Racism in Europe
[1] Today racism is present in all 3 main regions of Belgium, specially in Flanders, and widespread in the society:[2][3] in the police,[4][5] in schools,[6][7] in sport activities,[8] on the streets,[9] in public institutions,[10] on social media.
[9][11] In 2002, a racist crime shocked Belgium, when a man broke into his neighbour's, home of a Moroccan family, killed 2 adults, injured 2 kids and set fire to their apartment.
[20] In June 2023, Bulgaria's Commission for Protection Against Discrimination (CPD) fined VMRO - Bulgarian National Movement (VMRO-BND) because of the “Gypsy Issue” section on their website.
[25][26] In the mid-2010s, NATO soldiers from the U.S. stationed in Estonia as part of Enhanced Forward Presence were subject to racist attacks by local civilians, resulting in condemnations from the Estonian Air Force's commander, Jaak Tarien, and the U.S. embassy's chargé d'affaires.
[41] Professor of Social Policy and responsible of Finnish ESS, Heikki Ervasti, denies a common thought of increased negative attitudes against immigrants.
One in five thought "it needs to be recognised as a fact that some nations are more intelligent than others", and 11% agreed partly or completely to "people whose appearance and culture differ much from those of the Finns are unpredictable and frightening".
In 1998, the Council of Europe's European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) made a report stating concern about racist activities in France and accused the French authorities of not doing enough to combat this.
In a recent Pew Survey, 47% of the French deem immigration from Central and Eastern Europe (mainly from Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Romania, including Slavic and Romani people) to be a very bad thing.
[45] According to a report published by the Interior Ministry's Statistics Service (SSMSI), in 2023 hate crimes and offenses motivated by racism, xenophobia, and religion rose by 32% over the previous year 2022.
[47] The period after Germany lost World War I led to an increased use of anti-Semitism and other forms of racism in political discourse, for example among the right-wing Freikorps, emotions that finally culminated in the ascent to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1933.
The Nuremberg Race Laws forbade racially mixed sexual relations and marriage between Aryans and at first Jews but was later extended to "Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring".
Members of Golden Dawn have been accused of carrying out acts of violence as well as hate crimes against immigrants, political opponents, homosexuals and ethnic minorities.
[61] As in other European countries, Romani people in Hungary faced disadvantages, including unequal treatment, discrimination, segregation and harassment.
[64] During World War II, although Ireland was officially neutral, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera was accused of sympathizing with and supporting the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler in Germany.
In 2005, Minister of State for Overseas Development, Conor Lenihan famously advised Socialist politician Joe Higgins to "stick with the kebabs" – referring to his campaigning on behalf of Turkish contract workers who had been paid less than the statutory minimum wage.
[74] In February 2008, two Polish mechanics, Paweł Kalita (29) and Mariusz Szwajkos (27) were attacked by a group of Dublin youths and died outside their home after each being stabbed in the head with a screwdriver.
The Mayor of Naas Darren Scully was forced to resign on 22 November 2011 over comments on live radio about the "aggressive attitude" of "black Africans".
[77][78] In June 2020, Hazel Chu, a Green Party politician and Irish woman of Chinese heritage, was elected to the office of Lord Mayor of Dublin.
In contrast, the US scored highest among all the countries surveyed, being more welcoming to people of different races and ethnic groups than even the highest-scoring European nation, the UK.
Geert Wilders, leader of far-right populist party PVV, was also accused of indirectly supporting the violent behavior of the pro-Zwarte Piet movement by tweeting: "There is only 1 #blackpete and he is BLACK!"
[91] In December 2020, news broke out about a Syrian refugee family living in the town of Heerlen facing violent acts by neighbors; allegedly due to racism.
In 2020, Bissau-Guinean-born parliament member Joacine Katar Moreira from the left-wing Livre (Free) party introduced a bill for Lisbon to return artworks to their countries of origin.
In response to this, Ventura posted a racist comment on social media: Joacine is herself sent back to her country of origin”[15] Romani people are the most hated ethnic group in Romania.
By the beginning of the 20th century, most European Jews lived in the so-called Pale of Settlement, the Western frontier of the Russian Empire consisting generally of the modern-day countries of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and neighboring regions.
[107] The main outcome of 2009 was a clear reduction in the number of victims of racist and neo-Nazi motivated violence for the first time in six years of observation conducted by SOVA Center.
Several players in the Spanish league including Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o and Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni have suffered and spoken out against the abuse.
[129] In 2012, Swedish Minister for Culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth was labelled a racist by The Afro-Swedish Society (Afro-svenskarnas riksförbund) because she cut up a cake in the shape of a naked African woman in public.
[130][131][132][133] In 2015, a mass stabbing occurred when a Swedish man motivated by opposition to immigration attacked four people at a school in Trollhättan with a sword, killing three, before committing suicide by cop.
Diène pointed out that representatives of minority communities said they experienced serious racism and discrimination, notably for access to public services (e.g. health care), employment and lodging.
The Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) conducted in 2023 has shown the prevalence of racism faced by ethnic and religious groups in Britain.
