COLUMN: Can Europe be saved? And can we?

Karl Marx wrote in 1848 that “A spectre is haunting Europe.”

That spectre was, of course, communism, and its ill effects were felt in Europe for the next 150 years.

Today, another spectre is haunting Europe, and it may well have an even better chance than communism to destroy the European order that has existed since long before the time of Christ.

This new threat is uncontrolled African and Middle Eastern immigration. Most European countries since World War II have had very generous refugee and immigration policies, partly in response to their own guilty conscience about the failed era of colonialism and partly out of a continued and misplaced sense of superiority. Germany, Britain, France and other nations thought they could import millions of foreign workers along with refugees from the Third World and still maintain their cultural integrity. I assume they believed that immigrants would choose to assimilate to Western culture because of its “obvious” advantages. But that hasn’t happened.

Now before anyone accuses me of racism, Islamophobia, or any other conveniently dismissive epithet, let’s think about this seriously. Is the world better off or worse off having a Europe that is distinct from Africa? Is the world better off having an Asian culture that is apart from Middle Eastern culture? Is the world better off having a separate Hispanic/Latino culture, or would the world be better served by having Latino culture absorbed by Anglo culture?

These are not idle questions. We have reached the point as a global society where either borders disappear and we move toward an inevitable homogenous sameness from pole to pole or we consciously and conscientiously protect and defend the unique and precious variations of human experience that are made possible by borders.

A story in Monday’s New York Times detailed how modern technology is giving migrants the upper hand in crossing borders and defeating defenses intended to keep them at bay.

“In this modern migration, smartphone maps, global positioning apps, social media and WhatsApp have become essential tools,” Matthew Brunwasser wrote. “Migrants depend on them to post real-time updates about routes, arrests, border guard movements and transport, as well as places to stay and prices, all the while keeping in touch with family and friends.”

Perhaps with such tools in their hands, refugees and other immigrants cannot be stopped. Imagine if Genghis Khan had been equipped with real-time satellite imagery of the eastern outposts of Europe when his Mongolian horsemen rode into Georgia, Russia and Bulgaria. Kiss it goodbye, along with the rest of Europe.

Yes, the world’s history has been a succession of migrations and conquests, and you can’t make everything neat and tidy by just asking everyone to honor borders, but if culture matters, if civilization matters, then defending civilization and culture also have to matter.

That’s why Hungary is building a 13-foot fence on its border with Serbia. It’s not that Hungary doesn’t like Serbia. It’s that Hungary cannot absorb any more illegal immigrants on top of the 90,000 that have flooded into the country so far this year. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban echoed the words of Donald Trump, who said recently, “Either you have a country or you don’t.”

“For us today, Europe is at stake — the survival, disappearance or, more precisely, the transformation beyond recognition of the European citizen’s lifestyle, European values and the European nations,” Orban said last month.

“The question now is not only what kind of Europe we Hungarians would like to live in. Rather, will all that we now call Europe exist at all?”

Organ aptly said, “We would like for Europe to keep belonging to the Europeans. We want to preserve the Hungarian Hungary.”

This is scary stuff for anyone who has studied history, and it’s why a large portion of the American public has gravitated to the message of Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

America is at risk — just as Europe is at risk — of ceasing to exist. The people know it. Now it is just a matter of whether they can get the attention of their leaders, the national media, the academics and the bureaucrats in time to turn back the tide of people who will eventually overwhelm our customs and culture just as they have done our borders. Europe will fall first, but America is not far behind.

Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake. If you don’t like his opinion, stop by the office and he will gladly refund your two cents. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com