Do we hide behind identity politics? | Slavoj Žižek & Lowkey heated exchange

Slavoj Žižek and Lowkey clash over the paradox of identity politics.
This excerpt is from Liberty and the Left featuring Ella Whelan, Slavoj Žižek and Lowkey. Watch the full debate at iai.tv/video/liberty-and-the-...
#SlavojZizekTheLeft #LowkeyInfluentialRapper #DangerOfIdentityPolitics
Slavoj Žižek is a globally renowned philosopher and cultural critic. He challenges many of the founding assumptions of today’s left-liberal academy, including the elevation of difference or otherness to ends in themselves, the reading of the Western Enlightenment as implicitly totalitarian, and the pervasive skepticism towards any context-transcendent notions of truth or the good. His latest book, Heaven in Disorder, was released in 2021.
Lowkey is a UK-based rapper and political activist, his loyal following as impressed by his lyrical stylings as his political insights. He combines his music with his activism, and took time out from his career in hip-hop to do a Masters in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS. He has written for the Guardian and been interviewed in numerous media outlets; his Oxford Union debate speech has been watched half a million times.
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[@TheInstituteOfArtAndIdeas]

Can democracies survive identity politics? What do you think? To watch the full debate visit iai.tv/video/liberty-and-the-left?KZbin&+comment

[@pauldaniels2179]

Why cant you just play the debate without trying to make money from it. Very misleading

[@jhlfsc]

It's so cliche, but truly ALL politics are "identity politics".

[@zachjones6944]

Identity politics only works when people subscribe to one or more identities. There are always those who do not identify with one ethnic group.

[@comicalaliensociety]

Absolutely read the title as “damn… this exchange is lowkey heated!”

[@el6178]

Slavoj described a situation. He did not created it and he doesn't like it. Europe votes for extreme right parties these days. This might be a small indication that these cultural and economic factors that Slavoj refers to, really exist.

[@aluisious]

The USA and Canada also vote for extreme right wing parties these days. The difference between the Democrats and Republicans is whether the working poor should be able to control how much more livestock they produce. The Canadians have public health care and are "debating" whether or not to sell it to the rich at a discount in order to make the livestock afraid of getting sick if it stops working. Can you imagine what would happen if people who have to work for a living voted in their own interests?

[@el6178]

@@aluisious It's the exact same situation in Europe. The pace is faster for Ireland and UK but carefully scheduled for all the EU members.

[@bushwacka5187]

@@aluisious Who's debating this in Canada? I'm a quebecer and i've never heard anyone debate this in the public sphere, except for a small minority of extreme right-wingers who want to privatize everything.

[@misterdeluxia5948]

@@aluisious im sorry but canada is not voting extrene right wing, if anything the "rise" of the right in NA is a direct response to the left and how vicious it has been for the last couple of years. i dont know what "extrene right" means anymore because it seems like its anything but the "extreme left.

[@Cactus_hug]

@@aluisious 😂 Justin Trudeau isn’t “far right” 😂😂😂🤡

[@greenmountainfarms7515]

As an immigrant, I fully support Zizek. This rhetoric from the left is misleading.

[@aluisious]

Left, right...they're all neoliberals protecting the profits of people who think they're better than you because they're willing to take the bread out of your mouth.

[@Cactus_hug]

Why did you leave your country? Don’t you want to fix it?

[@ozgurfilm]

@@Cactus_hug maybe because you never wanted to fix your countries involvement (economic, political and military) with his country? (Assuming you are from west). also human spices were always immigrant, and migration never stopped.

[@ozgurfilm]

It was harsh, we can’t explain with one thing but not completely wrong though, see C.L’ s question 😞

[@Sjoerd1993]

@@Cactus_hug Bold assumption that an immigrant by default thinks their home country is broken. I'm an immigrant and there's nothing wrong with my home country, standard of living is relatively similar. It's just that sometimes life just gets in the way.

[@IWGIWGIWG]

Can you please put up the full video on KZbin? The embedded player on your website is terrible.

[@jhlfsc]

As the product of Italian immigrants in the US, I can tell you that many of us have zero desire to "assimilate" so I can only imagine what the sentiments are from some immigrants from non western countries. The point being missed is that it is okay and completely possible to live peacefully among people who have not chosen to embrace your brand of personal culture as their own.

