Diversity is Gold: Let’s Not Play Into the Hands of Right-Wing Populist Parties
I lived in London for almost seven years, and in retrospect I can’t imagine a more brilliant place to learn how to become an adult. Most of that time I spent in and around Hackney, an area considered to be one of the most diverse in the country. Marketed as being vibrant and edgy - it is an area in which you walk past authentic Pakistani restaurants (best curry I’ve ever had), Turkish supermarkets, fish and chip shops and trendy-organic-brunch-places on one street. It is a place where mosques, synagogues and churches lie within walking distance. It is literally like a gastronomic and cultural world trip without having to leave the country. There is that mentality of learning and sharing from other cultures, embracing and even adopting traditions that are now inherently ‘British’ (Brits can’t go two weeks without a curry).
That said, Hackney with many other London boroughs have experienced rapid gentrification processes; the influx of middle-class people into cheaper working class neighbourhoods. It has resulted in an increase in property values, rent hikes and thus displacement of lower-income families and small businesses. Long-cherished pubs, markets and small businesses are pitted against luxury flat developments. Simply put: “an area becomes desirable to those with money — regardless if it was hitherto undesirable or dominated by public housing — then sooner or later, the wealthy will get what they want” [1]. One crucial fact is that gentrification, or regeneration as one can sophistically call it, is not a natural phenomenon, it is man-made. Quinton Mayne, assistant professor of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, emphasise that one needs to understand the complexity of the problem to find solutions that can foster an alternative urban development.
The current development has increasingly been exacerbated by austerity measures with uneven impacts across the country. Cuts in welfare have affected children, single mothers and people with disabilities the hardest. It is on the level where the ‘UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ has initiated an investigation into human rights abuses against disabled people [2]. Communities across the country have resisted austerity-measures and gentrification processes with grassroots organising and coalition-building. Furthermore, various laws and policies e.g. tax abatements, zoning ordinances (local laws that establish building codes) and housing policies can help individuals to stay in their rented homes. Rent controls, recently implemented in Berlin among others, also create some level of security for individuals, albeit enforcement mechanisms have to improve [3]. Laws can be implemented so that developers are obliged to include a percentage of affordable housing in building projects.
The financial crisis lingers on with public cuts from Greece to UK, which have fuelled the rise and support for right-wing parties in Europe. Research show that extreme and populist parties have always been the main beneficiaries of financial crises. In the 1920s and 1930s we had the right-wing parties of Italy and Germany [4]. Recently, Austria’s nationalist Freedom party was defeated by only 0.6 percentage points. The party has increasingly combined its inciting racist rhetoric with a focus on social welfare. In 2006 The Swedish Democrats drew 2.9% of the votes, in the last year’s election they won 13%, and current polls show higher percentage points. The underlying campaign message was clear: “The election is a choice between mass immigration and welfare. You choose” [5]. Simply, we can’t take care of more people, if we can’t even take care of our own. From France’s National Front (FN) to Hungary’s far-right party Jobbik, right-wing populists are on the rise in Europe.
The ideologies of these vary, but concerns are broadly the same e.g. immigration, integration, jobs, welfare cuts, business elites, the EU, anti-establishment and anti-austerity. The increasing number of refugees reaching Europe these past two years have led to inflammatory rhetoric among such parties and a denouncement of immigration. I totally get it, so much is lacking in mainstream politics. I don’t trust politicians myself, things aren’t fair, and ordinary people’s voices are ignored. Yet crisis situations, such as the influx of refugees to Europe, are used by media and populist parties to create scapegoats for problems that are so much more complicated.
Unemployment and the deterioration of the welfare state are consequences of historical processes such as the impact of neo-liberal policies since the 1970s and 1980s, the calamitous effect of privatisation in many areas of our societies and the deregulation of the financial sector, together with resulting austerity policies. Refugees and migrants trying to reach and enter Europe are fleeing war, violence or repression. Many are from nations where the West has tried to intervene and failed tremendously (e.g. Iraq and Afghanistan). And I know, the burden isn’t equally shared between countries, but the response isn’t to close borders, and thus play into the hands of right-wing populist parties. Europe and the world need to properly sit down and figure out structures and ways to deal with this in the future. Because this isn’t just a phase. Most importantly, we are facing a demographic crisis. Europe has an ageing population and people aren’t having enough babies, yet we are still keeping refugees and migrants at bay. Who will run your health services and take care of the elderly, when your societies are no longer self-sustaining?
Decades of research have shown that diverse groups (based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation etc.) are more innovative than homogenous groups. Interacting with people from different backgrounds provide alternative viewpoints and bring different information, opinions and perspectives [6]. I have been privileged to be part of such a diverse community and it has shaped who I am today. Let’s learn from that type of open and tolerant culture to solve our current problems, rather than tapping into sentiments of fear.
[3]http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/02/berlin-rent-control-cbre-report/458700/
[6]http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/
