Thread: NPR immigration story "Europe's Right Turn"

(my note- ARE THESE ALREADY UP ON THE BOARDS? I didn't see them.)


(1) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=6505851

Europe's Right Turn
Europe Looks Inward, Tilts to the Right
by Sylvia Poggioli


NPR.org, November 20, 2006 · A mood of nationalist introspection is sweeping over Europe.

The Sept. 11 attacks, the bombings in Madrid and London, the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, the French ghetto riots and violent reactions by many Muslims to the Mohammed cartoons published by a Danish paper, are producing an anti-immigrant backlash bordering on xenophobia.

Language taboos are being broken, politically correct discourse is being challenged and even European leftists are beginning to debate the limits of tolerance. They are also starting to acknowledge the failure of four decades of immigration policies -- based on idealistic multiculturalism and/or condescending benign neglect -- that have produced separate, parallel societies of immigrants.

The inward-looking climate throughout the continent is playing into the hands of right-wing political parties that until recently had been stigmatized as unacceptable in proper European society. The radical populist right is scoring electoral successes from Poland to Austria, from Switzerland to Germany.

In January, Romania and Bulgaria will join the European Union, bringing their own right-wing politicians to swell the ranks of the right in the European Parliament. For the first time, Europe's extreme rightists will have sufficient numbers of deputies to form their own political group in the Parliament. This will provide a powerful platform for anti-immigrant and Euro-skeptic politicians.

The impact of globalization on European economies and rising unemployment are producing a growing sense of insecurity and loss of national identity. Xenophobic and nationalist slogans that had always been the purview of the hard right, are now becoming part of mainstream politics. More and more neo-conservative parties are putting aside their free-market, small-government strategies and focusing almost exclusively on immigration -- which in Europe is code for Muslim immigration.

The new slogans being heard throughout Europe -- even from social democrats -- are: tighter rules on welfare benefits for immigrants; expulsion of illegal immigrants; strict limits on new immigration and family reunifications; and specific requirements to obtain residency and citizenship. The latter include courses in civic values and languages of the host societies.

In a bid to determine whether newcomers can adapt to its liberal society, the Netherlands is going so far as to show prospective immigrants a video of naked women at the seaside and gay men nuzzling in a park. The premise is that anyone who is offended by these images would not be able to adapt and should not be allowed in. More and more, the word assimilation is being heard rather than integration.

This series of reports follows two previous ones aired in 2003 and 2004 that focused on Muslims in Europe. Here, we are focusing on three host societies:

• Denmark, the icon of welfare-state progressivism, where a liberal open-door policy has been replaced by the toughest immigration policy in Europe;

• Belgium, home of one of Europe's most successful ultra-right wing parties. In the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders, Vlaams Belang is the biggest political force. It is kept out of power thanks to a governing pact among all the other political parties.

• France, the bad boy of French and European politics, ultrarightist Jean-Marie Le Pen is again causing alarm in the political establishment. Polls show him with double the support he had at the same time before the 2002 presidential elections, when he shocked Europe with his sensational second-place finish.

(2) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=6516192

Europe's Right Turn
Popular Belgian Party Rejects Multicultural Society
by Sylvia Poggioli


“We can't allow that they come to our country, that they come to Europe, and they keep their own culture, their own religion -- Islamic religion -- which is not always compatible with our way of life, our culture.”
Filip Dewinter, head of the Flemish party Vlaams Belang


Europe Tilts Right
A mood of nationalist introspection is sweeping over Europe. The Sept. 11 attacks, the bombings in Madrid and London, and the controversy over Danish Mohammed cartoons, are producing an anti-immigrant backlash bordering on xenophobia. Sylvia Poggioli has an overview.

Morning Edition, November 21, 2006 · Anti-immigrant sentiment is spreading across Europe, boosting support for populist, right-wing parties. One of the most successful is in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Backers of the party, known as Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest Party) criticize Muslim immigrants for failing to assimilate.

In the Vlaams Belang's stronghold of Hoboken, on the outskirts of Antwerp, the party soared in local elections last month. It won 41 percent of the vote, far ahead of all other parties.

Sitting at the bar of a smoky cafe, school bus driver Eric Delawer says this working-class town used to vote socialist. But in recent years, with the influx of large numbers of Muslim immigrants, he says the people of Hoboken have turned to Vlaams Belang.

