Presseurop |

Terrorism | Neo-Nazis and Islamic radicals, our twin nightmares (La Stampa, Turin)

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:58:14 +0100

Three former neo-Nazi paratroopers were the first suspects in the Toulouse and Montauban killings. And the Utøya massacre last July was originally attributed to Islamic terrorism. The opposing ends of intolerance and multi-culturalism are often the opposite sides of the same coin. (Article)

France | In shock | Cartoon (Le Monde, Paris)

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:04:31 +0100

(Cartoon) (Cartoon)

France | National unity is the only response (Libération, Paris)

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:56:16 +0100

France is in a state of shock after the assassination of three French soldiers of North African descent and of three Jewish children and their teacher by, according to police sources, the same killer. Coming just weeks ahead of the French presidential election, Libération calls on politicians not to exploit these events. (Article)

Cinema | "Play" - a film that upends racist clichés (Aftonbladet, Stockholm)

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:35:06 +0100

Is this a racist movie? Ruben Östlund’s latest film — a story of poor black and middle class white children which deliberate plays on the audience’s prejudices — has sparked controversy in Sweden. (Article)

France | Racism in multicultural football

Fri, 06 May 2011 12:42:20 +0100

The question increasingly being asked has made it onto the front page of Libération: “Is French football racist?” This comes a week after the Mediapart news web site published revelations that the national coach, Laurent Blanc, and the national football federation directorate appeared to be seeking to “limit the number of French players of African and North African origin” by drawing up discriminatory quotas for bi-national players at training centres. The case, which shakes up the image of the 1998 world champion team of black-blanc-beur [beur = Arab], has become a political and social issue. “The controversy is justified,” writes Libération, publishing an appeal launched by neighborhood coaches denouncing “the denigration of blacks and Arabs by the French Football Federation.” “If the controversy has blown up like this, it’s because – beyond bringing in the symbol that is the national team of the most popular sport there is – it hits the nail on the head, right there where France is hurting: the failure of its integration model and the social and urban segregation in which millions of citizens of immigrant origin have been kept for three generations now.”

(News in brief)

EU-Middle East | Time to ditch the Arab stereotype (Der Standard, Vienna)

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:50:14 +0100

The revolutionary spirit sweeping the Middle East has provoked as much fear as joy in the West. Der Standard questions why is it that we doubt that Arabs have the will or the ability to be the masters of their own destiny. (Article)

Czech Republic | No mercy for neo-Nazis (Respekt, Prague)

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:15:53 +0100

A minimum of 22 years in prison for burning down a Roma family home… Respekt argues that the sentence meted out to four Czech arsonists will set an example in the national and European-wide drive to combat the extreme right. (Article)

Bertrams, Het Parool (Amsterdam) | Gypsy concerto | Cartoon (, )

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:37:23 +0100

(Cartoon) (Cartoon)

Germany | Bundesbank bigmouth gets boot

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:59:49 +0100

"The German Federal Bank (Bundesbank) has fired Sarrazin", the Berliner Zeitung reveals, reporting that the board of directors of Germany's central bank voted in favour of dismissing their controversial member. Thilo Sarrazin has been at the centre of a media storm since the recent publication of his book ("Germany is self-destructing") that expounds racist ideas concerning the lack of integration of Jews and Muslims into German society. This is not the first time that the banker has been at the centre of controversy, but "this time, the board wanted to be finished with him once and for all", notes the daily. Now, it must be decided "how" to fire their renegade colleague: the judicial procedure requires a finding that Sarrazin committed "a serious offence that damaged the bank's reputation", a rather imprecise criterion that leaves much room for interpretation.

