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has been haunting Europe’s political life
since 2015. In his analysis of its impact
and unforeseen consequences, Krastev
is certainly at his best and at the same
time sombrely painful – especially when
he is not afraid to use powerful language
and call the migration crisis “Europe’s
9/11”. (Anyone who has lived through
the terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Centre in New York and the Pentagon
building in Washington DC in 2001 is
also aware of the enormous change that
took place in the aftermath). In so do-
ing, Krastev suggests that just like after
September 11th 2001 America became
irreversibly different from what it was
before, the same is happening to Europe
now.
Krastev further argues that the in-
flux of people from North Africa and
the Middle East to Europe over the past
two years is a new revolution. It is not,
however, as he explains “a 20th century
revolution of the masses, but an exit-
driven revolution of individuals and
families”. This very real transfer of people
is taking place in areas that they believe
are better places to live.
Theorists of revolution, as well as
those who have experienced any rapid
change of a political system, know that
with a revolution inevitably comes a
counter-reaction. In today’s literature,
counterrevolution, which Krastev sees
to be taking place among those Euro-
peans whom he calls “anxious majori-
ties”, is often explained by references to
social rage (thymus) theory, associated
with the writings of the German phi-losopher Peter Sloterdijk. It assumes
that an inability to address anger, which
characterises modern societies, leads to
frustration and an explosion of negative
emotions. This theory is often used to
explain the popularity of extreme right-
wing groups in western states. Krastev
expands on this idea and points to a
few lesser known phenomena that help
explain current social reactions to the
ongoing migration crisis.
In the case of Central Europe, where
anti-migrant attitudes are undoubtedly
at the highest level among all Europe-
an societies, it is the lack of a positive
experience regarding the integration of
the Roma minority. Such is definitely the
case for countries like Hungary, Slova-
kia, but also Poland and Krastev’s native
Bulgaria. “The story of Roma,” he says,
“is among the most disturbing in con-
temporary Europe”.
More obviously, Krastev points to a
wide turn against the liberal elite. Among
their sins, he accurately enumerates their
inability to conduct an honest discus-
sion on migration. Not afraid to call this
behaviour hypocritical, Krastev admits
that the popular revolt against the elite
is what is now fundamentally reshaping
Europe’s political landscape. Indeed, we
can see it, to varying degrees, in many
of the states that have undergone elec-
tions since 2015; and it will most like-
ly continue in the near future. What is
more, despite the final loss of anti-estab-
lishment forces in the Netherlands and
France, we have to admit that the course
of many elections, as well as the resultEastern Café The disintegration train has left Brussels, Iwona Reichardt