European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

144 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYAlterity (“The Others”)Openness to difference has never been easy. It always entailsdifficulties and generates some type of exclusion. Non-inclusion startswhen an individual or a group perceives a difference in others and hasthe power to decide whether to exclude them or not, regardless of alljustifications and of the nature of the difference in question. Political,linguistic and spatial boundaries are then established. All differencesare seen as inferior, dependent and submissive with respect to thehegemonic culture established by the “standards”.The history of the different “Other” is woven with acceptance,rejection, limitation, recognition, etc. The Others are represented asbarbarians, pagans, foreigners, non-citizens, immigrants, indigenouspeople, women, gays, etc. Acknowledging the problem allows us toopen ourselves to a reality we have always experienced in complexsocieties but that we have always avoided, homogenising what wasdifferent. Everything that, despite all, emerged as distinct, was eitherdiscriminated or excluded. It is the instinctive fearful reaction todifference. The idea that we are all different and that the centres fromwhich we emerge could lead to other new and different centres,should make us leave aside our prejudice and apprehension regardingsociocultural heterogeneity and acknowledge that societies areorganised according to their diversity to achieve unity in difference.In European societies, especially due to immigration, there is a widespread tendency to emphasise differences among people and toestablish boundaries and to create gaps between those who aredifferent, who are regarded as strangers (= foreigners). In extremecases, they are even regarded as enemies, disrupters, invaders andcompetitors, and they are even made responsible for any daily lifedysfunction. They are attacked and they are even expelled from one´sterritory. If they are welcomed, they are asked to give up their ownculture and to integrate into ours, to abandon their habits and adoptours. It is the opposite of interculturalism.When they are welcomed it is because they are needed, useful, theyproduce wealth, they carry out tasks that nationals do not want or theyearn less than them. Some immigration laws are more territory controllaws than welcome laws. The logic underlying alterity (“the othercannot be considered a means to an end”) is very different. It impliesrespect towards he or she who is different, practising crossbreeding, awelcoming attitude, inter-ethnic communication, inter-cultural dialogueand, most of all, the recognition of denied, silenced, crushed andhumiliated alterities. It entails valuing difference as wealth.