(News in brief)

Populism | Far-right, la nouvelle vague (EUobserver.com, Brussels)

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:47:48 +0100

Anti-Muslim group the English Defence League, that includes Sikhs, Jews and gays in its ranks, is federating with other European movements that are part of a new wave far right. In October, they plan to march in Amsterdam, in defense of their hero, the immigrant baiting Geert Wilders. (Article)

Denmark | Government - no racism here

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:49:22 +0100

Critics of the Danish government have accused it of “hiding evidence of racism.” Jyllands-Posten explains that controversy is focused on a report submitted by the Danish government to the UNHCR Committee on the Elimination of Racism, which is to conduct an evaluation of Denmark in August. In its response to the findings of the report, the independent Racism Documentation and Advice Centre claims that the government deliberately ignored important evidence of racism including 560 cases of assault that figure in official statistics, in which the motives for violence were either racist or sectarian. On 26 July, the Centre will submit an alternative report to the UNHCR committee.

(News in brief)

Immigration | Spain, the new Arizona (El Mundo, Madrid)

Tue, 25 May 2010 15:45:58 +0100

Arizona’s tough new law on illegal aliens is making headlines, but mass arrests of suspected illegals are increasingly the order of the day in Spain, especially in the current recession. (Article)

Romania | Less equal than others

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:18:59 +0100

Three years after Romania's adoption of the Europe's racial equality and gender equality in the workplace directives, which are supposed to "provide all of the citizens of the EU with basic protection against discrimination," Dilema Veche reports that "negative examples abound in Romania," which continue to be characterized by an intolerance for different types of sexual orientation and gender discrimination in the workplace." Worse still, it seems that Romanians themselves are often subjected to discrimination by employers elsewhere in the EU, to the point where the weekly wonders if "they can hope to benefit from the same opportunities as other Europeans." Quoted by Dilema Veche, MEP Cristian Preda takes the view that Europe has yet to fully dismantle "barriers to labour markets, which continue to affect Romanians, and members of the Rom community who also have to contend with ethnic discrimination."

(News in brief)

Netherlands | Lunatic fringe Islam to defend Wilders

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:30:18 +0100

The trial against Geert Wilders opened in Amsterdam 20 January. The leader of the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) is accused of incitement to racial hatred and discrimination, based on his comments to various media on Muslims and their beliefs. De Volkskrant is not a little surprised by some the 18 witnesses Wilders has called in his defence , particularly Mohammed Bouyeri, the murderer of film director and columnist Theo van Gogh in 2004. With Bouyeri taking the stand, Wilders wants to prove that “Islam is in essence an evil religion”, explains the Dutch daily. He has also summoned Robert Spencer – director of Jihad Watch – two Iranian ayatollahs and Imam Fawaz Jneid, who lambasted Van Gogh just before his death. For De Volkskrant, though, even more unusual is the Chief Prosecutor’s line of attack. The trial “is about whether his comments constitute are illegal or not,” notes the daily. But the prosecutor sees things differently – “Prosecutor Paul Velleman thinks it is sensible to examine whether Wilders’ points of view have any basis in reality."

(News in brief)

Hungary | Court abolishes Hungarian Guard

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:15:03 +0100

“The Hungarian Supreme Court has upheld the abolition of the Hungarian Guard,” headlines SME. The Slovak daily goes on to explain that, concurring with the lower court rulings, the court finds that this paramilitary organisation’s activities “infringe the rights of others and run counter to democratic values”. The head of the movement, Gábor Vona, who doubles as leader of the right-wing nationalist Jobbik party, or “The Movement for a Better Hungary”, says he’s prepared to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. “We have noted the verdict, but we cannot accept it,” he declares. The Bratislava-based paper adds that the Slovak police have failed to disband an equally extremist movement on the other side of the border, Slovenská Pospolitosť – "Slovak Community”.

(News in brief)

Discrimination | Roma and Africans not welcome

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:07:50 +0100

Times are hard for Europe's minorities. According to a newly published EU-MIDIS survey from the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), certain communities suffer more than others in the EU's member states: Brazilians in Portugal, Sub-Saharan Africans in Ireland, North Africans in Italy, Somalis in Finland and Denmark, and Africans in general in Malta. However, as the Irish Examiner remarks, the Roma are the worst affected by discrimination in Europe – a finding that does not come as a surprise – particularly in countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Greece. According to the survey, which interviewed 23,000 immigrants and members of minorities as well as 5,000 other citizens in 27 EU countries, most discrimination takes place at work and in the education system. It also found that the majority of incidents are not reported because there is a widespread belief that "nothing would happen as a result".

