In a first post, I would like to share with you, Dear Reader, my first experience in Brussels - where I got the fantastic opportunity to meet other bloggers interested in European elections. All my posts will be related to the connections between these elections and what some may qualify “a European identity”.
I must mention at that point that I happen to be a brunette with the following attributes: French birth place, black eyes, Moroccan grand parents, Islamic education and culture, left political affiliation, London living place and a complex - but openly and happily recognized - identity.
This apparent obviousness was not easy to accept for two of my blogging colleagues though. The point is they did not find I really “looked European”. According to one of them, it even seems I was… Persian! Hopefully, no one took any measures of my skull to make sure of it.
Living with their time, my blogging fellows actually used the word “Iranian” but I so much like Montesquieu, in spite of his eighteenth-century orientalist bias that I would like to pay a modest tribute to the father of The Spirit of Laws by using the “Persian” outdated word.
Talking with these two thinkers - whose lights were probably switched off - sounded quite surreal. I still cannot tell you, Dear Reader, if it was the Belgian air - native land of Magritte and Scutenaire - or mere common prejudice that affected our conversation.
The man asked me first where I was originally coming from. I replied: “ France ”. This is true, Dear Reader, please do not alert any of your borders police! I am a French national, born in France . French is my first language and is affecting my accent when I speak English - or even Arabic. I have a French ID card. I used to love camembert and croissants before I went vegan - that what often happens when a French vegetarian moves to London , but this is another story.
Anyway revenons à nos moutons - mais pas ceux égorgés dans les baignoires - as we say in French. So, this man kept looking at me as if something was going wrong, and eventually dared asking the same question again - about my parents, this time. Again, I replied “French” - which is true: both of them actually are. The guy was not satisfied though and instead of getting another Kir and relax, he kept on questioning me about my really exciting genealogy. At least, exciting for him. I felt embarrassed because no one among my friends around was asked the same kind of persistent questions. What the hell was he looking for?
So I said: “my grand-parents are Moroccan”.
He seemed relieved. Mamie (Mamie means Grandma in French), Gede (Gede means Granddad in Arabic): you really saved my life!
Maybe, my hair was too black or my eyes were too dark. How can she be French - European?
A girl who shared the same inquisitive attitude finally added the magic sentence: “The way you look… I thought you were Iranian!”
Mmmm. Right. Please pronounce it, even mentally, with a long punk Rrrrr, only as Johnny Rotten - or Arno, the Belgian singer I am in love with - could actually say it. Full of joyous and desperate consciousness!
One objective reason that may explain this pretty stupid judgment though is that among the Thinkers, no one was Black or Asian. I simply refuse to use here (and any other place) the appalling expression “people of colour” - because it makes it sound like White is not actually a colour, but a standard - which as a consequence does not even need to be named.
This story raises a big and important question: how do you actually define someone as a European? By the way s-he looks? The religion s-he practices - or does not practice? His or her race?
Dear Reader, a Persian girl needs your European lights!
(36 votes, average: 3.56 out of 5)
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People have very different attitudes towards ethnicity. The largest difference probably exists between city people and people in the countryside. But there are also large differences between countries.
In France the official attitude towards ethnicity is characterised by the secularism of French society, and the leading image of indivisible state defined mainly by ideals. France has an approach towards minorities that mainly looks at the individual, and accords the individual the same rights and obligations of every French national.
The Netherlands have looked at ethnic minorities mainly as communities and have tried to strengthen them through setting up dedicated organisations. This flows out of a history in which the separation of different religious and political communities played a large role. Thus the Dutch approach has been characterised by communautarisme, in the French sense of the word. Attitudes are consequently different.
Then there are states in Europe that are much more ethnically homogeneous and where ethnicity and nationality are historically much more connected.
On the European level, I think Europe has to be defined by ideals. You are a citizen of the European Union and so you are as European as any of us.
I’m from Estonia. Estonia is a nation state where the title nation makes up just under 70% of the population. I’m ethnically half Russian, half Jewish, but not the least bit Estonian. I’m not part of Estonia’s Russian community, because those are the Soviet immigrants, and my family lived in Estonia before WWII. I’ve been singled out for being Jewish, but I’m not a Zionist. Oh, and Israelis never realize I have any Jewish blood unless I explicitly tell them (but Russians do, because I have a speech flaw that is characteristic of East-European Jews, but isn’t obvious in English).
