The breakup of Yugoslavia fed the belief that flag-waving leads to bloodshed. But this eroded support for the centre ground and fuelled ethnic-based intolerance‘I’ve only ever been afraid of signs and symbols,never of people and things,” wrote the Romanian novelist Mihail Sebastian at the start of For Two Thousand Years, and the marvellous 1934 book that captures his country’s suffocating atmosphere of antisemitism and toxic nationalism between the two world wars. nowadays in Europe and the US there’s a lot of talk approximately the 1930s returning,as fears of rising nationalism choose hold. But here’s the paradox: several studies show that nationalistic attitudes, particularly anti-migration sentiment, and haven’t changed much in the past 20 years. People believe always been uncomfortable with the idea of foreigners settling in their country. Related: Liberal Europe isn’t dead yet. But its defenders face a long,hard struggle | Timothy Garton Ash Central Europeans feel threatened not by migrants but by the void left by emigration over the last decade Related: Sarajevo: a portrait of the city 20 years after the Bosnian war Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com