Who was born in 1989?
Officiele titel: Who was born in 1989?Gelegenheid: Opening European Week, Haagse Hogeschool
I was trained before 1989 as a soldier to fight the Soviets if they were planning to invade the West. I was trained to understand the workings of that dictatorship. In the way people were oppressed in Eastern Europe. And I was trained also as a diplomat, to use diplomatic tools, to make sure that communism did not prevail worldwide. This ideological confrontation that had lasted since the end of the Second World War slowly came to an end in 1989, 20 years ago.
To me, at that moment, everything changed. And I still remember this enormous feeling of optimism we all felt in 1989 because we knew certain things would come to an end. Certain confrontations. This looming threat of a nuclear disaster would come to an end and new opportunities would arise. Especially for all those tens of millions of Europeans who lived under repression since the Second World War would now know - like we have known for many years - what freedom was. And this is a huge achievement. It is something we should remember and celebrate, 20 years later. Even those of you who were born in 1989 or afterwards.
1989 did not bring an end to history, like Fukuyama said, because ideologies would no longer clash and democracy would prevail. With hindsight we can now say that another confrontation replaces the confrontation between ideologies. And that is the confrontation between identities. Between cultures and between nationalities. And I do not mean this in the sense that is used by Samuel Huntington, in his book ‘Clash of Civilizations’, where he describes this as a necessity, as a normal development. I mean it in a different way and I will try to expand on this, because it is so important for Europe.
What we have seen if you look at the newly free and independent countries in Central Eastern Europe - and who have since 2004 joined the European Union - is that especially the younger generation is very optimistic. Looking forward to being part of this European community of peoples. Looking forward to being part of this European Union as a political instrument. And looking forward to the economic, personal and social opportunities this offers. At the same time you see that many people with a memory of the communist regimes, many people who have not seen the benefits of this newly found freedom come their way, those people have a feeling of nostalgia towards the past. Times were easier on them, things were clear, life was relatively comfortable. It was a prison with many comforts. And there is a group of people that have not been able to grasp the opportunities freedom brought. In Germany, they call this ‘Ostalgie’, nostalgia to the east.
Since 1989 we have paid a lot of attention to Eastern Europe. We saw ethnic strife. The conflicts in many parts and we tried to do something about it, sometimes with success and sometimes we failed. But by now, I think the integration of the newly free states in Europe is a tremendous success. What we didn’t do since 1989 is look at the development in Western European societies. Always assuming that nothing would change there. That everything would stay the same. And that the only part of Europe that would actually change would be the East. But if you look at Western European societies today, you have to come to the conclusion that this clash of identities, or this translation of political strife in terms of cultural strife does also effect many people in Western European societies – specifically also the Netherlands. So no longer this ideological confrontation but a new confrontation with sometimes it’s artificial or which is exacerbated by socioeconomic developments which are not seen as such. Let me expand on this very briefly.
Identities are becoming a political tool. To come to grips with the fact that the world has become extremely small is very difficult for many people in Western societies who have in their perception nowhere to go. News reaches us in all corners of the earth 24/7, and influences the way we live. But we still have a feeling that we cannot influence what happens elsewhere in the world. So what you see is this globalising atmosphere where everything has an influence on what we do, but we have a feeling that we have little influence on those developments.
And then you suddenly discover in many societies like the Netherlands that for some time we have had ‘guests’ - as we have called them in the Netherlands -. People came here from elsewhere because we needed them in our economy. We have always treated them with benign neglect. They came here and gave us their economic potential. We used it and paid them the salary they deserved. But we never paid attention to the fact that there was a new generation coming available. People who were born here who are an integral part of the society. Since about ten years this identity confrontation has been introduced in our society and now, all of a sudden, we discovered that we have a lot of new Dutch people. All of a sudden we discovered that we need to find a way to make sure that those people we still treat as guests are actually part of our family. And this is a fundamental notion I want you to think about.
If you have a guest at your table, you will accept strange behaviour. You will not want to say that their eating habits are a bit strange, because that is not how you treat a guest. But you will also not accept them having a say in how to run your household or how you run your table. Because they are guests. So on the one hand you are polite, not saying what you do not like. And on the other hand you are distant, not accepting that they have a say.
Now if we understand that the people at our table are not guests but part of our family, this attitude will fundamentally change. And this is exactly what we need in Western societies. Because when you see someone not as guest at your table but as part of your family, you tell them “Listen, this is how we do things in this family. This is how we want you to behave. This is how we want you to be part of our society.” And at the same time, the person at your table, when she or he is a member of your family, will have a say in how the family is run: “Ok, you behave like this but you also have a say in how we live together.”
This confrontation between identities in the West is preventing us from understanding that culture is not something set in stone. But is always developing through the contribution of newcomers. It brings oxygen to a culture. It makes a culture more vibrant. It makes a culture more interesting for everyone in that culture. This is a lesson Western Europeans should learn today.
Because what is the main challenge the European Union is facing today? We will have to define a new relationship between man and his natural environment. This is a fundamental task of any politician, of any society, of any citizen, who thinks about his or her future and the future of their children and grandchildren. Secondly, we will have to come to terms with the fact that economic relations in the world are changing very rapidly. Asia will have a far bigger say in world affairs in terms of the economy than in the past. This is not a bad thing, it is a good thing. But it means that things will change, relationships will change, and we need to adapt to that. Thirdly, whenever economic relationships change and some parts of the world become more influential and others less, this will have an implication for the geopolitical position of these parts of the world. Also here, we will have to look for a new – worldwide - architecture.
And we can only do this in a discussion between continents. The nation-state as political actor is no longer in a position to have the impact necessary to act on behalf of our citizens. To make sure we grasp the opportunities that will present themselves. This is – I think – the best plea for ‘Europe’ I can put on the table today. Europe needs to be our instrument to act globally. To prevent climate change and the rapid rise in temperature. To prevent catastrophes like food shortages or energy shortages. To redefine the relationship between man and nature, so that we do not kill the earth by our consumption patterns. But that we create a sustainable way life. Which is certainly not less interesting or less comfortable than today, but different.
I am optimistic because all these changes are possible. The technologies are out there. Inventions have already been made. All we need is for everyone, for you individually, to make the choice to embrace this change. To make the choice and say: Yes, I want to be part of a world where we live in harmony with other people and with the earth that provides us with the things we need to live. If you make that choice and you act upon that choice - in your own personal life but also politically - we can make Europe the leading continent in changing this world. For yourselves, for your children and grandchildren. We only need to act.
Thank you very much.