Talking to foreigners, I just say I’m Estonian, to save everyone a lot of time. But Agnija, who’s Latvian, couldn’t believe it, because my personality seems so different from most Estonian men. I’m a patriot of Estonia and spend a lot more effort promoting all of my country’s achievements than most Estonians, who on the whole tend to be misanthropic and disgusted with themselves.
One of the guys who stayed at the same hotel as me was Czech, but I originally took him to be Bulgarian - because my company has an office in Bulgaria and I know that Bulgarians look distinctive to me, different from both North Europeans and Mediterraneans.
My point being: You can be white and still be very much confused about your national identity.
Hey there! Nice to be spotted as the thinkers whose lights died out
Moving on, apart from the fact I totally agree with Nanne’s comment, and with the fact that we have all been accustomed to different views and attitudes towards ethnicity, and we should take them as such, unless they are openly detrimental to our fellows, let me just add a couple of comments.
Most European citizens I’ve met who do not have, strictly speaking, a Caucausian background, were damn proud of asserting their identity. One cannot hide (or attempt at doing that) his/ her ethnic identity, if that identity shows in basic physical features (eye colour, hair colour, skin complexion); even if it does not, identity should be simply assumed. Assuming it, with all the heritage that comes (or not) along should simply come as natural.
Please accept the fact I was not trying to diminish your Frenchness in any way. The people of Europe are - most of them - a hugely diverse population of ethnically mixed backgrounds (even if that shows in our looks or not) and that’s a source of pride, not of misfortune. Because it is where Europe’s richness derives from. Also, as allegedly educated European citizens we should be able to understand other people’s customary attitudes towards identity, and please accept my apologies for failing to do so, although I did learn in school and from discussions with French citizens, the French attitude towards citizenship and ethnicity.
Last but not least, I wholeheartedly recommend you a very interesting book on this topic. It’s Obama’s first book - “Dreams from my father”. His personal struggle on understanding identity and his reflections on how American society treats it are magnificent.
To conclude, I can only give yet another personal example (although I am generally against personalizing things too much), I have oftentimes been mistaken during my travels with a German or a Russian (because I have a lighter skin complexion and hair colour than most Romanians), and whenever I tell my family name (Murafa) - to Romanians or to non-Romanians - they mistake me for an Arab or a Turk. In the meantime, I found out it is actually a Ukrainian Jewish name and I like the fact this gives me a special kind of identity. But it’s simply a matter of personal taste.
And with the Persian idea… I forgot to explain that… You reminded me of a good friend of mine, who’s British (both her and her parents), but her grandparents were born in Iran. I can show you pictures of her, since the resemblance is quite striking
Right now she is polishing her Farsi, with the intention of going back to Iran and doing some development work there.
Hey Corina,
Lights switch off, lights switch on, that’s what makes lights beautiful… If they were shining forever, they would be useless in some way.
Anyway, thank you all for replying. Each response took a special angle and was very interesting to read. I really enjoyed Andrei’s comment. Nanne and Corina helped me as well to think more deeply about the issue.
I should make a precision though: I am not criticizing anybody as a person. I only wanted to point out what some questions or remarks could reveal (and sometimes despite the asker’s willing).
Let me tell you, Corina, you’re not the first (and certainly not the last) one to be surprised that I am French-European. But this surprise actually reveals that for some people, you need to look a certain way to be considered fully European.
And your last post is in some way confirming that.
I am not worried at all about my Frenchness, Europeaness, etc. I never worry about any word finishing with “-ness” actually.
I think politics is all about building something which has nothing to do with essences.
But we have to keep in mind that some people are constantly asked to justify their identity, even when they have a valid ID card, the right to vote (when they’ve got it), etc.
You mentioned Obama. I read his books. How could I avoid to do such a thing?!
But while I was reading, I kept myself asking two simple questions: Would a European country elect a Black president?
And how many Black MEPs do we actually have?
Hi,
The best post so far - and I think I’ve gone through them all. Excellent writing, so precise sense of humor. Very French, very European
Cheers.
