and hatred, the very notion of multicultural society would be lost and fundamentalism would vanquish. In Europe too the stakes are high: the clash of civilizations would threaten society from within, beyond peace among nations. The masters of terrorism have understood this. Their diabolic design consists of exploiting the natural tensions between cultures to prevent any possibility of co-existence.