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

How is it completely possible when those cultural differences inevitably manifest into state policies?

[@L333gok]

It’s not when we live in a democracy wherein they have voting rights, and especially not when their brand of personal cultural is illiberal. Justifying letting in people who by large want to outlaw homosexuality is by no means different from excusing natives who wish to implement such laws.

[@ricardoguanipa8275]

Okay but which Third world country did Slovenia Colonized?

[@bearclaw007]

To Zizek's question about to which extent the EU countries are responsible for the refugee situation (moving beyong Sykes-Picot...), the US is much more in the short-term. Bush's invasion of Iraq opened Pandora's box.

[@MrHawkMan777]

I'd agree with you to a certain extent, but I think the way the middle East was set up going into 20th century was always leading to instability. Not just because of Sykes Picot but also because the shift that was taking place under the Ottoman empire. The Ottoman empire held back the middle East for centuries by banning the printing press and trying to maintain a early modern administration into the modern age. However the Ottomans before WW1 realized they had to change to survive and so tried to implement reforms which was upsetting the balance of power in the region, much like Tsarist Russia before the Revolution. It's why the Arabs revolted but if they Hussein-Macmanhon treaty had been obliged, I don't think anything really would have changed. It was just have gone into warlordism just like it has today. But in a more short term respect, the Iraq war did kick off the current refugee crisis but I think the instability behind ithas deeper roots.

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

European countries participated fully in that invasion.

[@hansfrankfurter2903]

This has more recent roots, with Libya, Syria and the mess the west made in there. Tbh, there's literally almost nothing in the world today that takes place, without the west taking some large chunk of responsibility for. You rule the world, then you are responsible for it. Its as simple as that!

[@L333gok]

⁠@@MrHawkMan777 Why should Slovenians or us Poles pay for the past actions of countries like France and Britain? Who decides that all Europeans should be treated as one race? Slavs haven’t caused this yet we are expected to pay and take on part of the debt for the Western nations who incited this. And within the Western nations who committed such acts, why should the people pay for their ancestors’ actions? And why should the ordinary people pay for the government’s actions anyway?

[@rikavela2]

I'm fuc..g loving this! Gj LK

[@tomreddil5373]

I am very much with Lowkey on this topic, you can't cry identity politics as right winger and then ignore the need for aging western societies of people who are just that, you can't get angels nor demons, people will always be different, even in the same family, as proven by modern models of industry management, learning to cooperate is the key between these workers to achieve your production goals, not who these people are ,so i guess that should be the focus

[@torquemaddertorquemadder2080]

If someone could grab the Z bits from the full vid, (edit out the boomer-lib filler) and re-upload it somewhere, I'm sure we would all appreciate it.

[@ghazalaazam395]

lowkey’s response 👌👌👌👌

[@Cellardoor.]

This man just ate Lowkey alive. Daym.

[@Rnankn]

“No redistribution without recognition” sums the class or identity debate in the words of Nancy Fraser.

[@aluisious]

I'm not familiar with what that means?

[@fischerking86]

aluisious i think it means literally “we’re not sharing this bread with you till you recognize that theres cultural differences to be acknowledged and debated.” Cant go through the first without fixing the second... 🏛

[@bushwacka5187]

@@fischerking86 It seems to be the contrary if wiki is to be trusted here : "Fraser argues that many social justice movements in the 1960s and 1970s argued for recognition on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, or ethnicity, and that the focus on correcting misrecognition eclipsed the importance of challenging the persistent problems of maldistribution.[9] In other words, Fraser asserts that too much of a focus on identity politics diverts attention from the deleterious effects of neoliberal capitalism and the growing wealth inequality that characterizes many societies."

[@fischerking86]

@@bushwacka5187 Agreed.

[@spongebobsquarepants7388]

One of my favourite philosophers v. One of my favourite rappers.

[@Ranayal]

Lowkey properly called him out, Žižek had nothing in response.

[@L333gok]

@@Ranayal Did you not listen to his response? He said that his assumption that most immigrants from 3rd world countries want to integrant is incorrect and unfounded. And it’s not even like the guy had an intellectual point to respond to anyway, he essentially just stated “by criticising the idea of letting in refugees en masse, you’re disrespecting people who died in the Mediterranean.” That’s not a fair argument, it’s an attempt to paint Zhizhek as ‘evil’ such that people dismiss his arguments within grounds.