(News in brief)

Switzerland | Populism storms the minarets (Presseurop, )

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:00:01 +0100

The ban on building new minarets on mosques approved by Swiss voters on 29 November is an “in-your-face” attack on Muslim residents. But it also points up a socio-political problem that concerns every country on the continent, opines the European press. (Article)

Immigration | Northern League's White Christmas (La Repubblica, Rome)

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:35:00 +0100

In Italy, the local council of Coccaglio is dreaming of a “White Christmas”. Such is the name of a seasonal police operation against illegal immigrants launched by its Northern League mayor. Between now and 25 December, police will be knocking on the doors of the 450 non-EU families to check on their residency permits—and best wishes for the New Year. (Article)

European Union | Islam, top of a heap of prejudices

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:18:11 +0100

“Every other European agrees with the statements ‘there are too many immigrants in Europe’ and ‘Islam is a religion of intolerance’. 43% consider homosexuality immoral. Nearly a third assume ‘there is a natural hierarchy between whites and blacks’, and one fourth feel ‘the Jews have too much sway’.” This is the Tageszeitung’s summing-up of the findings of the Heitmeyer Study, a survey of “Group-focused Enmity in Europe” conducted by the University of Bielefeld. 8,000 people were polled in the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Hungary. Thesis: prejudices tend to come in a pack, those amenable to one are likely to succumb to others too. While the most pervasive preconceptions vary from country to country, one minority group faces common antagonism in the Community: the Muslims, “the enemy of centuries past”, comments the Berlin-based daily, adding: “Europe ought to combat this prejudice as much as it does anti-Semitism.”

(News in brief)

Germany | No country for Islamophobes

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:03:19 +0100

On 11 November, the criminal court in Dresden found Alex Wiens guilty of murder, and ruled that he should serve the maximum possible sentence of life in prison. In July, Wiens attacked and killed Marwa El Sherbini at a hearing on a complaint filed by the 31-year-old Egyptian woman, who accused him of insulting her with racial slurs during an altercation. Wiens, a 29-year-old German of Russian origin, fatally stabbed his victim, who was pregnant and wearing a veil, before the assembled courtroom, and later attempted to justify his action on the basis of his hatred for Muslims. The court has not only pronounced "a just sentence, but it has also sent a strong message," notes Tageszeitung: "There is no place for Islamophobia in our country." Germany's reputation with German Muslims and countries in the Arab world will now be restored, announces TAZ. However, the daily also argues that more should be done to address the problem of Islamophobic hatred in Germany.

(News in brief)

Supreme Court | Who is a Jew?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:04:59 +0100

The British Supreme Court is being asked “to take a view on exactly who counts as a Jew”, notes the Guardian. The case at issue concerns a wrangle over admissions policy at the Jews' Free School (JFS) in Kenton, London, which refused to accept a child who was brought up as Jewish, on the grounds that his mother was not of Jewish descent. Given that British equality laws classify Jews not merely as a religious minority, but also separately as an ethnic one, a previous decision of the court of appeal found that the application of the matrilineal rule by the JFS amounted to unacceptable race discrimination. Remarking that the Supreme Court will also need to decide if “legislation drafted to protect minorities” should be used to condemn Jewish traditions, the Guardian wonders in an editorial if it would not “be better to separate school admissions from all questions of faith, and thereby free the law from religion.”

