Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair (shown), speaking at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai last week, presented a laundry list of objections to current European polices and presented his own ideas on creating an international movement to combat forces in Europe and the Middle East that promote cultural isolationism.
The BBC, which interviewed Blair at the forum, noted that after leaving office, Blair set up a foundation which works to promote “greater understanding between the world’s religions and to challenge extremism and prejudice.”
One topic that Blair discussed with BBC was the challenge of migration and refugees, about which he said that in an “era of anxiety,” the lack of a coherent mainstream response has opened the door to more “extreme” arguments.
“You have to give a real solution and not one which is populist but false. If you don’t give a solution, and you leave people with a choice between what I would call a bit of flabby liberalism and the hardline, they’ll take the hardline I’m afraid,” he said.
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Asserting that liberals were too weak in defending their positions while conservatives were too “extreme,” Blair called for a more assertive policy of “muscular centrism.” In making this case, he followed a pattern found in American politics where liberals often condemn those to the right of center as “extremists,” and cast themselves as “moderate.”
The refugees fleeing counties such as Syria and Libya that have been overwhelmed by civil war and terrorist activity, and entering Europe in large numbers have created a backlash across Europe, as Europeans fear not only the economic consequences of such migration, but that terrorists have entered along with the other migrants. The terrorist attacks killing 130 people in Paris on November 13 and 34 people in Brussels on March 22 have heightened those fears and led to a call to restrict migration.
While such wariness is justified, Blair maintains that Europeans resisting the current tide of refugees are guilty of “isolationism and protectionism.” He added, “People are very anxious and uncertain and they are turning to the demagogic populism of left and right.”
This language mirrored a statement Blair made in an article for Britain’s Sunday Times on March 27, in which he wrote:
We must escape from the paralyzing grip of the present political discourse stuck between a right wing that is now tipping into bigotry against Muslims as a whole and a left that thinks that calling it “Islamism” is stigmatic….
Blair’s condemnation of those who seek to stem the massive tide of Middle Eastern and North African refugees into Europe — which is motivated not only by the current fears of terrorist attacks but also by the dilution of Europe’s ancient Christian culture by migrants who are not only non-European but also non-Christian — and his assertion that these resistors are guilty of “isolationism and protectionism” is perhaps explained by his statement: “I’m a supporter of multiculturalism.”
Europe has always been multicultural, of course, being comprised of scores of ethnic cultures from Norway to Greece. But for centuries each country and region has maintained its own unique culture.
However, the type of multiculturalism that Blair seems to advocate was called into question in a March 24 article in the Daily Bell headlined: “Blair to Eradicate European Culture to Create a United States of Europe.” The writers observe:
The wars have destabilized the Middle East and driven refugees into Europe, which is also being destabilized. Blair therefore will not be perceived as an honest broker but as a proponent of a kind of military manipulation aimed at undermining traditional Europe.
Those ethnic entities have created communities in countries such as Germany, Spain, France and Poland that have been maintained for hundreds and thousands of years. But not anymore.
Such cultural destruction advances a homogenized European Union that is far more amenable to becoming a “United States of Europe.” Break down culture and you disassemble countries and regions.
The problem with a “United States of Europe” is that, unlike the United States of America, it would not be governed by a constitution that limits the power of the central government and provides the checks and balances and means of accountability that we enjoy in our U.S. Constitution. The example provided by the Daily Bell discusses the cultural breakdown of Europe’s borders, but there has also been a political assault on national sovereignty, stemming from the creation of the European Union.
For a thorough discussion about the dangers of a United States of Europe, as well as a full account of how the European Union has diminished the national sovereignty of Europe’s nations, we recommend the article “The ‘New European Soviet.’ “
Photo: Tony Blair
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