Some Conclusions, pt. 1

A few days have elapsed since a posting; I thought since I was really busy with the getting-ready-to-come-home part of my trip, few of you would be interested. Nevertheless, here, have some stray observations about these Europeans with whom I've lived for more than six weeks.

The European community is becoming more of a community than I had previously observed or imagined. Their sheer proximity to one another doesn't make them homogonous any more than the various communities in a large American city are homogonous. Yet, they are better informed about international news and concerns than most North Americans are--or, perhaps, have the opportunity to be better informed. Evening news in England, France, and Spain carry local stories to be sure, but they also feature events in Africa, the Near and Far East, and throughout the European Union. American news seems parochial by comparison. The obvious reason again, is simple geography. Paris is nearer to Jerusalem than Phoenix is to New York City. Time and again, for example, the pilgrims with whom I had dinner conversations expressed their concern for situations in Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan. To a person (admittedly, only a sample of a few dozen persons), they believe that whatever America does, eventually, we will pull out of Iraq, and the country will fall to a state of civil war. I'm not reaching for a political statement here; I simply want to characterize their heightened concerns over what they see is the impending chaos on their doorstep--to Americans, a country half a world away. The day I flew out of Spain, a Compostella newspaper carried a headline story about the English and Australian service men killed in fighting in Iraq; I doubt that you could find that story anywhere in the "A" section of the Dallas Morning News.

Nor is war the only issue that we share with Europe. Having left some weeks ago when America's debate over Mexican immigration was still a hot issue, I was most interested to find that news agencies in the three countries I visited addressed their own concerns about immigration. Following the recent threats against international flights on British Airways, the United Kingdom is not only engaged in a renewed search for terrorists within their borders, but they have also raised concerns about immigration from Islamic countries. One story from the Times indicated that illegal immigration from those countries may have increased four fold over the past five years. Additionally, Parliament is debating what measures to take when Romania and Bulgaria enter the EU. It seems that illegal immigration from those countries has already climbed to an alarming high, and when the borders fall next year, a general flight from the former communist nations is expected. In France, immigration concern includes these issues along with mounting apprehension over the rising tide of immigrants from Africa. The Bordeaux newspaper admitted that former French possessions in Africa are now pulsing their populations into Europe, and the loss of jobs and drag on public services (sound like familiar arguments?) is intolerable.

The Spanish, however, took the prize for disquiet over immigration; they worry about Islam, Romania and Bulgaria, Africa, AND the Far East. Yes, because of the low cost of living and easy entry, Spain has been the European country of choice for Asian immigrants. In Pamplona, there was a genuine rant against their presence in the country. The particular complaint had to do with the jobs that Asians took and how they performed. Every little neighborhood street in Pamplona had a bar, a pandalaria (pastry and bread shop), and a small grocery store. Asians had taken to owning and operating the mom-and-pop grocery. The particular offense that drew the attention of the evening news while I was there was that the Asians were not observing the siesta--the customary closing of shops between 2:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. In fact, many of those hard-working Asians chose to open an hour earlier than their Spanish-owned competitors (9:00 am), to work through siesta, and to close an hour later (10:00 pm). In the eyes of many locals, this amounted to unfair competition. In Compostella, the entrance of Asians into the lucrative souvenir trade drew the complaint that they shouldn't be allowed to sell memories of Spain since they weren't "really" Spanish. Of course, the fact that many of the souvenirs had been manufactured in Hong Kong didn't enter into the discussion.

The ideas that conflict has ramifications that reach beyond the borders of the participants or that population movements cause stress on indigenous communities are not new--look at the history of American immigration between about 1890 and 1920. However, the truism that "the world is getting smaller" brings me to the conclusion that world communities share common problems and could well be advised to seek common solutions. Tomorrow, I'll add another word on this topic--then a last word on a favorite moment. Cheers.