[@leftmit9217]

I want to commission a painting called “Zizek in Bagdad”. Don’t worry, the h is silent.

[@AKAndoh]

Do it.

[@rusroyce]

Zizek really doesnt say anything, anything at all

[@EvilZ2009]

Loved the subject being debated however it felt a bit poor as an argument to speak about Slovakia's immigration as if Mr Zizek was directly responsible.... I mean the argument would of been better suited if speaking to the political party representative on the radicalization of Slovakia and so on.... I felt it was a poor start to an interesting discussion

[@hansfrankfurter2903]

Ppl vote on Slovenia no? Isn't it a "democracy" ? Plus the debate was about "European values" vis a vis the question of immigration. So it was directly relevant to how these "values" manifest in practice, to point out what's going on in Zizek's country.

[@MrX-yr6py]

We? whos that

[@aellaaskew4263]

Why charge for information that should be openly considered for the betterment of humanity...oh wait ... this is about profit- not humanity.

[@chancesofrain6480]

Its not heated at all :)

[@zachjones6944]

This is a debate between humanist ideals and practicality.

[@L333gok]

👍🏽

[@vabriga1]

I do not want to get involved in a broad debate regarding the subject, but just to state an example of "cultural differences" (and lack of thankfulness, I would add). In Germany, where I live, is very common, that occupants of appartments in a building (owners ir renters), clean common spaces (staircases, utility rooms,...). They take turns weekly (famous "Kehrwoche" :) ). Municipalities have placed many refugees in their appartments. In many cases refugees refused to clean common spaces.

[@YoungSiamun]

The lack of thankfulness you project on these perceived cultural differences that seem to be pretty hard to gage could in fact be caused by differing factors that have no roots in the immigrants cultural heritage but in the classes and groupings they have been placed in within their new nation.

[@hansfrankfurter2903]

I don't think its ungratefulness, its just not culturally common to clean public spaces in many countries.

[@garymct6860]

LOWKEY FR HOM

[@Juan-tb2ww]

Mecca should take in Ukrainian refugees

[@rederickfroders1978]

Very interesting. I do have to disagree on the identity politics regarding to immigrants though. Thats culture politics and xenophobia where identity politics is a market thing, in my personal opinion. Placing peoples personal identities on a pedestal as a guise for inclusivity, yet actually just making alot of money off of new customers. You saw this when instead of normal shampoo, suddenly there was shampoo for women and shampoo for men. I'm not attempting to downplay the mistreatment immigrants and refugees are facing, but I do think that the two things are apart from one another. But I would agree that both are just as divisive to the population. Racism/xenophobia and identity politics are different but definitely mix. Zizek is right in my opinion

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

Controlling your borders is not xenophobia. That's as silly as saying not letting strangers live in your house is misanthropy.

[@LeftWinger9]

The right love right wing identity politics then accuse others of identity politics

[@PadraigTomas]

The left-wing's identity politics are creating right-wing identity politics. Mass immigration is the fertile ground within which a rebirth of a kind of politics which was thought to be dead has occurred. Before waving your finger at your opponents, seek to understand why they hold the opinions they do. The people you call hypocrites view their identitarian opponents as an existential threat. Your adhominen retort will achieve nothing.

[@NegOedipal]

just rattling off statistics like it's a coherent argument is so obnoxious

[@john.premose]

I disagree actually. I’d say the opposite. Just making arguments without statistics is nothing but rubbish. I’m tired of arguments. We need to base things on reality and evidence

[@sameerdodger]

@@john.premose bullshit. statistics can be portrayed in a way that bolsters any argument. statistics can't help you decide a choice to make.

[@john.premose]

@@sameerdodger no. Without evidence there is no basis for any conclusion. This is not the 17th century, we have real world information now. We don’t have to just rationalize what things are. It’s just that you guys are lazy- it’s easier to sit and rationalize than to study the evidence. And also when you rationalize you can come to any conclusion you want because it’s completely driven by your own mental inclination

[@TravelingPhilosopher]

​@@sameerdodgerIn academia, statistics are a powerful tool when used appropriately, but they are not infallible. They should be employed alongside critical thinking, rigorous methodology, and transparency to ensure their reliability in arguments.

