Western Europe is wasting away. Sclerotic economies are unable to offer opportunities to an often restless populace while a serious crisis of identity has produced some disquieting results.
It's the economic decline that's most noted in the domestic press, especially the occasional riots. The booming decades after the Second World War saw the implementation of welfare states that are no longer sustainable yet are seemingly immune to reform. The most visible result is unemployment rates that would be the death knell of any American government.
What's worse is that much of this joblessness is centered on the youth. In France, the children and grandchildren of immigrants are especially prone to unrest-witness not just the widespread rioting of 18 months ago but continued tensions, such as the mini-riot in the Gare du Nord last week. On some level this group has legitimate grievances, as multiple studies have shown widespread discrimination against non-French individuals for limited job openings; this in a country that prides itself on everyone's being French regardless of color or creed.
But there is also a widespread sense of entitlement among native youth. They want the same benefits their parents have enjoyed: the five weeks paid vacation, the 35-hour work week and the near-impossibility of being fired from one's job. It was this last point that led to widespread rioting by students last year, after the government had the temerity to suggest new reforms that would allow young people (quelle horreur!) to be fired in their first two years on the job.
The fact that the government backed down in the face of these protests is emblematic: while everyone may recognize the need for reform, no one wants to be short-changed and the government lacks the spine to force the issue. (Britain would likely be in much the same shape today if it hadn't been for Lady Thatcher and her radical shift to free-market policies in the 1980s.)
At the same time, elements of Europe's political liberalism seem to be eroding before our eyes; this seems to be the result of an obsession with political correctness and the extremes to which some will go to avoid offending others.
In Britain, free speech and the ability to study history critically is under assault. A recent study by a government department found that in some schools, the Holocaust has been dropped from history curricula. The reason? Teachers and administrators don't wish to upset students who deny the Holocaust. Among these are Muslim pupils who have been taught outside of school that it never occurred; no doubt it is this same demographic that gave us the 7/7 subway bombers.
A society that will make no mention of mankind's most depraved moment in time merely to avoid giving offense is one whose moral compass is desperately in need of reorientation. Such meekness makes a mockery of the times when the world said "never again" if we allow willful ignorance to go unchallenged.
Meanwhile, France is considering a law that would criminalize denial of the Armenian Genocide. Some suggest this is mere theater, pandering to the country's Armenian populace. But it has the same effect of stifling discourse.
In Germany, extreme cultural relativism-again for fear of giving offense-has reared its ugly head. A judge recently ruled that a woman could not divorce her abusive husband on the grounds that the Koran permitted him to beat her. Beyond the obvious outrageousness of such a ruling, it also suggests that the secularism that has so long underpinned European society is itself crumbling.
These last two cases also speak to a larger trend: as European nations age and their native birthrates dwindle (while those of immigrant populations increase), demographics are undergoing radical changes. These minorities, most affected by the economies' chronic ills and whose religiosity is out of step with Europe's declining rates of church attendance and overall secularism, have produced unique challenges and varying responses. Sometimes, as in France's ban on wearing headscarves in school, the response is a policy of assimilation, blurring the distinctions by trying to make everyone French. Elsewhere, the response tends toward extreme accommodation. Whether either approach is viable remains to be seen; so too the consequences.
Europe is plagued by self-doubt stemming, in part, from economic turmoil and restless youth. But it is also filled with uncertainty as it attempts to redefine its identity in light of its growing minorities and their unique challenges. It is a continent whose future is uncertain.
Gill Stevens is a Trinity junior. His column runs every other Thursday.
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