Racism a testament to scapegoating
THE opinion piece by Ben Dror Yemini on the “illusion” of the multicultural ideal is a deeply incorrect account of the “rise” of immigrant violence in Europe.
Nasc, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre, is concerned his arguments, clothed in the language of European ideals, incites intolerance, particularly against Muslim immigrants.
Scapegoating Muslims — or any immigrants — is an incredibly dangerous path to start down and can lead to the very violence Yemini claims to reject. The recent rise of racism and racist violence in Europe — an issue President Michael D Higgins has recently addressed — is already a testament to this.
Mr Yemini uses the purported “rise” of immigrant riots as a basis to challenge the ideals of multiculturalism and integration. He links recent riots in Stockholm, after the police shot a Portuguese immigrant, to the “ritual slaughter” of a soldier in London as if these events emanate from the same source.
Violence and riots are indeed on the rise throughout Europe. However immigrants are not the only actors. In fact, more often than not they are targets. Increasingly throughout Europe we are witnessing violence aimed at immigrants rather than violence perpetrated by immigrants.
Indeed, a quick scan of the news across Europe would emphasise that the bulk of antisocial violence in Europe is actually coming from far-right groups such as Jobbik in Hungary or the English Defence League (EDL) in the UK.
UK-based helpline Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) has been tracking anti-Muslim attacks for the past year and have noted that Islamophobic crimes there are on the rise. Attacks against women form the bulk of the incidents they have reported and the majority of perpetrators of these attacks have links with far-right groups such as the EDL and the British National Party (BNP).
The fact that the majority of victims are women is particularly poignant considering Yemini’s own claim that the treatment of women is a “litmus test” for integration. As Yemini himself notes, when it comes to integration, “it takes two to tango”.
Antisocial violence stems from alienation and disaffection. The sources of this violence — lack of employment, social deprivation, discrimination, — affect non-migrants and migrants alike.
The EU recently released figures which found youth unemployment throughout Europe has risen above 24%. If we want to identity the causes for the recent violent outbursts in Sweden for example, this is surely it.
Targeting those of different religions and cultures is just an excuse, and becomes the easy rationale for the disaffected to inflict violence on those communities.
Particularly worrying in Yemini’s article is his specific targeting of Muslim immigrants. He writes: “The fact is that ‘rioting immigrants’ is a euphemism, a code for ‘Muslim immigrants’.”
A closer examination show the majority of violence in Europe over the last several months has involved a wide range of actors, both migrants and non-migrants with all sorts of religious beliefs.
Although there has been a rise in racism and racist attacks in Ireland, such as the recent anti-semitic graffiti in Dublin, we have thankfully not witnessed the same levels of the violence that seems to be on the rise in Europe.
If the proposed cure for the “illusion” of multiculturalism and integration is Yemini’s brand of intolerance, which includes targeting Muslims and categorising ethnic minorities as deserving and undeserving, it is our belief this is not a cure that the majority of Irish society would want.
The Irish have had their fare share of ethnic targeting in the past — there were times when being Irish in the UK was extremely difficult, when all Irish were seen as “terrorists”. Targeting Muslims today, conflating a whole community with the actions of individuals, creates the conditions for violence. It does not stem it.
President Higgins had it right last week when he called on all of us to hold fast to the ideal of a “human Europe” that celebrates the human spirit to stem the rising tide of racism and violence.
This includes the protection of our democratic ideals of democracy, equality and tolerance — the ideals that allow us to believe in multiculturalism and integration, to collectively combat hatred and intolerance in all its forms.
