sabro said:
I just heard the German Chancellor- and I believe it was him and not a translator answering the question in fluent, eloquent English-- saying that the President of Iran is welcome in Germany in spite of having made anti-Semitic comments. He seemed quite aware and was not denying his country's past and the critical issues at hand. It made me think about what kind of difficulties people of color, non-european ethnicities, have in Europe.
The irony is that (Middle-Eastern) Muslims, including Iranians, are more the victims of racism in Europe nowadays than the Jews. I have personally never heard anybody making racist comments about Jews in Europe (except maybe old-fashioned jokes that they didn't really mean). The prime targets are Arabs, Turks and Black Africans (Iranians are too few in Europe to cause mass hysteria).
My wife's cousin lives in Paris and seems to love it. He says there is far less racism (as a New Orleans Creole) in Paris than in the US.
What is your opinion of racism in Europe? How prevalent? How much of a "problem"?
I believe that racism in the US and Europe is quite different. In the US it is about organised discrimination and violence (e.g. the KKK, Black voters losing voting rights). It is directly mostly towards Blacks (or towards Whites by Blacks) and has a long history going back to colonial slavery.
In Europe, racism is not so much based on race itself as in cultural and behavioural difference. It is directly at recent immigrants typically poor and coming from very different cultures, and who have serious adaptation problems. So it's more like socio-economico-cultural intolerance than properly "racism". The best proof is that those who are most targeted are North Africans, who do not look so different racially-speaking from southern Europeans (yet enough to be differentiated in most cases). Yet Southern Europeans, who as numerous as North Africans in France or Belgium, do not pose any problem to their host society as they adapt well, and therefore are not criticised. North Africans who adapt well (e.g. some French actors or singers) are so-to-say never victims of "racism/criticism", because it is not based on race by socio-cultural adaptation.
In fact I found Europeans to be incredibly tolerant compared to what they have to cope with. European governments are in fact much too tolerant and kind-hearted with illegal immigrants and long-term immigrants that do not adapt well. In comparison, Japan, Asian countries and even the USA, Canada and Australia are much stricter and tougher with those immigrants. Frankly, what government naturalise even illegal immigrants once they have been 5 years (illegaly) in the country ? (Belgium does) What government gives ID or passports to all the illegal immigrants on its territory one every 2 years ? (Italy does) What country gives residency rights to people who haven't even applied for it ? (
Belgium does). What country gives tax-payers money to recent immigrants who don't have a job when some of the country's nationals do not even qualify for it ? (several continental European countries do). Talk about racism ! Soon it will be illegal to be white in Europe by government's decision !
