European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

276 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYThe reasons for such migrations are many and varied (war,starvation, misery, epidemics in the countries of origin), and all areworsened by negligible and uneven levels of development 2 .—To put things into perspective, let us briefly remind ourselves ofthe tendencies that cause mass migration on a global scale 3 .—As we have just said, mass migration occurs both internally andbetween countries in the South.—The phenomenon of South to North migration has always beena traditional, yet unstable and precarious, solution to theirresolvable situation of starvation and social chaos experiencedin the countries of origin. This process did not begin in the 90’s,but has been the long-term result of the demographicalexpansion and political, economical and ideological evolution ofWestern Europeans that commenced in the 16 th century andbecame more pronounced at the end of the 19 th century.Recently, with the downfall of the communist regimes of theformer soviet satellite countries, East to West migration can be addedto that of migration from what have come to be termed Third worldcountries. These types of migration have coincided with the process ofEuropean integration (accelerated in 1992 with the introduction of theSingle European Act), whose objective was to create a communalspace for all the countries that form part of the ancient continent, eachof which has been moulded by exchanges and conflicts between2At the start of this century, Ignacio Ramonet’s analysis illustrates this idea: “In noway have we managed to guarantee a satisfactory level of human development for allcitizens. In the United States there are 32 million people whose life expectancy is below60 years, 40 million without medical insurance, 45 living below the bread line and 52million who are illiterate... In the heart of wealthy Europe, at the time of theintroduction of the Euro, there are 50 million poor people and 18 million unemployed.On a worldwide scale, poverty is the rule and being well off is the exception.Inequalities have become characteristic of the times we live in. And these are gettingworse, constantly widening the gap between the rich and the poor...Presently, there areindividuals who are richer than states: the assets of the 15 richest people is greater thanthe total assets of the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa... Since the beginning of thecentury, the number of states hasn’t stopped growing, going from around forty toalmost 200. But the world is still dominated by the same seven or eight states thatdominated at the end of the 19 th century. Among the dozens of countries that emergedwith the dismantling of the colonial empires, only three (South Korea, Taiwan andSingapore) have attained satisfactory levels of development. The rest remain boggeddown by chronic underdevelopment” Ramonet, I. (1999) «New Century». Le MondeDiplomatique, January.3Aranguren, L. A.; Sáez, P. (1998) From Tolerance to Inter-Culturality. AnEducational Process Based on Difference. Madrid, Anaya.