Written by Brynina Anastasiia, EBLC 2

FUTURE OF THE EUROCENTRISM

Today in this essay I will try to figure out for myself what the future of Eurocentrism is. If
we Google what Eurocentrism is, then the definition will be as follows: Eurocentrism
(Eurocentrism) is a philosophical concept and political ideology, explicitly or implicitly
proclaiming the superiority of European peoples and Western European civilization over
other peoples and civilizations in the cultural sphere; the superiority of the way of life of
European peoples, as well as their special role in world history.
In my understanding, this is a concept in which the European nation is exalted above all
others, we look at the history of the whole world from the angle of perception of Europe.
People who are supporters of this approach believe that the culture, lifestyle, and
historical development of Europe is the only correct and most reasonable in the whole
world.

So, we have figured out the concept of Eurocentrism, but before moving on to its future,
I would like to understand how it originated and understand its current status.
Even in ancient Greece there was a confrontation with the so-called “barbarians from
the east” Everything Greek was considered correct, and barbaric, on the contrary, was
despised. They were called barbarians because they did not know Greek and were
generally much more illiterate than the Greeks. To some extent, their invasions were the
beginning of the end of Hellas (Ancient Greece). However, returning to Eurocentrism,
we can say that it was Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire that laid the foundation
for the existence of this ideology. Another historical turn of Europe, which marked the
beginning of later Eurocentrism, it’s very heyday, is of course the colonization of various
countries. Despite the fact that Europe is a relatively small continent, but at the peak of
the prosperity of colonialism, its territories around the world were simply huge.

Even if we look at the world map that hangs in any geography room, we will see it with
Europe in the center and we don't even think about why, we just think that this is how it
should be. Although, knowing that the earth is round, any other continent could be
located in the center. Such a projection of the earth on a plane was invented in the 16th
century by Gerard Mercator and in his perception the sizes and areas of countries are
not accurately depicted. if we superimposed Greenland on China, we would notice that
Greenland is much smaller than China, but just looking at the map we won't understand
it. To some extent, Marxism can be called the beginning of the end of Eurocentrism.
Marxists did not reject the idea of the progress of Europe in the history of mankind,
however, they believed that all the peoples of the globe should not be drawn to the
ideas of Eurocentrism at all, in their opinion, they should strive for another model of
society – communism. According to ideologists, the culture of Europe was not a single
whole at all, on the contrary, it was split by class differences.

It is obvious that history is presented differently in different countries. But because of

this, people around the world have too different ideas about the “truth”. I saw such an
experiment when people from different countries that are members of the World War II
union were asked: “who won the Second World War?”. The answers from residents of
different countries were completely different. The Americans said they won this war, the
French and the British said they gave the main support for victory, and the Russian
people naturally have their own truth, and many may not even know that there was
some kind of Anti-Hitler coalition, in our history textbooks it's more like the Great
Patriotic War and resistance only to the USSR with Germany.

This example clearly shows how the perception of the same things can vary depending
on the place of residence, because any state wants to put itself in a favorable light and
cultivate patriotism with the help of history, which is taught in schools where children
with a more receptive psyche absorb this knowledge. Europe writes history for itself with
its own views, there is often not enough information about other countries, and for
example, we can learn about Africa and India only as part of the colonies of Europe, but
the culture, identity, history of these countries, and sometimes entire continents are
discarded and erased. This is a completely wrong and one-sided view of the world,
which is what Eurocentrism is.

Today, for the most part, the center-left is in power in the government of Europe. Their
ideals are such that the main thing is socialist or social democratic ideals and adhering
to the concept of egalitarianism and collectivism. In my understanding, we can say that
this is in some way a modern reincarnation of Marxism. They themselves give way to
the “barbarians” of today and destroy the future of their countries themselves.

Already now we can say that Eurocentrism has faded and on the one hand the center of
world power is in America, but on the other hand we cannot help but notice the rapidly
developing East. Europe seems to have reached its peak of development at some point
and the United States of America began its global dominance, and now we can see how
some eastern countries are starting to come out ahead in this race, and we can
understand that Europe is definitely lagging behind in it. And the sad thing is that at the
moment I don't see any opportunities to change this.