"The immigrants don't integrate," he says. "They separate themselves from us. They want to stay among themselves. I say, if they don't adapt to our customs, the only option is to send them back to their home countries."

In the nearby marketplace, an elderly woman, Therese Muns, says problems with immigrants and law and order are closely linked.

"We are scared," she says. "...we are afraid to go out at night. You have to watch your purse and money... When you walk down the street, they don't step aside, they don't have respect for older people, it is not like it used to be."

It's not just the indigenous Flemish population that's feeling scared.

At Koninjlik High School, where most girls wear headscarves, the student body is nearly 100 percent from immigrant backgrounds.

"I don't go anywhere," says Said Boumazoughe, 19. "I just stay here in the neighborhood..."

The student was born here of Moroccan parents. He wants to continue his studies and become a teacher, but he feels uncertain about his future.

"The reaction of the people who vote for Vlams Belang, that makes me scared because I cannot trust them," Boumazoughe says.

His social studies teacher, Sarah Van Leuvenhaege, says this school is officially called a "concentration" school. She calls Hoboken's other high school a "white" school. It has only ethnic Flemish students.

"I don't mind teaching kids from Morocco or Turkey," she says. "But I do mind that my class is not representative... of Belgian society. That is a problem. They are only hearing stories and things from their own societies."

Growing mutual suspicion and the gulf between the Flemish and immigrants' parallel societies are the pillars of Vlaams Belang's propaganda.

"We are not in favor of the famous multicultural society," says Filip Dewinter, the party's leader.

"We do not have a problem with legal immigrants if they are willing to assimilate to our culture, our way of life, our values...." he says. "But we can't allow that they come to our country, that they come to Europe, and they keep their own culture, their own religion -- Islamic religion -- which is not always compatible with our way of life, our culture."

When Dewinter speaks of culture, he means Flemish -- not Belgian. In fact, the party's other big issue is a demand for separation from the poorer, less-productive French-speaking part of Belgium, which is seen as more laissez-faire toward the influx of Muslim immigrants.

Stefaan Walgrave, a professor of political science at the University of Antwerp, says that the party's base used to be working-class, but it has now become mainstream.

Vlams Belang is also the biggest political force in Flanders. But it's stigmatized by all the other parties which have formed an unlikely coalition whose only common cause is keeping the far right out of power.

Tuur Van Wallendael, of the ruling Socialist Party, acknowledges that the establishment boycott does not prevent the pariah's message from getting through.

"We made immigration law more strict..." he says. "There are no new immigrants coming into this country legally… we simply say no."

The government has also stiffened its anti-crime policy, making it harder to get early prison release. Prisons are full, and three-quarters of inmates are of immigrant backgrounds.

The ruling coalition is also introducing measures to ensure immigrants' integration -- such as required language and civic culture courses.

This new emphasis on assimilation to Flemish society and culture infuriates Muslim activists.

Lebanese-born Dyab Abou Jahjah founded the Arab European League to defend Muslims' traditions and religious rights. He justifies Muslim immigrants resorting to violent protest when they feel oppressed.

"When you don't give them that full citizenship, then they flip as a citizen should, and they throw Molotov cocktails and they throw stones...."

Originally Posted by ShockedinCalifornia

politically correct discourse...

Only Left-wing fanatics talk like this. Everyone on this board knows that "political correctness" is nothing more than a new, dressed up form of bigotry and racism spoken by wealthy people who somehow convinced American universities to take them on as faculty so they could spend their days doing nothing...

Illegal immigration is a huge problem facing Europe and America.
The western world is being over-run by the 3rd world and no one in power seems to be doing anything about it even though a majority of the citizens of America and European countries want it stopped.

If this goes un-checked Europe will become muslim and America will become latino.

I just watched special on PBS about Turkey trying to get into the EU and facing strong opposition. I hope for Europe's sake they never cave in. If they do, Turkey, being in the EU as a 98% muslim country would be an open door for any and all muslims from their stone age countries to move into Europe through Turkey.

Folks we are living in a global nightmare.

Europe is starting to wise up and fight back and that apparently scares this lefty author above.

W

Folks we are living in a global nightmare.

No argument there.

This shift is viewpoint in Europe, while not unwelcome to this person, does bear watching. Historically Europeans has a tendency to go overboard when they change directions. Socialism was embraced wholeheartedly after WWII, and I think we all know what happened LAST time a few European nations took a turn like this against the perceived "outsider". I for one don't want to see another round of camps and a continent reduced to piles of ruble.