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Most peoples in Europe do not have their own nation state. In fact, pretending that those peoples with their distinct languages (often called “dialects” despite
by fweimer 2y ago
Most peoples in Europe do not have their own nation state. In fact, pretending that those peoples with their distinct languages (often called “dialects” despite lack of mutual intelligibility) and cultures do not exist is a key part of the establishment of nation states in the 19th century. In most of Europe, the nation state project was so successful that this hardly matters today (but of course there are exceptions).
Still comparison to First Nations seems off. Maybe it's about this: Disadvantaged ethnic groups such as Romani or Jews (particularly post-Soviet Jews in recent times) are often denied a connection to the nation state or (what you might call) the shared European cultural heritage. In contrast, I don't think anyone argues that First Nations aren't true Canadians.
- Stevvo 2y agoNot sure how you can lump Romani and Jews together like that. Jews have a nation state, with "right of return"; a much better deal than the Romani get.
- fweimer 2y agoI had not thought about it that way. It's not such a great deal if you feel you belong wherever you are living now in Europe, and view yourself a quasi-citizen and European (even in case if there's no realistic path to citizenship due to your personal circumstances).
- Stevvo 2y agoWhat's a "quasi-citizen"?
- fweimer 2y agoSomeone with pretty much all the rights of citizenship (including that deportation is only a very distant possibility), except for voting rights and the formal recognition of citizenship status. Kind of what you get if you move within the Schengen area, maybe except for the deportation part.
- pas 2y agoCan you explain this in a bit more detail? Or maybe with a hypothetical example? What do you mean by no path to citizenship? Are there historical groups of jews somewhere in the EU without any passport?
- fweimer 2y agoStarting in the early 90s, Germany invited Jews from the Soviet Union to settle in Germany, but their ancestry was not considered German. Germany did not strip them of their citizenship during the Third Reich, so that type of right-of-return law did not apply, either. Some would have been hesitant to accept citizenship any way. (This was the time when refugee homes were burning in Germany, and the unconditional right to political asylum was abolished.) The effect at the time was hat professional qualifications weren't recognized, which meant that many did not have access to high-paying jobs. Previous pension contributions or equivalent in the CIS states are not recognized, either. The end effect today is that many among the older generation are dependent on non-pension welfare payments because the German state pension they receive is so low. This makes it impossible for them to obtain citizenship because of the self-sufficiency requirement. Other persons whose ancestors emigrated from the Holy Roman Empire (long before Germany existed as a modern nation state) are considered Germans by blood, so it's not about the time of emigration from Germany. These decisions are arbitrary, and it's puzzling why Ashkenazi Jews are still not treated as having German ancestry.