(I know there have already been a few posts about this, and that's encouraging, but I want to add my perspective)
This last week, nations across Europe went to the polls to vote for MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) which is one body of the European Union. The European Union is an economic and political organization uniting most nations across Europe. While nations in Europe retain the bulk of their national decision-making power, the EU seeks to preserve peace in Europe by tying all nations together economically and socially. To anybody who thinks these are good goals, the results of the latest election should be…shocking.
This is a video that ran before the election that should put the issue into context:
More below the fold:
The far-right (and by far right I mean racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic) parties that Rainer Höss (in the above video) warned people about performed horrifying well in the recent elections. But I doubt it will be a headline in any American newspaper tomorrow, because who cares, right?
In the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom Independence Party won a plurality of votes in their national election. The UKIP is filled with delightful positions, such as believing that “multiculturalism has split our society” and that they pledge to, “end support for multiculturalism and promote one, common British culture.” The delightful leader of this party, Mr. Nigel Farage, suggested that, “[...] any normal and fair-minded person would have a perfect right to be concerned if a group of Romanian people suddenly moved in next door.”
In France, the National Front (FN) also won a plurality of the vote. The party was founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, a man who once tried to diminish Nazi gas chambers as “a mere detail” of World War II, and proudly proclaimed that “all races are not equal”. His daughter now leads the party, who has said of Islamic people: “They are advancing in the neighborhoods. They are putting pressure on the population. They are recruiting young boys” to train for jihad. She warms of “Islamization” within France, and the party platform promotes one singular French culture.
In Denmark, the Danish People’s Party placed first. The party proudly boasts in its platform that, “Denmark is not an immigrant country and have never been. We will not accept a multi-ethnic transformation of the country.”
In Greece, the Golden Dawn Party got a horrifying 10% of the vote. The party leader, Nikos Mihaloliakos has openly said, “Yes, we are racist and nationalist and we are not hiding that.” Party members have praised figures in Nazi Germany, and boldly proclaim that “Greece belongs to Greeks”.
This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a comprehensive list of all extreme right parties that did well. Just a small sample.
Americans are also struggling with embracing diversity. We are not perfect — far from it. We have laws and institutions targeting people of race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. And we can — and we must — fight ethnocentrism here within our own borders. As responsible world citizens, however, we cannot turn a blind eye to what happens across the ocean (or for that matter, anywhere in the world).
Hate is not okay. Discrimination is not okay. Racism, sexism, bigotry, homophobia, xenophobia, ethnocentrism are not okay. But they are all heading to a European Parliament near you, so I think we all ought to know.
Lest we forget.
5:56 PM PT: Because people were having trouble with the automatically translated websites I linked to, there are now two links that lead to non-English pages. If you wish to translate these, I recommend "https://translate.google.com" and you can punch in the URL of the webpage and get the entire thing translated :)