Louis
Great topic, great style, great ideas.
To sum up: great.
It is wonderful to read posts the author really puts heart into.
Najate!
Great post! Loved reading it!
I can understand your feelings, and why you were upset.
When people ask me where I come from, I always tell them I’m not from German the Netherlands or Scandinavia, because that is often their first guess. I then say ‘I’m from Luxembourg’ and immediately start explaining what and where this is. This happens to me all the time, never has anyone guessed right.
Explaining my origins still makes me wonder about nationality and identity a lot, and I still haven’t figured out what I feel like.
Identity is a very complex thing (I know you know this), and one’s nationality makes the whole ‘finding oneself’ only worse. Therefore nationality is, to me, a pretty useless concept in itself. But again, I say that as a citizen of a tiny tiny country no one knows about. Maybe people from bigger countries see this differently.
I can understand you have been upset by the questions you were asked, and I find it deplorable to see how people still think in colours/schemes/nationalities so much.
But maybe that blogger was just curious, and didn’t notice how he was trying to place you into categories.
Again, great post!
Hi my dear EU blogger,
I’m already in the mood for being your fan for the reasons that your first Persian Letters blog is witty and makes me also laugh.
The title itself you choose is a very good introduction to philosophical questioning about identity in Europe.
The ignorance or narrow spirit of some of your blogger colleagues is expressed and related in a funny but not less poignant situation about the mental wall one could created in the process of thinking, especially when only using one’s eyes on appearance instead of one’s eyes on the spirit of the person we have in front of our own eyes.
Through time, history and cultural events are related by writers, thinkers of all kind. And still we, with our so little span of life on Earth, did not even take into account their teaching through their writings, their paintings, their poems, and so on. It seems that all the past centuries of efforts of previous Enlightenment thinkers are turned into the remains of the day, as if the remains of marketing and propaganda are more decision making about the way we think.
If thinking is a mental process, then any human being has this ability. Now the question is how far you can open your mind and transcend your own fear, your own biased way of thinking. Does the process of thinking have to stop when you go abroad ? As one of my favorite rock band sings : “The only colour I know is the colour of my mind” !
“What are you afraid of” - Clawfinger - “Use Your Brain”
” [...] So first we let them in and then you want to throw them out
Well I’d really like to know what all this shit is about
Is it you are afraid of what’s new
Are you afraid of everyone that dœsn’t look like you
it’s just a colour and I’m colour blind
The only colour I know is the colour of my mind
There’s only one race and that’s the human race
and every human being’s got the right to feel safe
So stop this insanity and take a look around
Get a hold of yourself and get your feet on the ground
Stop playing around this shit has got to cease
In the name of understanding, in the name of peace [...] ”
Take care,
Walking Stranger from France
Very easy answer - by the way they feel and think… If Aussie, living only 2 years in Europe, is feeling himself as European, I have no rights to tell that he is not - maybe he is more European than somebody who is living here all his/her life and hating this place!
Andrei - agreed, you are not a typical Estonian
But I don’t think that I’m a typical Latvian either…
P.S. Wondering, what’s wrong with Iranians? :S
Najate, what a fantastic post.
Anything that I could say on it has already been said. I have unfortunately had similar experiences, but not sure I could sum them up as well as your witty and insightful reflections.
Hi!
i just wanted to tell you that it is a very great post. u had found the words to tell the similar experiences i have been living (yes!!! i still live this kind of remarks!). Like you, i am “french birth place”, “islamic education and culture”, parents too from Morocco, but One hundred per cent French, i think French, n proud of it. In Morocco, i am treated as a total foreigner, n feel as such to say the truth as i don t speak arabic at all, n i don t think the way they do there!! The thing is i look like an Indian (i like it! LOL), nothing to do with the North African arab style! Dark skinned, every one when i say i am French just can ‘ t believe it, or some more perfidious will ask u what is my origins and whole genealogy, n then after getting the answer will make you a gesture of the head meaning” ah ok, i better understand now, i was sure of it…”! Anyway, i just wanted to point at this problem which happened to me so many times, n i am far to be the only one! the thing is generally it is people who seem to hv some culture n high-standing backgrounds who have this stupid attitude to you (in general!)… i really don t understand, but i don t know why it hurts me though. i am vexed, i would rather say… I have found all the posts interested, especially the one by Andrei Tuch. but the thing, Andrei, is that a white person won ‘t have to justify oneself as much as a non-white person who is European!!! I have a friend of mine who is black, n Swedish and he can tell you a lot about it…
I stop here; Just want to congratulate you, “Persian girl”, really great post of yours, n really people should think twice about it…
Hi Dear,
It has been a great moment to read about your ideas –I’ve been blown out by the reaction of the friends of Najate I’ve to say. Thank you Najate for your sharing and involvment wich doesn’t only sound personal but also philosophical, so important to stay both grounded and open-minded.
