During difficult periods in a country’s history, its citizens undergo feelings of dispossession, as well as a sense of a loss of national, social or religious belonging. During these times, immigrants, whatever their contribution to the countries in which they may find themselves, always bear the brunt of non-immigrant anger at what is perceived to be the economic and other ills they have brought on the societies in which they find themselves.
Right-wing politics and anti-immigration
During such difficult times, right-wing and opportunistic politicians have cashed in on immigrant resentment by casting themselves as being anti-immigration, while adopting hard-line approaches that have ultimately ostracized immigrants and transformed them, overnight, from being model citizens into pariahs.
Historical examples of anti-immigrant resentment
There are several examples of this. In both the United States and Canada, following the bombing of Pearl Harbour, US and Canadian citizens of Japanese descent; the foreign born Japanese immigrants (the Issei) and their Canadian and American born children (the Nissei), were branded as enemy aliens and were relocated en masse to camps that had been specifically created for them.
During this time, in British Columbia, Canada, the Canadian government, following demands in the papers, cancelled the fishing licenses of Japanese fishermen, seized their vessels and then handed over these vessels to Caucasian fisher folk; this persecution was justified as a “defense measure.”
In Germany, after the National Socialist German Workers Party (the Nazi Party) came into power in the 1930s, the party commenced its campaign to rid the country of what it described as the “filthy Jew,” whom, together with communists, the party blamed for all the ills that plagued German society.
In a more recent example, Idi Amin of Uganda, casting himself as the “General” in an economic war, and riding the wave of Ugandan resentment against Indians, declared that Indians were sabotaging the economy and hoarding wealth to the detriment of indigenous Ugandans. Thus on August 4, 1972, his military government issued an ultimatum giving Uganda’s approximately 70,000 Indians, 90 days to leave the country.
Anti-immigrant sentiments have thus always led to both a defacto and dejure ostracization and persecution immigrant populations.
Anti-immigration sentiments in Europe
Chilling anti-immigrant sentiments are once again afoot in Europe. A wave of xenophobia is sweeping the continent and the targets are Muslims.
Right-wing populism has existed in Europe for many years. The current version of right-wing populism is different, however, from what has hitherto existed. It is not based on a general anger against foreigners and the establishment, but against a specific variety of foreignness; namely Islam. Right wing politicians have latched onto a growing widespread resistance to what is perceived to be the Islamization of Europe; in reality the increasing visibility of Islam in Europe, to the detriment of so-called European values.
In the Netherlands, populist and anti-Islam party leader Geert Wilders, riding on his promise to outlaw immigration from Islamic countries, gained significant seats in the country's recent parliamentary election; enough to require that the other right-wing parties seek his support for a minority government.
Islam has existed in Europe for many years, so what accounts for the wave of anti-Islam sentiment that is sweeping Europe? The answer is the perception of the threat of terrorism and the fear of the unknown.
Although Islam has existed in Europe for many years, the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, as well as other attacks in other cities, have given rise to the perception that terrorism is a sine qua non of Islam. Hence, the popularized claim of Islamophobes that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but (nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.
The Europol Terrorism Reports
The statistics, however, does not support this claim. A 2009 Europol report indicates that 99.6% of terrorist attacks in Europe were by non-Muslim groups, with 84.8% of attacks being from separatist groups that were totally unrelated to Islam.
Indeed, in 2008, radical leftist groups accounted for more than sixteen times as much terrorism in Europe as radical Islamic groups. According to the Europol Report, only 0.4% of terrorist attacks from 2007 to 2009 are attributable to Muslims extremists.
The Report concludes that “Islamist terrorism is still perceived as being the biggest threat worldwide, despite the fact that the EU only faced one Islamist terrorist attack in 2008. This bomb attack took place in the UK…Separatist terrorism remains the terrorism area which affects the EU most. This includes Basque separatist terrorism in Spain and France, and Corsican terrorism in France”
An identical conclusion is reached by the 2010 Europol Report which also notes that although Islamist terrorists have threatened EU Member States with indiscriminate terrorist attacks, aiming at indiscriminate mass casualties, “the number of arrests relating to Islamist terrorism (110) decreased by 41 % compared to 2008, which continues the trend of a steady decrease since 2006.”
Perception has thus become the reality and the perception and fear of Islam, has been fanned by right-wing propagandists, and their media machinery.
Though many Muslims in Europe are patriotic and call the European countries in which they find themselves home, for right wing politicians the definition of who is French, German, Dutch, British or Swiss, does not include them.
Although countries like Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland and the UK see themselves as being democratic, the rising wave of anti-Islam sentiment is chilling because it is no different from the anti-Islam sentiments that preceded the waves of ethnic cleansing occurred in places such as Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. It is not a desirable development.
Sources
EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, TE-SAT 2009 (Europol, 2009)
EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, TE-SAT 2010 (Europol, 2010)
Edmund Kwaw - Edmund Kwaw is a freelance writer and the Founder and Executive Director of the Gift of Music Foundation; a Canadian Private Foundation ...
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