E U R O P E BY T H E R E S T O F T H E WO R L D
ARGENTINA: From Argentina the world looked quite small long before the idea of globalisation came about. It is pretty much made up of South America, North America and Europe, since these are the only regions that fill up the pages of our newspapers.
Last but not least, we just feel very close to Europe. We eat European food, wear European clothes, watch European films and, of course, clash with the continent every 4 years to dispute what we consider to be the only truly important global sports event – the football World Cup.
Europe (someone once said that an Argentine is an “Italian that speaks Spanish, dresses like a Frenchman and thinks he has the manners of an Englishman”). Furthermore, as globalisation continues to spread, starting to make our values look anachronistic, this feeling of closeness intensifies.
Love-hate: a dynamic relationship
For example, while the world becomes more and more competitive, Argentineans are still convinced that we should “work to live and not live to work”. In addition to this, even though we might not excel in terms of work ethics, we are all certain we should be earning more than we are.
A bunch of distant motherlands When it comes to Europe, Argentineans still see this region as a set of different countries, not at all as one political entity. Given that the grandparents of most Argentineans came from European countries, most families keep at least emotional ties with their specific country of origin (i.e. Spain, Italy, Germany, etc), not with “Europe”. Furthermore, from this part of the world, Europe still looks like a leading economic and political centre. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, being quite isolated geographically and economically, it always takes a longer time for South Americans to read world trends. Secondly, the decline of Europe´s economic and political clout has been mostly in relation to the ever-growing Asian powers of India and China. While these countries may be booming, the distance between them and South America is more than just geographical, given the lack of historical and cultural ties.
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Do not get me wrong, in the last few years Argentineans were not very happy with the stance Europe has taken on many issues. Just to give you an example, many people are surprised by the fact that a century ago this part of the world opened its doors to European immigrants while today South Americans are being sent back on the same Iberia flights in which they came on. Furthermore, while the US is seen as a more open country which comes closer to a meritocracy, the EU does look more like a protectionist club of rich countries built on a mercantilist view of distributing wealth among its members. Nevertheless, every Argentinean would still much rather drink a café noisette in a café on the Champs-Elysées rather than a Decaf-Grande-Light-Moca-Late in a Starbucks in Boston. The reason for this is that, once again, we just feel a special closeness to Europe. Even though we might not like some of its characteristics, we understand them as we consider we share a significant set of values with
Argentineans are surprised by the fact that a century ago this part of the world opened its doors to European immigrants while today South Americans are being sent back on the same Iberia flights in which they came on.
SHIFT mag > N° 7
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Rise and fall of the Old World… been there, done that! When it comes to our own role in the world, even though our prominence may be in constant decline, we suffer from delusions of grandeur in terms of our importance (remember we invaded British territory in 1982 and a large part of the population was convinced we had a pretty good chance of winning that one). Furthermore, we do not pay much attention to changes in the world order as, even if the world does change, it should adapt to us and not the other way around. Moreover, while the world becomes more and more interconnected we remain highly nationalistic and see pragmatism as a sign of lack of character - which is why every Mercosur-EU summit ends up in total failure. Of course, these idiosyncracies today look more and more anachronistic to some foreign cultures, so where could we look for understanding on our “zest for life” and “national pride” (which these
© Tea TEINILÄ / Victor FLEUROT
FROM ONE OLD FRIEND TO ANOTHER