[@andrevillela4431]

phil collins really expanded his craft

[@kardolapfuat]

Your logo has a kerning error and it hurts eyes.

[@xZaibx]

Praise zizek. That is all

[@finnsoeben694]

Long live lowkey!

[@edzehoo]

At the rate his hands were moving, I'd have thought Lowkey was Italian

[@john.premose]

Slovenia has been under Italian influence for centuries, they are very contiguous cultures

[@Ranayal]

Arabs move hands as much if not more than Italians

[@ince55ant]

the true bane of left unity is race a product of inequality or is inequality a product of racism? can you create an equitable society while racism exists? is class dependant on racial thinking to create "others" who do the dirty work. Maybe if we moved to more economically fair society racism would just cease to be due to having no application. who knows. starting to think even arguing about it is bad. which guess puts me in zizek's camp... we should just be happy there are comrads whom believe the counter argument and move on with changing the physical world to the greater good. be that through destroying race as a concept or by removing its function by...removing the new feudal lords

[@gurbaazsingh9353]

I think that line of thinking presumes that all racialized people are poor and marginalized... which is not true. There are billioniares all over the globe with all kinds of skin tones, but regardless of thier billionaire status have faced varing degrees of racism in the west. That being said I believe race is a category created to produce inequality.

[@ofbs]

I love Žižek, he is a great man and human being but I do not think he is a good cut for live debates.

[@jimstiles26287]

I am sure he would be better in his native language.

[@ofbs]

@@jimstiles26287 Sure, language could help but it is not just that. What I meant is that people who are good in live debates would need on many occasions to be able to pretend, manipulate the opponent, manipulate the audience, and the most important is going against themselves, guts, beliefs, and principles to prove their points and to win the debate. Žižek is a true philosopher and a very transparent one in the sense that he could reflect the inner debate and struggle lively to the people around him who have a limited time for the debate where he is spoused to make an argument for a side which he is not necessarily or mostly agree.

[@MrJustSomeGuy87]

@@ofbs what did you think of the Zizek-Peterson debate? He seemed to do quite well in that. Maybe he needs an audience to feed off, and that is why he comes across flat here.

[@ofbs]

​@@MrJustSomeGuy87 thanks a lot for letting me know about this debate I just started watching right now and OMG the audience are driving him crazy lol. I will come back after watching that to answer your question.thanks again.

[@tree6835]

@@ofbs most people might dislike Zizek for his lack of presentableness (whether it be his ideas or his appearance) but we more contemplative folk catch on to Zizek's points, and maybe that's not so bad

[@thatsmyname481]

Absolute sigma move to pose with empty bookshelves behind him

[@kailastrebuchet4970]

I wanted more phil collins....

[@Cyberphunkisms]

lowkey's critique is uninformed. im gonna make a video responding to all this.

[@JB-xn4sf]

What part?

[@Cyberphunkisms]

@@JB-xn4sf my video is up

[@TheMagicJIZZ]

Well we all know second generation immigrants children do

[@tree6835]

what do they do?

[@georgesos]

Yes,better than "local" kids who start with many advantages and end up horrible people, whether in "business " or criminals. 35000 deaths .for what? Protecting the "European union "? The "values"? Hypocrisy is at an all time high.

[@jonathansturm4163]

@@tree6835 Supposedly adopt the culture of the country their parents immigrated to. Some do and some don’t. My family migrated from the UK to Australia in the 1960s as did many Europeans: Greeks, Italians, Ukrainians, Poles… The offspring of these migrants largely adopted the culture of their new home while enriching it with some aspects of their birth culture. Most notably in regard to food. More recently migrants have sought to impose their culture on ours, aided and abetted by politicians. This has led to considerable tension as was predicted by the likes of Geoffrey Blainey.

[@vitorshaolin]

@@jonathansturm4163 you think "imposing their own culture" is uniquely a non Western thing. Bro what is the most popular language on planet, English. You think the popularity of English is a coincidence?!

[@vvvv4651]

Lowkey Influencial Rapper 😂😂

[@bushwacka5187]

🤣🤣

[@CC3GROUNDZERO]

Why does that weird guy take such an awkward hostile tone with Zizek? Is he intellectually insecure?

[@Anabsurdsuggestion]

Zizek is bang on. Low-key is falling into the trap of universalism, whereas the argument is more interesting, and not anti refugee at all. It’s just that ‘integration’ needs unpacking, which Zizek does on many occasions when he speaks.

