Breivik's truth: Is the fear of multiculturalism the enemy within us?

The ONLY thing you can say is factually accurate from Breivik’s positions in his trial for killing 77 people, most of them children, is a point about multiculturalism: people in many countries have condemned it. Breivik named Sarkozy, Merkel and Cameron during his testimony, and certainly Cameron and others in the UK Conservative Party and their media trumpeters, have blamed multiculturalism for divided communities, violence and even terrorism. Now, those critics of multiculturalism were saying it caused Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, but Breivik targeted those he blamed for multiculturalism, not the non-whites he so clearly fears. So is multiculturalism something so terrible and evil that he drives people to kill to prevent its spread? The simple answer is, no. [caption id=“attachment_286579” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Anders Breivik in court yesterday. Reuters”] [/caption]But ever increasing diversity around the world is causing more people to turn to intolerant, anti-immigrant and even violent responses rejecting the diversity. Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, gained record support for the party in the first round of France’s presidential elections on Sunday, with nearly one in five people accepting the anti-immigrant and populist policies. Those views don’t disappear with Le Pen off the presidential ballot. Rather, those voters now have to decide if they will split left or right to Hollande or Sarkozy. There’s an element of fear of the “other”, of heightened frustration during times of economic strife, and a bit of plain ignorant racism. Most people who hold such “threat to civilisation” views are perfectly decent human beings, in respectable jobs, loving their families, and contributing to society. They just think there’s too many immigrants. Only one in a tens of millions of people is willing to carry out the barbaric crimes of Breivik in reaction. But plenty seem ready to sympathise. During coverage of the Norwegian trial last week in Canada’s National Post newspaper, one comment stated: “He (Breivik) is partly correct in his assertion: Immigration - of all kinds, not just Muslim - will eventually overwhelm the native population of Europe - and the Europeans are too lazy and stupid to do anything about it.” “Immigrants - and Muslims - are good people. I have no problems with individuals wanting a better life. However - the massive influx of newcomers will simply overwhelm Europeans. It is not a matter of ‘superiority’ issues, or ‘hate’ it is simply a matter of Norwegian culture eventually disappearing under the mass of foreign influence,” it stated. Another said,“Nobody said that saving European civilisation from the mess it is in will be pretty.” Some of that is North American bravado and smugness against Europe. But these comments are supposed to be from Canada, a nation quintessentially multicultural: founded by explorers of multiple nationalities in someone else’s land and destination ever since from peoples of every corner on the planet. Last week Canada even marked 30 years of its Charter of Rights and Freedoms which helps enshrine diversity as both acceptable and protected. Yet there lingers this view that accepting diversity merely allows each community to live in isolation and avoid integration in a singular wider community, essentially the perceived US model of a melting pot (ie assimilation). That does happen, too often, but is the fault of individuals who are as unwilling to welcome in “others” as those who want all immigration halted. None of these questions will likely ever be resolved and no “remedy” should ever include the violence of Breivik or the mass genocidal approaches in Europe and elsewhere in the 20th and now 21st centuries. But as Europe, Canada, the US and other countries become more polarised between left and right, and the world continues to struggle, unequally, out of economic stagnation, we have to decide if multiculturalism is the true “evil”. Or, is the real threat from a level of intolerance and fear of diversity and complexity to humanity? Breivik isn’t insane for fearing multiculturalism. But this fear of multiculturalism is a convenient scapegoat, and pointlessly insane.