Back to the Middle Ages

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Clarissa

July 3, 2014

The nation-state is a modern invention, of course. However, it has developed in the direction of taking us back to the Medieval era, says scholar Ricard Zapata Barrero*.

Modernity has liberated us, to an enormous extent, from having our lives defined and circumscribed by the circumstances of our birth. For today’s immigrant, however, birthright becomes more important than anything else. Being (or not) born in a certain place defines whether you have rights or get a possibility to develop a public or social identity. It’s all about birth. And in some places (like Quebec), it’s all about your parents’ birth. Citizens will be deprived of rights because their parents chanced to be born someplace else.

* Zapata Barrero, Ricard. “Bases para interpretar la multiculturalidad en España.” Inmigración: un desafío para España. Coord. Rafael del Águila. Madrid: Pablo Iglesias, 2005. 193-246.

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2 responses to “Back to the Middle Ages”

musteryou

July 4, 2014

Certainly so, but I think in mainstream Western society, unlike in South America, for instance, you can be continually blacklisted on the basis of political correctness.

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David Bellamy

July 4, 2014

We are moving toward feudalism in many ways. Soon it may be impossible for most of us to survive without swearing fealty to someone very wealthy and powerful.

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