Looking through that rear-view mirror, we can justify the horror of seeking to exclude other peoples and cultures from our homes. We can say “let the Swedes be Swedish,” “keep Poland Polish,” and we can make an argument for the protection of ‘individual cultures.’ But the world is changing. This is the era of people movement. No one knows exactly how and where ecological and economic pressures will drive the millions of people who are moving.
Climate change and changing economies (e.g. overpopulated cities or abandoned mining towns) require a mobile population to deal with effectively. Unfortunately our ideas of nationality, nation states, cultures, and religions create divides and borders that gravely limit this mobility. Further, our ideal of a good life is to settle down, build a family, and so on. Not to move about without roots.
