Alerta Alerta Dutch antifascists! On sunday November 13th PEGIDA is planning another racist march in Den Haag. Join the antifascist counter-demonstration and let’s show them once again that their fascism won’t be tolerated in the Netherlands!
you know comparing neo nazi attacks and radical islamic terrorism to see which is worse is really fucking disgusting right? the message you're sending that we have to worry about neo nazi attacks more because they're the ones that happen more at home (as in america and western europe) and not the countless of innocent people being massacred in the middle east because of the war (but i guess we don't live there so who gives a shit) i'm just saying these issues shouldn't be compared to each other
1) Islamphobes/racists/xenophobes have been very vocal about closing borders and denying safe haven to refugees.
2) When people point out the Islamophobia/racism/xenophobia inherent in taking such a stance, the anti-refugee lot invariably say “look, we’re worried about terrorism!”
3) But if they were actually worried about terrorism, they’d be advocating for the deportation of people like themselves - Islamophobes, racists, and xenophobes - since quite clearly they are 2x-to-5x more likely to kill someone than the alleged “terrorists” hiding among the refugees that absolutely need safe refuge, quite often from terrorist attacks happening in their home countries.
4) So: bigots are only alarmed about terrorism when they can use it to disguise their bigotry. Ironically, they’re far more likely to commit terrorist violence than the people they claim to be so concerned with.
In no way were we trying to say that we shouldn’t worry about the plight of refugees or feel a moral duty to do everything we can to protect them, including welcoming them to our communities. Frankly, we’re a little gobsmacked that you could take it that way, especially considering everything we’ve posted over the last couple of years on this blog advocating for refugees.
Okay non-European tumblr, I’m gonna explain to you why ‘white’ isn’t as simple here as it is in the rest of the world
- Shades of white in Europe range from ‘freshly fallen snow’ to ‘I am frequently mistaken as being from the Middle East’
- White European is a thing. When you fill out a form, under ethnicity, there are several options for white; white British, white European, white other. Because people make that distinction
- There are Europeans who don’t class their ethnicity as their skin colour, but as their nationality. I have family who don’t think of themselves as white, they just think of themselves as Italian and don’t really give much thought to their skin colour
- People here in Britain always question if darker skinned white Europeans are ‘actually white’. I get it a lot myself. My response is always ‘well I’m not anything else, so obviously I must be’
- Despite being white, a lot of Europeans from Italy, Greece, Spain etc, don’t feel white in the traditional sense. We’re not white like white British people. We’re not white like white Americans. We’re our own white. White British is one thing. White Italian is another thing. White Greek is another, etc
- Which is why we have this notion here in Europe of ‘nationality over race’. Being white isn’t as important as where you’re from
- So this really only becomes an issue if you’re an immigrant
- So being white in Europe doesn’t save you from racial discrimination, because sure, you’re technically white, but you’re not white white. Not the right white
- Here in England, Europeans with really blatantly foreign names, such as myself, find it more difficult to get job interviews, because they take one look at our name and don’t bother reading the rest of the CV. A guy I know was actually told by his boss to reduce the pile of CVs he had by ‘chucking away any with a name you can’t fucking pronounce’
- And then even when you do get an interview, half the time you walk into the joint several shades darker than everyone else and feel like you’ve walked into the ‘Swedish supermodel’ clubhouse and you just know you’re not getting hired
This is all basic stuff and it’s very much taken for granted here. Race and ethnicity are not as clear cut, so it can be very confusing for non-Europeans to wrap their heads around. Which is fine. But I implore you to stay in your lane, because when you say things like ‘no white person anywhere in the world ever knows what it’s like to face racial discrimination’, it’s really fucking offensive to all of the European immigrants who are denied jobs, harassed by the police and beaten by racists, because foreign is foreign to these people, and they don’t give a shit if you’re technically white. So when you mean white American, say white American.
This doesn’t just apply to “darker skin” Europeans either (which I’m sure some Americans would argue are POC for some reason or other). Try being slavic in Western Europe. Hell, try being Sinti or Roma in any part of Europe.
Especially in the UK you can be as white as you like but if you aren’t from Britain (or in some cases just England) then you face discrimination. It really isn’t that clear cut in Europe and it drives me mad when people say white people can’t experience racism because that’s such a US-centric idea.
And if you’re from anywhere in South-East Europe then you should prepare for your country to be slandered in every UK paper. Seriously, you can’t turn on the news, go on the internet, read a newspaper, without being told how Romanian, Ukrainian, Polish people are a drain on the UK’s resources and they should be banned from the country. And guess what?
(That’s Mila Kunis. She was born in the Ukraine.)
(Sebastian Stan. From Constanta, Romania.)
