Europe's Racist Reality Check

By Irish Defence Forces from Ireland - IMG_0034, CC BY 2.0

Racism is a reality in Germany and across Europe.  In fact, some of Europe's most liberal places are experiencing a rapid rise in far-right, nationalistic politics. In tandem with the United States racist, right-wing MAGA movement, led by former president, Donald Trump, essentially the same is happening across Europe. Viktor Orbán, the president of Hungary, calls liberal democracy "a virus" that is destroying the EU. Mr. Orban is an ally of Russia and China, and a big fan of Donald Trump.  At the European CPAC summit last year, T-shirts were sold that showed Orbán and Trump side-by-side being hailed as “saviors of the world”.  Orban is perhaps the most visible example of the EU's growing fascist surge, but he's hardly alone.  In the UK the leader of England's police force has just declared its police polices to be "institutionally racist," and in the Netherlands, which has been a shining light for liberal democracy around the world has just elected far-right populist leader Geert Wilders of the the PVV (Freedom Party), as the leader of the Dutch parliament. Among other things, the PVV has vowed to ban mosques and is pursuing a much more restrictive immigration policies.  Italy's current leader is no stranger to far-right fascism - the same can be said for Austria.  In France, there's the far-right leaders, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella,who have been gaining ground in recent years, and in Germany the AFD political party, sometimes colloquially referred to as the redesigned Nazi party, is gaining ground as well, especially in East Germany.  When I decided to move to Europe last year, I knew there would be all kinds of challenges, but I didn't really grasp the scope and power of the very stealthy, racist far-right currently sweeping the continent.  With all this acknowledged, I think it explains why I sometimes feel unwanted here.