[@trinigamer595]

Follow me or kaia or the patriarchs for jannah,easy?

[@murtadha96]

Right... if Zizek doesn't think that this the case then maybe we could have seen some policy somewhere which makes the decision of acceptance or refusal based on these cultural tropes, largely based on identity politics. But why don't we see that? Why don't we see some sort of integration exam that you need to pass and which plays a role in decision making process for asylum, instead of flat out rejections? And finally, how come underage children are rejected based on "cultural incompatibility"? Zizek keeps rehashing the same overused arguments he's been saying for years now, nothing new and nothing interesting.

[@AbdullahMikalRodriguez]

Because the politically correct types on the left call "integration exams" xenophobic and bigoted... their is no compromising with this ideology

[@durfdurffigan8680]

The man literally said they should be allowed to take asylum. That’s not the point

[@kanadeoda995]

Maybe he repeated the same points over the years because those issues were never resolved? He was always appealing for attention to the root of the problem, EU & US capitalist exploitations that ultimately caused these political and military turmoil in the Middle East. He clearly supported the issuance of asylum, just that it should not be treated as the main issue. Yet most liberals are too eager to fulfill their shallow sense of justice to even understand that.

[@wandilemtambo9962]

You're missing the point, the overall argument as to whether Europe should let immigrants in or not is ultimately a misguided one. Žižek implores that the Left look to the much larger global capitalist problem of why so many of these immigrants are moving from their homes and in what way is Europe responsible. Žižek is a universalist and thus rejects identity politics for the reason that it reduces material politics to a cultural talking points. Lowkey made some good points, in the entire debate not just from this excerpt, but where he misses his mark is where he implies that the responsibility of the Left is to push against these instances of particular subjugation but he overlooks the much broader universal subjugation of the system.

[@fischerking86]

@@wandilemtambo9962 right on! 🔥💯

[@Ranayal]

Žižek is very patronising and prejudiced in his reply to lowkey, a response that was as empty as they come. Lowkey the master in the room as usual. Perfectly called him out.

[@farrider3339]

🤢

[@theman3923]

Slavoj is imperialist.

[@paulaa1175]

Mr Lowkey is out of his depth on the topic. One unfortunate mistake was to position Zizek as complicit with the Solvene government - "you're a Slovene, like the Slovene government, (implicitly) like all Slovenes, guilty of anti-refugee thinking" - thus engaging in the same 'typing' of someone as a member of a certain group - precisely the lazy sort of identity politics that Zizek is criticising.

[@user-mt6hr4qf9n]

Yeah I get the feeling that he's googled scandalous Zizek quotes rather than reading Zizek at length. This kind of 'gotcha' is embarrassing and serves only to make Lowkey look like he's hugely out of his depth

[@hansfrankfurter2903]

Isn't Slovenia a democracy? And isn't he a very influential voice in Slovenia?

[@rxw5520]

Anytime you hear or say the phrase “identity politics”, replace it with “racial stereotyping” and see how it sounds. “Giving people positions based on their race or gender is identity politics.” = giving people positions based on the race or gender is racial stereotyping. (ie, assuming that specific person wouldn’t have gotten there on merit based on their race or gender.) “Talking about white privilege is identity politics” = talking about white privilege is a racial stereotype. (ie, all white people have money is a racial stereotype. Almost everyone is still broke or was until the last generation). “Black people loving Obama is an example of identity politics.” = black people loving Obama is due to racial stereotyping. (ie, people assume based on someone’s skin color they would support other people of that skin color more. Which is ironic because a politician supporting one person over another based on skin color is overt racism). There are some interesting phrases being used these days with unclear meanings. Equity, equality, identity politics. It’s important to define words and phrases EXACTLY to unveil and root out any potential underlying illogic and racism from discussion.

