Distinctions based on identity are often described as prejudices that people carry against each other. However, these distinctions are not only born in people's minds. The language of politics produces them, magnifies them and puts them into circulation again and again.
This is one of the oldest and easiest methods of politics. It is difficult to rally people around common problems. Talking about unemployment, poverty, injustice requires solutions. But it is much easier to polarize people around fears.
When the economy is doing badly, when people are worried about the future, the most practical way for some politicians is to divert attention elsewhere. At that moment, identities come on the scene.
Race.
Denomination.
Origin.
Religion.
Lifestyle.
Sometimes it's just “those who are with us” and “those who are not”.
Yet a few minutes ago they were standing side by side on the same bus, living in the same neighborhood, shopping in the same market.
Racism defines a person by blood. Sectarianism by the interpretation of faith. But the result does not change. People are placed in little boxes and labeled.
None of us choose where we are born. We do not choose which family we grow up in. Nor do we choose what language we speak or what denomination we grow up in. These are the initial conditions of life.
A person's worth is not measured by the identity they were born with, but by what they do.
But politics based on identity does the opposite. It talks about people by their labels, not by what they do.
History has repeatedly shown the price of this. When Yugoslavia broke up in the 1990s, cities were divided along ethnic lines. Neighbors turned against each other. In the Middle East, sectarian conflicts destabilized countries from Iraq to Syria.
Geographies were different.
The periods were different.
But the result was the same.
Politics based on identity may give power to some in the short term. But in the long run it weakens the unity and strength of society.
Moreover, this politics does not only turn people against each other. It also makes real problems invisible.
Unemployment becomes unspeakable.
Income inequality becomes unspeakable.
Inequality in education becomes unspeakable.
Instead of discussing the issues that make their lives difficult, people start discussing each other's identity.
One reason for this is human psychology. In times of uncertainty, people want to cling to an identity that makes them feel safe. The sense of belonging is strong. Politics can easily exploit this feeling.
So it is not only a moral issue. It is also a question of democracy.
A society is strong when the law is applied equally to everyone, when state positions are distributed on merit and when people have equal rights regardless of their identity.
This is precisely what is rising again in many parts of the world today. A politics that seeks to rally people not around a common future, but around fears.
But there is always another way.
A path that brings people together not through fear but through justice.
Because people can be different.
Can speak different languages.
They may have different beliefs.
It can come from different cultures, different life stories.
But what sustains a country is not the same origin of people.
What makes a country work is the belief that everyone has the same rights.