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On questions of population (several points for reflection)
Jordi Pujol
Editorial / May 30, 2006
Recent events in the news have prompted a number of reflections concerning one of the most important issues, if not the most important. Because the one of the fundamental and indispensable foundation of a country is its territory and population.
1. In the area of immigration, European governments
and opposition parties are increasingly rejecting multiculturalism and
demanding improved integration policies (or a return to them where they
have been abandoned.)
2. Spain has been caught off guard by a new wave of sub-Saharan immigrants that has caused sufficient concern for it to request aerial and naval surveillance aid from the European Union in order to force them back to Africa.
3. The focus of debate in the United States at present is on immigration, from two standpoints: the legal status of immigrants and their right to citizenship, and the building of a wall stretching hundreds of miles along its border with Mexico.
The following observations refer to these three points:
1. It’s good news that France, Britain and Germany are seeking better immigration controls, while at the same time promoting integration in schools and places of work, and through compulsory rules for obtaining citizenship, which range from acquiring a knowledge of the language of the country, familiarity and acceptance of the host society’s customs, to gradual incorporation into the country’s mainstream life, both in terms of society and of family. And it is good that governments and parties of both the right and the left endorse these policies. This will silence opponents who criticise those who have always defended a policy of integration in Catalonia. Those who have always advocated that Catalonia should welcome and integrate newcomers, which requires that the social ladder should function correctly, that there should be the fullest possible integration into Catalonia, and that there should be a willingness on the part of this society to defend our identity, especially the Catalan language.
2. The intense pressure that African immigration has brought to bear on Spain has made certain political, social and media sectors change their views. Until recently, they had not taken this issue seriously and hid behind a false sense of progressivism, despite the boatloads of immigrants reaching the peninsula. While refraining from building a wall over the Atlantic Ocean, they are calling for something very similar in practicval terms. The wall along the Texas and Arizona border has a far greater visual impact, although its function is the same. This will not help the stance of moral superiority held by certain pseudo-progressive sectors in Spain.
3. The construction of a wall along the Mexican border was approved by 86 out of the 100 American senators. Given that the senate comprises 53 republicans and 47 democrats it is clear that at least 33 democrat senators – that is, 70% - voted in favour. Conversely, the main resistance to granting citizenship, within certain limits, to the many “Latinos” – as President Bush has proposed – comes in large part from the House’s republican representatives.
In other words, immigration is not an issue of the left or the right but of people who may be addressing this question from a responsible standpoint, or of those who are exploiting it for demagogic ends, and sometimes for angelism. Sometimes uncertainty and fear pay a role. The same thing has happened in Germany, where for some time now the former socialist chancellor Helmut Schmidt has been calling for “a consistent immigration policy” based on access to the Germany’s standards of living, (which is another form of “social ladder”) and the fastest possible route to integration.
In any case, this is an invitation to address this issue without frivolity and without a manipulative spirit. Just as immigrants have the right to a fair treatment, so the host country has the right to maintain its cohesion and identity. Just as the host country has the duty to guarantee fair treatment, so the immigrants have a duty to respect its rules and fundamental values.
We need a correctly functioning social ladder for newcomers, and also the mechanisms for integration that guarantee the continuity of a culture and a country. Without superiority complexes or rejection, and also without fear, guilty complexes or underestimating the need, for all, to belong a collective.
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One other items of news that is worth mentioning. Not because it is new, but because it happened here, in Sitges. In a Speech delivered to the Economy Cercle d’Economia, the President of the European Parliament, Mr Josep Borrell, stated that Europe’s most pressing problems were energy and, owing to the low birth rate, demography. These are probably not the only ones, but it is worth considering his reference to the birth rate.
First, because it is true that demography is one of the greatest threats facing the future of Europe. Second, because it has been hushed up and even denied for many years. There is nothing easier than forecasting population growth over the next two or three decades. It is one of the easiest predictions to make. Why then have we waited so many years before sounding the alarm? We are all responsible to a greater or lesser extent. It is a subject that requires urgent and in-depth debate. We will be addressing it shortly.
