The claim of cultural threat to native culture
Some published texts on social media outlets in Europe still deliberate on concepts like "Threat to the survival of Western Civilization," referring to the cultural threat of the presence of the new migrant community. This pushes me to give insight into these concepts and the factors beyond shaping them.
These concepts show the new sociocultural reality of refugees hosted by some EU countries, especially Germany. This reality, whether forced or voluntary, is neither a new phenomenon of migratory movement nor a new phenomenon in the global arena, where different fluctuations of all socio-political, cultural, demographic, and economic spheres occurred due to the mixture of the population of the native people and the newcomers from various backgrounds. Migration movements created diverse societies and brought new thoughts and ideologies to the host societies, contributing to developing the wheel of the economy and in many other fields. To explain more, many migrants or refugees from the Third World, or in other words, "Global South" to the developed countries or "Global North," came up with innovative ideas and solutions to many dilemmas in different fields, which are highly needed in the host countries. On the positive side, over the past decades, we have witnessed how many host societies experienced paradigm shifts in many fields with the investment of the enormous human energy that the migration movements brought to the new societies. It can't be denied the truth of how the newcomers paved the way toward sophistication with their creative ideas. Germany is an illuminating example of this experience, depicting the magnificent development process that resulted from the investment in the new population of refugees.
"Merkel's decision to admit one million refugees in 2015 has had immense economic and social benefits for Germany," said Helen Dempster.
At the scientific institutions, it's pretty observable how prestigious migrants or refugees occupy positions and how the qualifications of those migrants are being invested. Notably, we have seen myriad successful examples, mapping out a reality proving that many qualified migrants are highly needed to fill existing gaps. But this can't keep us from the truth that many refugees lack qualifications or are eligible for a position in the host country. It's a matter to consider when building strategies to unleash their capabilities because the road is supposed to be open for them to set out on a new professional and academic journey to develop their skills. Therefore, humanitarian laws in the EU countries have agreements in common in regards to providing migrants with protection, especially to the asylum seekers fleeing wars and dictatorships. These agreements are indiscriminately supposed to be applied irrespective of race, color, religion, and sexual orientation. The fact indicates that when these countries host migrants, they don't distinguish between them based on who is qualified and who isn't.
What stands out is the consequence of multicultural reality in the host country, which is conducive to conflict between the adherents of the new culture (the migrants) and the native culture. Those migrants came to the new societies holding their sociocultural values; stripping themselves of them and adopting the new sociocultural values of the new society is often far-fetched. Thus, we can observe that a significant percentage of the migrant communities are socially isolated from the surrounding host society, attempting to keep their existence from fading, and this existence for them is the identity with its components. Those groups attempt to accentuate their identity in all contexts because the sense of belonging and loyalty is the essence of strengthening the group.
As an illustration, I would capture one sociocultural aspect of the Eastern Asian and North African societies based on research, especially my latest dissertation that captures a social issue within the Syrian refugee community in Germany. I found out consecutively that the people of those regions are community- and family-clan-oriented, which is what describes them in general. Their lives are controlled by collective rules, which means loyalty to the group or the higher social authority is mandatory to guarantee that the group or the clan is strengthened inwardly and can defend itself outwardly—defending itself in terms of fending off any attempt to penetrate and affecting it by other foreign cultures per se.
The point that should be clarified here is that the group that belongs to a particular culture and identity inherently shows inclinations to maintain their identity and whatever is relevant. They are ready to struggle and sacrifice for this cause. Throughout history, conflicts of identity have appeared in many places worldwide, where ethnic groups have engaged in confrontations in a struggle over existentialism. In other areas, the world has witnessed bloody confrontations that occurred to wipe out the other and eradicate its existence, such as ethnic-cleansing operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and under colonial rules in Africa and other places. It turned out that identity, religion, and color were the main motives for eradicating the other for dominance over the other. However, the resilience and determination of these cultural groups in the face of such challenges are truly inspiring, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to their identity and culture.
