another, which in turn only weakensnthe sense of patriotism among bothnnatives and immigrants. Is it an accidentnthat both liberalism and communism,ntwo doctrines preaching economicndeterminism, are also avowednenemies of historical and national consciousness?nIs it an accident that fornliberals true history starts only withn1789 and for communists with 1917,nas if nothing preceded those dates?nContrary to widespread belief, whatnreally threatens Europe is not the increasenin foreigners, but the Europeans’nloss of historical and ethnicnconsciousness. The danger for thenWest is not uprooted individuals fromnthe Third World, but an ofEcially promotednmulticulturalism that has completelynblurred the line between immigrantnand native. In a system ofncapitalist gadgets, people can becomencommodities too, and just as expendable.nMoreover, with the loud endorsementnof the global world order, annAfrican Muslim considers himself nonless qualified for French citizenshipnthan a Catholic and European Pole.nWith the English political systemnadopted by much of the Subcontinent,nno logic can bar Indians or Pakistanisnfrom Britain or Canada. And the illusionnof automatic equality will leadneven the most ignorant to the conclusionnthat their salvation lies in immigration.nTo date the West’s only response,nin order to stem the tide of foreignnrefugees, is to try to make a distinctionnbetween economic and political immigrants;nas if in our liberal system anynreason for immigration, other than anneconomic one, were allowed to exist!nAn East European citizen today isnforced to live in” a quasi-Third Worldneconomy, while just across the bordernhe hears the buzz and the hum of thenhigh-tech West. It is the nearness ofnliberal wealth that causes such frustrationnamong immigrants, frustration anWesterner will never be able to grasp.nA Western commercial shown on thenPolish TV network will do more damagento an average Pole than thousandsnof Soviet tanks. The aflfluency is simplyntoo erotic, too egalitarian, too tempting;nto the point that every immigrantnsees it as something that must belongnto all humanity. The implosion ofncommercials can only feed the immigrant’snhatred of those rich Westernersnwho had the good luck to be born atnthe right time and place. It is his ownnfailure that he sees in them, just as anblack will always see in a white racistnthe parody of his own existence. Ancentury ago it would never have occurrednto a Danubian peasant to cursenhis fortune; today a Romanian Gypsynroaming the Berlin Alexander Platz, orna Pole selling his fake porcelain ware innFrankfurt, lives in febrile certainty thatnsome day he will become part of thenWestern wonderland. Catching upnwith the West is the new vocation ofnthose waiting in line for the last trip ofnNoah’s Ark.nOne question worth asking is hownSoviet and Eastern immigrants wouldnhave behaved if their former communistnhell had miraculously turned intonan economic paradise — if EastnCerman Panzer communism ornCastro’s Creole Utopia had workednright from the outset. Would there stillnbe those lamenting the killing fields?nProbably not. When in the 50’s thenCulag housed five million prisoners,nthe Western intelligentsia remainednconspicuously mute, preferring insteadnto attend cocktail parties at the Sovietnand Cuban embassies. When in then80’s the Gulag population shrank tonfive hundred, the same intelligentsianbegan staging anticommunist rallies innfront of those very same embassies. Itnsurely is no accident that the loudestnStalinist collaborators of yesteryear arenalso the most eloquent apostles ofnanticommunism today.nYet the immigrant’s illusions maynnot last for long. The liberal Westnmakes promises to many, but deliversnonly to a chosen few. And most Westernersnforget that the only achievablenequality is that of poverty, for whichnwise people have invented the name ofn”communism.”nIn a system obsessed with economicnrationality, wealth is already creatingnnew and irrational appetites, which innturn will necessitate another rationalnsolution. And what else is the spirit ofntotalitarianism but a rational attempt tonsolve mounting irrational problems?nTomislav Sunk is the author ofnAgainst Democracy and Equality:nThe European New Right (PeternLang Publishing, Inc.). He teachesnEuropean politics at Juniata Collegenin Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.nnnHuman Comedynby Katheiine DaltonnNew American Plays innLouisvillenAmerican playwrights handle comedynbetter than tragedy, at least ifnthis year’s Humana Festival of NewnAmerican Plays at Actors Theatre ofnLouisville is any gauge. RichardnStrand’s farce of corporate ladderclimbing.nThe Death of Zukavsky, andnJane Martin’s broad comedy aboutnlady wrestlers, Cementville, were thentwo high points of the festival, andneven of the less successful plays thenbest moments were always comicalnones, not serious.nThe still-mysterious Jane Martin,nwho may or may not be ATL producingndirector Jon Jory and/or variousnother people, probably has a hit withnCementville. Tiger, Dani, Netty, andnLessa have been bumped from thencoliseum by the ice show and banishednto a peeling gym in Cementville, Tennessee,none of pro wrestling’s lowerncircles of hell. Their promoter, Bigman,nhas managed to book as surprisenchallengers the biggest act in the business,ntwo artificially constructed bottlednblonde sisters, just out of jail andntemporarily barred from the bignleagues because of an unfortunatendrug conviction and an all-too-publicnentanglement with the mayor of LosnAngeles. Things go from bad to worsenas the crowd turns ugly, as Dottie andnDolly’s manager Mother CrockernJULY 1991/53n