PASCAL BRUCKNER
253
actions), their vengeful ruminations, and especially from the enviousness
of their Russian older brother. Why have Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and
Macedonia abandoned "Serboslavia"? Not in order to turn inward, but to
enter the Community, to breathe at last the air oflarger spaces. And what
did Europe do?
It
slammed the door in their faces in utter disdain for
populations without strategic or economic interests. Idolatry of the many,
of unification, of multinationalism is the screen behind which a less glori–
ous reality is hidden. At the moment, Western Europe is nothing but an
exclusive club of the wealthy, anxious to maintain order rather than
achieve justice and who, in confirmation of the newly freed peoples'
greatest fears, wish to return them to the bosom ofMoscow or Serbia, re–
plunging them into servitude, wanting them only to behave.
Preferable to the double dogmatism of openness and exclusion is a
degree of porousness. Because the state of the world prevents anyone so–
ciety from permanently isolating itself, porousness would establish the
proper balance between closemindedness and curiosity which engenders
creative shocks and fascinating dissonances. The only way to avoid the
double trap of chauvinistic pestilence and dissolution is perhaps through a
kind of
paradoxical patriotism
-
a patriotism that asks us not to renounce
our country for the sake of our devotion to Europe, a patriotism that re–
quires each of us both to cherish the best of the past and to consider the
most interesting foreign achievements.
It
would be, finally, a patriotism of
well-tempered modesty that could recognize the relative importance of
each country without succumbing to humiliation or devaluation.
Instead of opposing a virginal and innocent Europe to ancient coun–
tries laden with crimes, we must consider them in a relation of tension, of
unified opposition. Cosmopolitanism must counteract a narrow national
sentiment without suppressing what the latter embodies in terms of indis–
pensable local genius and values. Cosmopolitanism must be an antidote to
the complacency of familiarity. Furthermore, the only good patriotism is
a civilized one, that is, both accepted and limited. The only good cos–
mopolitanism is a grounded one that avoids dilettantism and the ease of
eclecticism. Let us forgo extreme alternatives and facile reconciliations.
Let us combine tradition with modernity, duration with transience, the
nomadic life with sedentariness. Experiencing the marvel of several edu–
cations cannot occur without conflict, suffering, and painful choices.
It
is
essential to argue for a fluid belonging, an uncertain identity. Identity is a
tendency, not an immutable essence; too strenuous an attempt to define
it, simply turns it into an obstacle that impedes with any desire to change.
Identity is not an enclosure but a point of departure that enables the
in–
vention of a sequel to the past.
In
short, it is never fully formed like a ripe
fruit that one need only pass from one generation to the next.
It
must be