Since identity and culture are indispensable motives to strengthen the group, and without them, this group can't maintain its existence anymore, the phenomenon of looking at the other as a threat to its identity, culture, or ethnicity, in general, is still a problematic dilemma that many human societies are plateaued with. As nothing occurs in a vacuum, past historical events still echo, playing crucial roles in shaping the current occurrences of the current century. Understanding these historical events is not just important; it's urgent to shape our current understanding of intergroup relations and social integration. We find a narrative here and there built on historical occurrences, and still, people base their attitudes toward others stemming from these occurrences. For instance, the produced historical narrative of the Crusades in the Middle East and colonial convoys there and somewhere else still echoes that the crusaded and colonized nations faced that destiny to serve the Western powers, postulating that the Western values are to prevail and reign over. This narrative remains up till the present with various stereotypes deliberated by the nationwide media and cinema in the West towards the other nations, and Eastern nations pose an enriching material for them to conceive them in ways that mislead the viewers and drive them to think stereotypically towards those nations. By the same token, when it comes to the presence of groups of those nations in new countries, the far-right groups always find such material a flaring factor to convince the masses of their propaganda that their presence poses a specific socio-cultural threat due to the norms they abide by which contradict the western standards.
Returning to the context of Germany, the current diverse reality there necessitates a thoughtful approach to creating a living environment where all ethnic groups, including migrants and natives, can coexist harmoniously without perceiving each other as a threat to their identity. It's not easy for a group to give up on its culture, as doing so would mean deviating from the pillars of the group. This deviation always has implications. For instance, in many Eastern cultures, intimacy before marriage is considered a violation of religious rules. Therefore, a harmonious living environment is not just a goal, but a necessity for the peaceful coexistence of all cultural groups.
Given this reality, where each group has the right to uphold its beliefs, a fundamental question arises: Is socio-cultural integration still a viable solution to bridge the socio-cultural gaps in the host society?
Socio-cultural integration, which involves different cultural groups living harmoniously and sharing their artistic practices in a host society, may seem challenging. However, exploring this question is crucial to understanding the potential for peaceful coexistence in diverse societies. In this sense, we must conduct more research to determine the indications and factors beyond integration and disintegration. However, the modest research in this field addressed an indication to rely on for more research efforts. It’s an existing fact that, for example, a new Arab community tends to maintain its cultural values and isolate itself from the surrounding native culture. Thus, the claim of the threat of the native culture, etc., is unsubstantiated at this stage, as there hasn’t been a trend that the newcomers attempt dominance; the whole landscape shows integration in the labor market and segregation in the social sphere. This segregation is the inescapable outcome of the different socio-religious values that can’t be eliminated overnight!
Therefore, what’s being propagated that newcomers or refugees constitute a threat to the native culture, civilization, identity, etc., is a figment of the imagination and a desperate attempt to fuel the phenomenon of xenophobia in the host society, conceiving the new community of the migrants as a new culture that’s different than the native culture in the host country. The individuals of this culture reject the native culture and the social behaviors that emanate from it, as they don’t fit into what they believe in, and so forth. That’s why xenophobia propagandists look at this phenomenon from the lens of the enlargement of such a community, which constitutes a threat of demising the native culture and identity, believing that the increasing number of the population of the new community would occupy a considerable space in the socio-cultural landscape.
We need constructive education to spread awareness within German society. Education can link all diverse groups and enhance peaceful coexistence to overcome all forms of hatred, incitement, and extremism.
What happened was that this deep-seated phenomenon bred out of this new reality of new migrants and natives living side-by-side. At the moment, I would argue that, in a democratic country like Germany, many liberties and even the freedom of belief are ensured. Therefore, it’s okay to continue believing in whatever socio-religious dogma, as long as it doesn’t harm others in any way or doesn’t incite against others. In the meantime, people of the migrant communities should consider how to teach their children to be tolerant of others and their differentiation, how to accept others as they are, and the undeniable fact the German host society is diverse, consisting of many ethnicities. This proves what contradicts what’s being propagated, that the eastern migrants are a threat to the domestic culture, and spread out fears of the fact that in the foreseeable future, the number of migrants will transcend the expectations, which would play staunchly in shrinking the native culture.
Above all, we need constructive education to spread awareness within the diverse German society. Education can link all diverse groups with each other and enhance peaceful coexistence to overcome all forms of hatred, incitement, and extremism. The migrant groups should act to introduce themselves in a way that dispels the suspicion around them that they are a constant threat, a term propagated by far-right extremist groups.
