If Europe were made a Single Country like India or Sri Lanka?
TAMIL TRIBUNE, October 2007 (ID. 2007-10-01)
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I used to imagine, what would have happened if an Asian country conquered Europe, kingdom by kingdom, combined the kingdoms into a single administration and, before departing in the mid-20th century, granted independence to the whole of Europe as a single country. What do you think will happen upon independence?
Let's say that the administrative capital is Berlin and German is declared the national and official language as it is the most common language spoken in Europe. Because German is the official language, it would be compulsory to learn German for government jobs. Will other language speakers accept it silently or revolt against it?
There will be no English or French or Spanish identity but they will all be called collectively Europeans in the same way we are called Indians or Sri Lankans. Actually English, French, Spanish and other Europeans are much similar compared to "Indians" or "Srilankans". They have similar culture, same language base and similar scripts. But even then, do you think an English would be proud to call himself European, or a French would feel happy when addressed by others as European, and not identify French as a race just because they don't have a country? Definitely not. In fact a civil war will breakout and the whole world will look at the fighters as saviours of their ethnic race and call them freedom fighters.
Unfortunately it does not happen to Tamils. I live in Malaysia. When I refused to be recognized as an Indian, people look at me in a weird way. Other races in my country think Indian is a race and Tamil is only a language. My schoolteachers refused to recognize Tamil as a race when I filled forms and documents. Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are recognized as such because they have separate countries. Although Pakistan and Bangladesh were once part of British India, we don't call Pakistanis Indians or ex-Indians. Why am I still addressed as an Indian? Why can't we just live as Tamils and not as Indians or Sri Lankans?
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