The silencing power of the census

Immigration has been and will continue to be an issue in the US for years to come. That anyone would want to emigrate to a country should be a point of pride for that country's citizens. However, this is often not the case. Many citizens look down on the immigrant, especially if he is of a minority culture. Thus an unrelenting cycle of distrust is born. The citizen dislikes the immigrant because he is different. The immigrant distrusts the citizen because of his rhetoric. The immigrant enclaves with immigrants of his own culture. The citizens look down on the enclave because of their refusal to assimilate. The government steps in to do either one of two things. Either they promote multi-culturalism, enraging the nativist citizen; or, they look to create an homogenous society at the expense of the minority enclaves, earning them praise from the nativists and scorn from other governments, foreign media outlets and the all powerful Internet chatter.

But, the US is not alone in facing this difficult reality of the modern age. And for all of its faults, the US has proved themselves enviable in assimilation throughout the past few hundred years. Challenges will continue to arise in the 21st century as technology will allow people to exist in two cultures simultaneously and as more and more immigrants come from countries that bear a different skin tone than the majority of Americans. But, when considering America's responses towards immigration hitherto, the country has not devolved from its values so far as to mirror other countries.

Albania has taken the track of creating the appearance of an homogenous society at the expense of its minority citizens. First, allow me to explain that the desire to create a homogenous society is neither wrong nor undesirable. The fabric of a nation needs to be seamlessly integrated for it to grow. However, assimilation can come through the melting of ethnic groups to better reflect the actual populous of the country. Also the methodology involved in getting minority citizens and immigrants to be less insular needs to come from incentive-based strategies rather than bludgeoning or silencing ones. Albania, located in the culturally diverse Balkans has decided to use the census as a way of creating a cultural hegemony.

The most recent Albanian census has removed the category of nationality from the questionnaire to the chagrin of the minority Macedonian, Greek, Serb, Montenegrin, Vlach, Roma and Egyptian populations. This is especially contentious in the Mala Prespa region of Albania (eastern edge on the border of Macedonia). A large number of Macedonians live in this region that has numerous times been claimed by Macedonian nationalists as a part of the United Macedonia concept. If the nationalistic tensions weren't enough to light the tinderbox region of the Balkans, the Macedonians are Christian Orthodox in a Muslim country. The minority leaders in Albania are looking to take the Albanian government to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on the matter. But, as in all Balkan stories, the specter of a Gavrilo Princip type figure looms large. Word of advice, if you are an archduke do not travel anywhere near Albania until this census matter has long been settled.