Beautiful Myth - One Europe

Are you a European? If you are, could you define what this means? I, for one, haven't a clue. Perhaps I should. I was once, several years ago now, approached about the post of communications director with a pro-Europe lobby group. I met one of the movers behind this at a gentlemen's club in London, and promptly heard nothing more, either about the post or the group. Best intentions possibly, best intentions dashed. 'Tis often thus with groups and associations.

Back then, it all seemed idealistically sound. Unification of peoples under a common banner for a common good. I was sold on the idea - then. But it was, and largely is, illusory. A dissonance exists between political intent and psychological and social acceptance; one that is all but impossible to bridge. Nevertheless, people keep trying.

Last summer, a new group emerged in Mallorca. "Europeos por España". There was a bit of publicity hullabaloo and then silence. At the time I suggested that it might sink "into the obscurity of indifference". Maybe it has, for all that one hears anything about it. Politically non-aligned, it was hard to understand what its purpose was, given that another European group already existed. Though these groups profess political neutrality, and most probably are neutral, one cannot help but have the sneaking suspicion that the odd individual may view them as a springboard to established political career-making.

The "Ciudadanos Europeos" (European citizens) group has been going for several years. It is being given a new lease of life, or seems to be, by having a regular monthly page in "The Bulletin". We'll see how long that lasts. And this may sound rather cynical, but these things do have a habit of just disappearing. The aims of this group are fair enough - breaking down barriers, cultural exchange, information about participating in local elections - but in its activities, one forms the impression of some sort of über-national social society.

In the group's column, we are told that "Europe is a cultural unity with a history dating back more than 2,500 years". Really? What is the basis for such an argument? Common linguistic roots where most European languages are concerned, yes, but otherwise? European "unity" has been predicated, down the centuries, on empire-building, wars and religion, and not all of this has been in the pursuit of a common culture, certainly not where the Ottomans were concerned. In today's Europe, the objections to Turkey's membership of the European Union are founded on the gap between secular Islam and Western Christianity, the latter itself a thing of division that goes back centuries. Where "unity" might be said to have been established from later mediaeval times, it was one formed through marriage and kingdom combination, often a recipe for later disaster and one far removed from everyday experience and identities with local networks of the village or town. This unity was such that it gave rise to the First World War, the consequence of inept monarchical competition. Even at the national level, the after-shocks of marital alliance still reverberate, despite the alliances being hundreds of years old. Spain is a prime example.

Europe as a philosophy or as a psychology is a myth. It is a beautiful myth, one that one would like to believe in, but it is myth nevertheless. "Ciudadanos Europeos" wishes to bring different nationalities in Mallorca together. This is laudable, but the nationalities will persist in pursuing their own association, be this an actual association or simply normal social interaction. The British, for example, extract from the local community what local cultural elements they want, and that's as far as it goes. This is the old "integration" debate, but anything like complete assimilation is a further myth. The British are no more "Mallorcan" than they are "European". They are British. And this is not an argument in favour of nationalism, simply a recognition of identity and - dare one say it - cultural unity; unity at the national level in the sense that even this can be said to exist.

Language is at the heart of any cultural unity. Despite those common linguistic roots, divergence in the practical use of language is so extreme, so representative of different values, experiences and heritage to make impossible one unified entity. At a facile level, think of the Sid Lowe-Real Mallorca contretemps. When Lowe said the club had "no fans", an English reader would have known that he didn't mean this literally. But this was how it was interpreted by non-English native speakers. Lowe was making a joke, and humour is possibly the most difficult concept to translate because of its cultural and linguistic nuances. And misunderstandings across the English and Spanish (or Catalan) divide are just some. Add on all the languages and dialects of Europe, and where does that get you? Cultural or indeed social unity? One Europe. Sorry, it's a beautiful myth, and myth it is and always will be.


QUIZ:
Today's title - "Beautiful Myth". Had it once before. That was in connection with Bellevue. Who is it?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Radio Free Europe

“The Labour government must take sole responsibility for this disastrous chosen path which has resulted in the UK falling into its morass of lowered standards, lawlessness and social disarray.”

Who? I’m afraid it’s Leapy Lee in the current “Euro Weekly”. This comes from his latest rant, this one about multi-culturalism in Britain and unchecked immigration. I know some people who get seriously angry with this guy. I don’t. It’s just not worth it.

But this new assault on the state of Britain intrigues me, as does the English-speaking media here. Why, if people no longer live in Britain, why, if people are effectively disenfranchised, do they feel the need or the right to comment?

I set these questions against the current background of politicians chewing over the EU Treaty, a development - it might be argued - to help make us feel ever more European. But that’s very doubtful. Does living in a different country make one feel less British, more European or a bit - in the case of Spain or Mallorca - Spanish or Mallorquín? Generally speaking, I don’t think so. You can take the boy out of Britain, but you can’t take Britain out of the boy.

I say this as someone who, some years ago, held discussions with a founder of a group to lobby for greater European integration. That group was looking for a type of director, especially a communications director. That was me, or might have been had the discussions gone beyond a pleasant coffee in a London club. You might say that I am a good European, or was - I have cooled on the idea - but I am certainly no nearer to knowing what European, or even a bit Spanish or Mallorquín, might mean.

Plenty of expatriates here have Spanish friends, some have Spanish partners or children, some speak Spanish well, some watch Spanish television or read Spanish newspapers. But there are many who fall into this category only partially or not at all. Is this really that surprising? Among the more assimilated of the expats, there is a despair of their fellow countrypeople who remain solidly “British”. Again though I ask - is this so surprising?

Expats read “The Sun” or other British newspapers, even the local ones; expats go to British bars; expats have dinner parties for fellow expats; expats have Sky. They are no more European or a bit Spanish or Mallorquín than were they sitting on the seafront at Eastbourne.

The ease of access to the media, in its various forms, only serves to reinforce this exported Britishness and to neutralise greater assimilation or to take, for instance, a greater interest in local politics as opposed to events in Britain. The media feeds this and reflects this. Leapy Lee is just one example of this; his column is market-driven in the sense that he is talking to an audience with an enduring interest in the old country. Accordingly, I defend fully Leapy Lee’s right to talk about those “events” even if his chosen subject “multi-culturalism” is outmoded and even if immigration to Britain, which he bemoans, is a phenomenon of human mobility shared by other countries - such as Spain, and such as by Britons moving to and living in Spain. We’re all Europeans now, or maybe we’re not.


Apropos yesterday’s weather. It must have been a near miss right here in Playa de Muro. There were more tornadoes after all. Severe ones. One person dead. People were being evacuated in some places. Heavy weather.


QUIZ
Yesterday - “Homburg”. Todays’ title - who?

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