|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
On European Racism
| Article
# : |
19919 |
|
|
Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
|
| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1992 |
4,936 Words |
| Author
: |
Lincoln Allison
Lincoln Allison is senior lecturer of politics at the
University of Warwich in England. He is author of A Journey
Quite Different: Collected Walks, Manchester University Press
(1988). |
Thirty years ago, Europeans associated "race problems" with South Africa and the United States. They were not considered to be a feature of the European nation-states, whose politics were primarily about class. There is no doubt that all that has changed now, and a common pattern of race relations has emerged over most of Western Europe. The political stability and economic success of the European economies, combined with the opposite circumstances in their former colonies and dependencies, attracted waves of migrants, who initially filled job that carried low status and income. In most cases, many immigrants and their progeny constitute 5 to 10 percent of state populations.
The pattern of politics generated by this demographic change is broadly similar: Liberal elites establish norms of tolerance and human rights; less privileged sectors of the indigenous population react in "racist' ways, which vary from expressions of cultural distaste to street terrorism to support for racist parties; immigrant groups, especially in the second generation, raise their economic and political expectations and make demands upon the system. The protests of the poor whites are supported by a limited number of intellectuals, who are still prepared to espouse certain ideas about ethnicity and national identity that have been generally considered unrespectable since 1945.
This general pattern applies to Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium most clearly, though most of its features are duplicated in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. The similarities are very superficial and simplistic, and in most respects, differences between states are more important. Greece, Portugal, and Spain, largely because of the relative lateness of their political and economic development, do not share the same problems, nor do the northern and eastern European countries outside the European Community.
Comparison soon generates contrast when even the broadest details are investigated. The 5 percent of Britain's population in question is very diverse. The trading traditions of the Asians who came from Guyana and East Africa and of the Cantonese from Hong Kong are at the opposite end of a spectrum from the culture of immigrants from some parts of the Caribbean. Sikhs from the Punjab have relatively little difficulty in integrating or succeeding in British society. Bengalis from what is now Bangladesh have poor records even of mastering English. By contrast, the minorities in France and Germany are much more homogeneous. The overwhelming majority of the 2 million foreign "guest workers" in Germany are Turkish; France's 3 million people of
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