(News in brief)

United Kingdom | BNP on Beeb endorses Churchill and KKK

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:38:32 +0100

Last night, Britain was glued to its TV set as Nick Griffin of the British National Party (BNP) appeared on Question Time, a live debate on the BBC, reports the Daily Telegraph. This was the first time in the history of the august corporation, and indeed British television, that a member of the extreme-right had been invited to present his views in a before a studio audience. In the company of luminaries such as Justice Secretary Jack Straw, Griffin, whose party garnered 1 million votes and 2 MEPs in June’s European elections, was of the opinion that Winston Churchill, were he walking amongst us today, would have joined his movement, that homosexuals were “creepy” and that real Nazis “hate” him. He described the pillow-slip wearing Aryan fanatics of the US Ku Klux Klan as “non-violent”, and believed the “indigenous” white populations of Britain were to be overwhelmed by a wave of Islamic immigration giving rise to a genocide comparable to that of Australia’s aborigines. As Mr Griffin spouted such gobbledygook, left wing demonstrators wishing to ban the BNP threw themselves at police outside BBC HQ. Today’s papers all ask the question whether Mr Griffin should be denied the “oxygen” of publicity, or whether his views should be “exposed” for the racist, xenophobic jumble that it is. The jury is still out.

(News in brief)

Hungary | Dark secret of town's anti-Roma attacks (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt)

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:41:26 +0100

In the seemingly law abiding town of Tatarszentgyörgy, prejuduces against the Roma communinty have spilled over into violence. It would seem that even the local police are complicit in attacks on families, which has prompted the national government to collaborate with the FBI to catch the perpetrators. But this is not an isolated example, the political trend suggests that anti-Roma racism is on the increase. (Article)

Czech Republic | Arsonists arrested, national honour restored

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:54:32 +0100

Police investigating a racist attack against a Roma family in Vítkov, in the eastern Czech Republic, have arrested 12 suspects. The nine men and three women, who are all members of an extreme-right group could face up to 15 years in jail. The attack on the family, which was widely reported by the media, caused a wave of indignation in the Czech Republic. As Lidové Noviny reports, one of the three people injured, was a two-year-old girl who suffered burns on 80% of her body.

The attack also damaged the reputation of the Czech Republic, which the Prague daily notes appears to be a country where "extremists can freely enter towns and petrol-bomb Roma homes." In conclusion, journalist Zbyněk Petráček cites reports from the European press that highlight the severity of the response to racist crimes – "with headlines like ‘More severe sentences for racist murderers' (France) or ‘Three and a half years for attacking a rabbi’ (Germany)" – which he believes "have been sorely lacking" in the Czech Republic.

(News in brief)

Denmark | Hells Angels in race war with "jackals"

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:39:36 +0100

Over the last ten years, not much has been heard of Denmark's Hells Angels. But as daily Politiken now reports, the bikers are well and truly back in the news with a gang war that resulted in two deaths in early July – adding to an overall total of six murders since August 2008. The last time such an outbreak of violence occurred was in 1996-1997, when the Hell's Angels fought a prolonged battle with another traditional gang, the Bandidos. However, this latest conflict has racist connotations, because the members of the opposing gang, Black Ghost, all have immigrant backgrounds.

In a recently published manifesto, the Hells Angels claim they are fighting to protect Denmark from from the "jackal mentality" that "characterises" Arabs and Muslims. According to a poll in Politiken – which leads with the headline "Denmark fears a full blown race war" – 65% of Danes are worried the gang fight might lead to a wider conflict. However, police believe the feud is prompted by a conflict over the illegal drugs market.

(News in brief)

Racism | Racism stats on Austria rocket

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:53:58 +0100

In Austria, Die Presse reports that data from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights indicate a 79.5% upsurge in racist violence and 87.5% growth in the number of anti-semitic incidents between 2006 and 2007. "Notwithstanding these dramatic increases, the agency's director, Morten Kjaerum, is reluctant to lambast Austria, because the statistics may be due to the provision of better documentation and greater vigilance on the part of authorities." Four other countries are reported to be experiencing difficulties with violence: Poland, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Throughout the European Union, the main victims are always the same: members of traveling communities and African immigrants. The agency also noted a marked improvement in figures from Denmark, where the number of incidents involving racist violence declined by 63.5%.

(News in brief)