What I liked about your discussion is the underneath question that I see there: Why shall we NEED to be or to NOT be European? Your story, Najate, reveals for me that the question of racism is still there, expanding and hiding under a good commun moral and discret concept.
What I see in all the posts here, it is that, genuingly speaking, we completely forget the individuals when we want to speak about what is to be a part of a concept “-ness”. It seems to be a paradoxe –insense?- in talking about “commun identity”.
It sounds for me like Berkley talking about the “idea” of an apple. He realizes how poor is the concept of apple when we try to take away which is not the “ideal” apple. Actually, is there any ideal apple? Apple –or the europeanness, I dare the similarity!!- should be round, red, from a tree called appletree (our cultural heritance?). But in fact, we realize –Berkley as well- that the apple in my garden couldn’t be called apple if it doesn’t fit to the “ideal” definition, because this apple is not exactly red nor rond, etc. So THE apple as a community of apples does not exist out of the concept, or out of a pragmatical tool for communication, but not as an specific identity.
So are we, human beings, just tools for communication? Right now I am actually seeing quite well (the TV’s on!) that we are tools for any kind of comercial and business compagnies! But what I feel and what I understand from those posts, it’s that is really violent for our essence to be squeezed and almost inside-deleted by an european concept wich brings more mess in our mind than light or freedom.
Well, I wonder also that: Can my believes be european, my choises, my feeling of love, my intellectuel desires?
Yes it can, somehow, if we normally ‘react’, make choices, feel, desire according to our cultural background -from where and when we’re born. I agree, somehow.
But do we really want this? Do we really want to blindly follow an kind of big-nationalism? That would be forget that our identity is created by QUESTIONING our dogmatic and movable identity –the inside! or believes and statements.
We are so much complex than that. And so different every day.
Do we really think that we can be big apples untasty rejecting some other fruits (a kind of “formal” segregation), or do we want to create a rewarding community –as we say now ‘a bio-being-diversity’?
From a spiritual point of view, we are there, again and again, on the way to segregate, separate, take away, protect something from some others. Separation is the first step of unsatisfaction, and so the first step towards any kind of conquest, war, illness, deaseses.
My essence cannot be European, Norvegien or French. We are human beings, and more (that sounds very hippylike!). What I do or speak can be identify, in a way, as french or whatever you want, but not who I am.
And what I look like is clearly the point that I should never consider to make any statement about moral or politic appartenance. Even if I can wear the european flag on my front, I would never be european by itself, cause I am more, I CANNOT look like who I am.
We are… that my metaphysic question… We are who? It takes lifetimes to have a look on it.
I’m just remembering this nice sentence of Hegel saying “What makes humanity superior to the animals is the awerness to be animal… And because he knows he is animal, he stops to be it”
Let’s stop to be European in order to expand our feeling of appartenance. The day we’ll say that Najate or anybody is a part of a whole, maybe we will start to endeep what she really is (we are) inside, and not how we look like according to external empty -dangerous?- concepts.
It is clearly not because we expand the concept of the Frenchness to the Europeaness one, that we take away the stupidity of -subconscious- segregation and racism. We just move them away. It is a shame, but it is not a surprise, isn’t it? :p
Big kisses Najate, and thanks to all of you.
Fred from Norway
bonjour et salut madame adgat zouggari commant va vous , soi je ma pelle zouggari soriya et j24 et suis algériennes derigienne et moi je peu vous contact nadjat zouggari tu si même le nom famille zouggar stp
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