Immigration, cultural conflict, and the individual’s right to defend his identity

There is no doubt that the exceptional nature ofIrregular migration It requires, first and foremost, an immediate and concrete response both in terms of saving human lives and in terms of providing a generous welcome. This is what our government does every day. And then you cannot continue to escape from a dangerous situation reflection On the consequences that irregular mass landings are expected to have in the long term.

In this sense, Samuel Huntington, in the early 1990s, spoke in an article published in Foreign Affairs magazine about: “Clash of Civilizations”. Because historically very few people would have chosen to move from one place to another, the novelty of our times is the fact that South-North relocation will affect millions of Africans in the coming years, demographers and Asians – most of whom with Islamic traditions – predict. It has expected consequences on the cultural and civil terrain that are not insignificant.

It is certain – as the supporters of the Open Door assert – that the phenomena of migration (with the exception of those fleeing wars and persecution) must be included within the scope of the choices that every free individual has the right to exercise, and decides to abandon his country of origin. To choose another. What we neglect to remember is that this right, if taken in absolute terms, is incompatible with another right, that is, with the right of the receiving country to decide how, when and from whom it will receive.

Kant’s truth – This legitimizes one of the most delicate tasks a sovereign state has to perform, namely “ensuring the defense of national borders from unlawful and arbitrary invasions.” Immanuel Kant writes in For Perpetual Peace that “hospitality means that the stranger has the right not to be treated hostilely, but the right to live wherever one wants on earth is limited by the will and benevolence of the host.” .

In this regard, the philosopher Karl Popper, after repeating that liberal democracies can only be open, asks in a short article: “How far is it permissible to go in this area, without risking creating the conditions for their self-destruction?” . There cannot be a liberal society without pluralism and tolerance.”

These are concepts that are rarely present, as we know, in the culture and traditions of the Islamic world. Subjecting migration flows towards our coasts to strict controls, as Italy is trying hard and in complete isolation, means being fully aware that the risks at this historical stage are very great and that they relate to the future, not very distant. Western civilization based on individual rights and freedom. Unfortunately, this awareness seems to be absent in European Union countries, starting, as we have seen in recent days, in Germany, which funds NGOs. We must realize that the trusted Arabist, Bernard Lewis, was right a few years ago when he said, in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, that “Europe will become the northern Maghreb, after it has given up defending its identity.” ».