[@manlikeJoe1010]

Lowkey with his classic appeal to emotion because he has no actual arguments. When asked about the integration problem of those entering western nations his entire viewpoint rests on "muhh west is evil, west needs to do better bruh". He's a joke. He needs to go away, study these topics in-depth and rid himself of his dogmatism and binary thinking. Also, by calling him a liberal Zizek totally made a complete fool of Lowkey here, because by making the point that he did, Lowkey essentially outed himself as a liberal whilst also spending the last decade or so whining about neo-liberalism🤣🤣🤣

[@h.j7469]

zizek cut his balls

[@THELORDVODKA]

I think you missed Žižeks point a little bit. The whole point was he isn't really accepting towards immigrants like most of southern/eastern Europe isn't. He had to criticize "far" right government (that wasn't even far right) so he himself wouldn't be accused of being right. In reality he is old school leftist that understand dangers of multiculturalism and is againts it but supports cultural collaboration (as long as it is on proper distance). In short Žižek has almost nothing in common with liberalism and moderen soft left but he has to sell books somewhere ;)

[@manlikeJoe1010]

@@THELORDVODKA Sure I basically agree with you. Zizek was calling Lowkey's viewpoint typically neo-liberal (even though Lowkey claims to oppose this view on reality). So the fact Zizek noted that Lowkey's viewpoint had a distinctly liberal tinge ( liberalism in the sense of modernity as a whole, not the simple political position of the American left) was ironic and very funny to me. And yeah, I agree Zizek is far from neo-liberal. But as you say, he has to pander to a particular crowd who'll buy his material, attend his talks etc

[@DaboooogA]

Lowkey should stick to rapping

[@bastiaanvanbeek]

Going in debate or discussion with this types such as Lowkey is totally pointless. His intentions are wrong. You should just leave these people aside from developed conversation.

[@TheSupahJaws]

How are his intentions wrong?

[@durfdurffigan8680]

@@TheSupahJaws they are just a lib

[@georgesos]

And you know what his unstated intentions are how exactly? Oh wait,i got it, you are a right wing racist confused human ...

[@thesomalistrawhat]

@@durfdurffigan8680 Lowkey is a lib??? Yo that term just means people you don't like to you huh 🤣🤣🤣

[@JB-xn4sf]

That's not a fair characterisation. Lowkeys position is one of anti-imperialism, and he raises a good point about unaccompanied children being rejected asylum. Lowkeys mum was Iraqi so he has a direct personal attachment to this issue, he is not just a hand wringing liberal.

[@aliel-husseini9143]

Slavoj speaks of immigrants same way as any of the right wingers he claims to be against, maybe in economics he is, but on is dehumanizsation of black/brown people there is way too much overlap... disgusting.

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

He didn't mention black/brown people. Why are Yanks so obsessed with skin colour? Most countries don't want mass immigration nor immigrants from countries with different cultures. Because multiculturalism doesn't work and leads to identity politics, which destroys class consciousness. The US is a case study in this.

[@arunshukla7322]

The rascals get what they rightly desrve.

[@pinkpasa2634]

ponga

[@surgemedia302]

Low-key is not bright

[@chriswhitenackmediaproduct6906]

I found his accent just a bit too much to wade through. Does that make me racist or does that make the curators of this show look bad? Hmm.

[@Lopez341989]

Nah, it makes you untrained and undisciplined if anything.

[@helpanimals-]

you can literally put on subtitles by clicking CC on the video. Also, exactly how many languages do you speak? Don't make fun of people's accent if English is their second, third, fourth etc language

[@dColorOfBoom]

What does how you react have to do with anyone but you?

[@chriswhitenackmediaproduct6906]

@@Lopez341989 Best ya got?

[@chriswhitenackmediaproduct6906]

@@helpanimals- I wasn't making fun of him, I actually meant it. Subtitles help but don't make up for loss in translation. If you interview someone in English, it makes logical sense to make sure they can do so in an understandable way. If speaking Spanish, I make a point of enunciating clearly and correctly. Why shouldn't others do so?

[@theconfusingchannel3170]

Lowkey is just delusional

[@elbobinho]

Lowkey is always clear, concise, and straight to the point without resorting to academic jargon. Many prominent thinkers and journalists have no idea how to deal with him as he simply doesn't respect the theatre of modern media. He believes in the cause of oppressed people and will get that message out however he can. He is known for speaking at activist events for free, because his cause will always be more important to him than his career.

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

The black no-mark is technically correct. But that isn't really what people are talking about when they're talking about identity politics-- they're talking about identity politics within a country. Citizenship is an identity but it's a material one. The idea that countries shouldn't have the basic right to control who enters their country is absurd and fanciful. And the idea that there aren't stark cultural differences between countries is equally so.