Now I will consider two possible futures for Eurocentrism. And unfortunately, in both
variants of development, this will be a sad result. And we will start with the version that,
in my opinion, is less likely, but still, we cannot exclude anything, because the future is a
closed book for us.
The first possible future that we will consider will be this: the world's major corporations
will become separate countries. For example, Space-x, Apple or Amazon. In America,
the tax conditions are not the most pleasant for the existence of such huge companies.
If any new structures are introduced or taxes are raised, what will they do? In my
opinion, there is such a possibility that they will simply buy up land for themselves
somewhere in Africa (where it is easiest to do this) and create their own states with their
own laws and taxation (which will not be). Due to the money saved from taxes, they will
be able to improve and modernize the countries in which they will be located.

Gradually, all the big companies will do it. Of course, some of the local residents of
Africa will remain in these new, converted countries, because they will be very cheap
labor. And the rest will run somewhere. And the easiest option for them at the moment
is, of course, Europe, it is not only simple but also extremely beneficial for refugees,
because there are a variety of benefits and assistance. And such refugees, without
education, with a completely different culture, customs, and languages, will not be able
to become part of Europe. Even if we imagine that there would be no racism in Europe
at all (of course, they can already talk about it now, but the facts are that racism has
definitely not gone anywhere). But all the same, in the end Africa will simply move to
Europe, and these new megacorporation states will become the center.

The second option of the future, which we will now consider, also does not promise
Europe to be the center of the world in the near future.

It seems to me that in the end there will be no concept of “Eurocentrism” at all, and it will
become only a philosophical concept of the past. And from my point of view, the
Europeans themselves contribute to this. Let me explain what I mean. In recent years,
we can observe a large trend in the influx of refugees from the Middle East. The
Europeans themselves open their doors and give them the opportunity to stay in these
European countries. Local residents often begin to suffer from this when refugees,
displacing local residents, begin to create their own diasporas. These are people with a
completely different culture and religion, different foundations in life and concepts. They
practically do not integrate into the culture of Europe, but drag their charters and culture
with them. They celebrate their holidays and do not perceive the culture and religion of
Europeans, sometimes they may even try to impose their foundations on local residents
or in a rude way promote their "truth" about the worldview. Refugees do not settle
across countries, but are grouped in one place and often do not even know the
language of the country where they arrived. And the worst thing is that they don't even
want to teach him, because they don't have such a need. After all, they live among their
own.
Islam is a relatively young religion, and it is at the stage of expansion and growth. Also,
people from third countries of the world, being in a low social status, often give birth to a
lot of children. As a result, such countries have a large population, which is only growing
every year, unlike Europe, where we can observe the opposite trend. After all, it is much
more interesting for Europeans to invest in their present day, get an education, a good
job, and a status in society. And as a result, they simply do not have time for the birth of
children. It is also impossible not to notice that same-sex unions are very common in
Europe, in which, as such, the birth of children is generally impossible. Each civilization
gradually comes to a stage of stagnation, it loses its ability to create, then it enters a
state of crisis, and then other more aggressive cultures displace it. It seems to me that
right now we can observe the moment of crisis in Europe. And the days when there will
be displacement are not far off.

So, my ideas are that Europeans will eventually die out as a nation altogether and
others will take their place. It is very strange to me to watch how the governments of
many European countries are personally doing this, destroying their past, present and
future. On the other hand, it has always been the case in history that some nations have
died out and others have replaced them, so I think this can be called a normal process. I
don't think we will find the time when Europe will become Muslim, but our not-so-distant
descendants will definitely see it.

Another point that needs to be discussed is what will become the new center of politics
and economics of the world? It seems to me that despite the fact that another nation will
prevail in Europe, this continent will not become a "new center". Most likely, China,
South Korea, and Taiwan will become such places. Already now we can see how much
these countries are developing, their GDP size, their technologies... they're starting to
get ahead of everyone in the world. I think it will take a few more years, and China will
become the main economic point in the world. People from these countries are very
hardworking and of course it is impossible not to mention their number, due to this, such
a stunning development is taking place. And if just a few years ago we looked with
disgust at things from China, because their quality left much to be desired, now almost
all the things we use are made there and every year the quality of goods is getting
better and better.

It is clear that we ourselves are unlikely to be able to influence the future in any way, so
we just have to accept it as it will be and just try not to make mistakes in the future.