What drives anti-immigrant sentiment? – Ian Buruma

Ian Buruma on the drivers on anti-immigrant sentiment and the increased divide between educated metropolitan elites and the “less sophisticated, less flexible and, in every sense, less connected provincials.”

Canada does not figure in his commentary, perhaps because we have managed these tensions – which we have – better than most:

Populist rabble-rousers like to stir up such resentments by ranting about foreigners who work for a pittance or not at all. But it is the relative success of ethnic minorities and immigrants that is more upsetting to indigenous populations.

This explains the popular hostility toward Mr. Obama. Americans know that, before too long, whites will be just another minority, and people of colour will increasingly be in positions of power. At this point, all that Tea Partiers and others like them can do is declare, “We want our country back!”

Of course, this is an impossible demand. Short of unleashing massive and bloody ethnic cleansing – Bosnia, on a continental scale – Americans and others have no choice but to get used to living in increasingly diverse societies.

Likewise, economic globalization cannot be undone. But regulation can and should be improved. After all, some things are still worth protecting. There are good reasons not to leave culture, education, lifestyles or jobs completely exposed to the creative destruction of market forces.

What drives anti-immigrant sentiment? – The Globe and Mail.