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sarahlawton 's review for:
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
by Yuval Noah Harari
There are so many things that are incredibly perceptive in this book. I‘m struck by how timely much of what Harari writes about AI feels timely, despite this book publication in 2018.
However, the one area that I took issue with was the discussion on immigration. I recognize that I am about 7 years late to the party, but I think you could take issue with the things Harari wrote in that section even knowing what we knew in 2018.
My core issue with this chapter was that he gave more credence to the anti-immigrant viewpoint than it‘s worth. Back then and since, we have seen time and again that this type of rhetoric is generally used by either inherently racist or morally bankrupt political parties that have nothing else to offer their country‘s citizens that could actually improve their lives. This of course frequently works for them as immigrants are a group without any voting rights and generally don’t have a strong constituency among the voting population. Not acknowledging this fact and presenting their arguments as holding equal water with pro-immigrant arguments only serves to fuel the anti-democratic populism that Harari clearly has much contempt for.
My other issues with this chapter include:
• Choosing the word assimilation: Given that the word has fallen out of favor in the migration discourse in favor of integration, I wonder why Harari chose to use it. Does he really favor the loss of your original culture that it implies?
• Defining assimilation: While „accepting the core norms and values of the host country“ sounds all well in good, what does this actually look like in practice? As an immigrant and freshly minted German citizen, this is something that I see very concretely every day. We can all agree that speaking the host country‘s language is important, but am I not integrated into the country if I speak English in my own home with my family? If that’s fine, would it also be fine if my native language was Turkish, Arabic, or Vietnamese? This is just one example of many - you don’t want to get me started on Abendbrot.
• Possibly the bigger oversight regarding assimilation that Harari does not want to address is that there is in many (Western) countries the assumption (conscious or not) that citizens of their country are white and other racist attitudes that could motivate animosity towards PoC immigrants. This is something that people of color experience every day, and to claim that they should think on a broader timescale than their own lives is absurd.
• Discussing the issues facing current-day African American descendants of the enslaved in a section about immigration: no, absolutely not.
However, the one area that I took issue with was the discussion on immigration. I recognize that I am about 7 years late to the party, but I think you could take issue with the things Harari wrote in that section even knowing what we knew in 2018.
My core issue with this chapter was that he gave more credence to the anti-immigrant viewpoint than it‘s worth. Back then and since, we have seen time and again that this type of rhetoric is generally used by either inherently racist or morally bankrupt political parties that have nothing else to offer their country‘s citizens that could actually improve their lives. This of course frequently works for them as immigrants are a group without any voting rights and generally don’t have a strong constituency among the voting population. Not acknowledging this fact and presenting their arguments as holding equal water with pro-immigrant arguments only serves to fuel the anti-democratic populism that Harari clearly has much contempt for.
My other issues with this chapter include:
• Choosing the word assimilation: Given that the word has fallen out of favor in the migration discourse in favor of integration, I wonder why Harari chose to use it. Does he really favor the loss of your original culture that it implies?
• Defining assimilation: While „accepting the core norms and values of the host country“ sounds all well in good, what does this actually look like in practice? As an immigrant and freshly minted German citizen, this is something that I see very concretely every day. We can all agree that speaking the host country‘s language is important, but am I not integrated into the country if I speak English in my own home with my family? If that’s fine, would it also be fine if my native language was Turkish, Arabic, or Vietnamese? This is just one example of many - you don’t want to get me started on Abendbrot.
• Possibly the bigger oversight regarding assimilation that Harari does not want to address is that there is in many (Western) countries the assumption (conscious or not) that citizens of their country are white and other racist attitudes that could motivate animosity towards PoC immigrants. This is something that people of color experience every day, and to claim that they should think on a broader timescale than their own lives is absurd.
• Discussing the issues facing current-day African American descendants of the enslaved in a section about immigration: no, absolutely not.