Xenophobia rears its head

Commanding Moments
    By Michael Burstein

Lately, I've been finding American politics boring. Maybe it's because I don't have a cigar fetish, or maybe I have a thing for foreign elections, but I found last week's votes in Germany and Australia much more interesting than our own upcoming elections. Right-wing, nationalist parties advocating xenophobic agendas are gaining political influence in Europe and Australia. These parties did not make much noise in last week's elections, but their ability to shape issues and play on the fear of foreigners cautions strongly against ruling them out as a threat to democratic ideals.

Australian voters narrowly returned the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard to office last week, despite a heavy challenge by Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party. The heavily anti-Asia party advocated a freeze on immigration and policies severely curtailing the rights of aborigines. Hanson lost her bid for a seat in Parliament, but the presence of xenophobic, anti-immigrant rhetoric in ordinarily tolerant Australia was unsettling to many--including Prime Minister Howard, himself committed to "brotherhood and egalitarianism."

In Germany, a nation still struggling to overcome its racist past, nationalist parties continue to gain momentum. Though not a force in this year's national elections, protests by neo-Nazi skinheads have drawn attention to Germany's growing xenophobia. In state elections held earlier this year in Saxony-Anhalt, a far-right party won an unprecedented 13 percent of the vote.

And in France, Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front party wants to deport about three million immigrants and set up a strict system of "national preference" for hiring workers and doling out welfare. The party's adherents are no longer seen as reactionaries, but rather as conservatives with attitude. The Economist reports even more disturbing facts: though the National Front only garners about 15 percent of the national vote, one in every three French voters favors some part of the National Front agenda.

These developments seem to inspire two reactions--panic or dismissal. Neither approach is justified. While Nazis certainly won't be marching in Berlin anytime soon, it is naïve, if not dangerous, to presume that nationalistic trends do not represent a force capable of undermining democracy. Xenophobia is so insidious because its adherents need not wield direct political power for their ideas to permeate national life. Immigration and nationalism are issues that ignite passions and play on irrational fears. When these fears are acted upon, discriminatory and undemocratic policies result.

These fears, moreover, are exacerbated when one considers that foreign influence in the domestic affairs of a nation is much greater now than it was even five years ago. Australians, fearful that the economic contagion in Asian countries--their closest neighbors--may lead to recession at home, are attempting to keep their distance. It is paradoxical that at the dawn of European monetary union, countries like France, Germany, Austria, and Italy are experiencing a wave of nationalism. Or is it?

Economic integration renders nations vulnerable to foreign influence in ways previously unimaginable. Cultural diffusion threatens national institutions and traditions, and the politics of international integration sometimes dictates the convergence of values across countries. Xenophobia in today's world is a backlash against globalization. It represents a clear answer to the question posed by William Greider: "One world, ready or not?" The answer is "not."

Peoples' ability to make their own choices about the way they live is a cornerstone of modern nationhood, but radical self-determination is destabilizing. In the international arena, nations certainly can and should make their own choices, but it is wrong when these choices curtail democratic rights. Anti-immigrant sentiment puts nations on paths toward isolation, effectively denying the benefits of international exchange. More importantly, xenophobia adds a discriminatory element to national character, and thus represents a denial of democratic values.

U.S. policy seeks to uphold human rights in th face of nationalism and xenophobia--witness our efforts, for better or for worse, at preventing ultranationalist "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia. This is reason enough to watch developments in Europe and elsewhere closely. But consider this: in 1996, the U.S. Congress approved legislation restricting welfare benefits for legal immigrants, the Immigration and Naturalization Service requested more money for fiscal year 1999 to meet deportation quotas, and in 1995, voters in California approved Proposition 187, sharply curtailing benefits for immigrants. Maybe politics in the U.S. isn't so boring after all.

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