(Mia Wasikowska, from Poland)
(Nina Dobrev, who was born in Bulgaria.)
They are white! Just because they are white, it doesn’t mean people from their countries cannot face horrible discrimination, and it doesn’t mean that they can’t be constantly told that they don’t work as hard as people from Western Europe, and that they don’t deserve basic human rights.
So just before you force your ignorance onto people who don’t hold the same views as you due to where they live operating in a different way, just remember that not everybody lives in America.
Here it is guys, the post that finally puts what I’ve been trying to say for far too long into words!
…I didn’t know Sebastian Stan was Romanian.
But as somebody who has lived in England and the US, I can vouch for all of this. The race issues in Europe and the race issues in the US are not the same.
For the last few years, there has been an awful backlash against immigrants from Poland, with some of the same language used that Americans use about “Mexicans” (By which, half the time, they mean anyone from south of the US/Mexico border).
It’s worth understanding that
1. Racism and discrimination are everywhere.
2. They don’t take the same form everywhere.
I have lived in England for over 10 years now, and can confirm all of the above. As soon as I open my mouth people can tell, of course, that I was not born and raised British.
I was yelled at in the street because a lady thought I was Polish. People have pushed their chairs into my parents and insulted them in a restaurant because they were recognised as Germans.
Being white is not that cut and dry over here.
And being “socially” white as opposed to just pale skinned evolves over time. I mean, there have been times in America when Irish and Italian people have not been considered “white”.
READ THIS POST IF YOURE AMERICAN
Look at the abuse aimed at Eastern Europeans in Britain after brexit. There’s definitely still intense stigma and othering aimed at people who are black/middle Eastern/Asian/etc, and it shouldn’t be ignored or denied, but there’s also a lot of othering and hostility towards people who would just be labeled “white” in the USA.
If somebody from a different place with a different history and context of racism is talking about that, don’t immediately accuse them of making up oppression or denying racism (I mean, unless they’re the dipshits you sometimes see trying to pull the “we don’t have real racism here uwu that’s just an American thing sweaty uwu,” but people like that are almost always spoiled brat Westerners)
I’ve only been in England for about a month, but I’ve already been asked to clarify if I’m white irish or white english and I’m so confused. I’m Canadian?
Yeah, nationalism is more frequent in Europe
THIS! FINALLY!
As someone above mentioned, try being Slavic. Even Hitler labeled us as subhumans!
On Tuesday Sept 27 2016, antifas gathered in Malmö to send a salute
and forethought to antifascists in Helsinki and the relatives of Jimi
Karttunen, who was murdered two weeks earlier by the finish nazis of the
nordic resistance movement. This action took place on the same day as
the appeal against the nazis Andreas Carlsson and Martin Clausen was
submitted. These are the nazis that attacked our comrades in Malmö on
the night of March 9, 2014. That night we almost lost good friends and
comrades by the nazi violence. The assassination of Jimi Karttunen is
another tragic reminder that the best defense against fascism is
continuous work to eradicate the roots before they bloom.
A
salute of sorrow to Jimi Karttunen’s family - we share your pain.
Strength and salute to our antifa comrades in Finland - we share your
struggle..
Solidarity without borders / antifascism is always self-defense!
.express. co. uk/news/world/644827/ refugees-committed-crimes-Germany-migrant-crisis-last-year which statistics to trust? how do you know whch one to trust
We’re going to go out on a limb here and say that most people familiar with both media outlets (or anyone glancing at both outlet’s “top stories”) would say that DW is more credible and less sensationalist than the Daily Express.
Also worth noting: the Daily Express article relies entirely on an alleged “leaked report.” The DW article relies on a published report, which means it’s much easier to verify.
So then: taking out only the 154,188 illegal entry/border crossing crimes, now the amount of crimes the Daily Fucking Express article you’ve referenced claims that refugees committed in Germany in 2015 goes down by 75%! Which means that if you don’t count “illegal entry/border crossing” in your list of crimes committed by refugees in Germany, you find that in 2015 they were responsible for four-fifths of one percent of the crime there. Since refugees living in Germany by the end of 2015 made up 1.9% of the population (a)(b)(c), this means that 1.9% of the population of Germany committed .8% of crimes. Which would mean that refugees in Germany are statistically less-likely to commit crimes there than German citizens.
Bottom line here: when a paper as disreputable as the Daily Fucking Express (they published an article claiming that global warming was a “the greatest scam in history” just last year, for crying out loud!) publishes a hysterical piece about a refugee crime wave based on a “leaked report” that provides no context for interpreting the numbers (numbers which turn out to be nowhere near the actual published crime stats), maybe you shouldn’t take their word for it.
