Rising racism in the West

The right-wing government of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has angrily denied charges of racism against its coalition partners. Such accusations have been made in a recent UN report on xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The rebirth of racist and xenophobic movements in Western Europe today needs to be analysed against the background of the socio-economic changes taking place there, including the politicisation of immigration issue. In Western Europe, the resurgence of extremist right-wing politics has been seen as a phenomenon caused by economic crisis or rapid influx of non-occidental immigrants into hitherto "homogenous" societies. In France, the leading racist and xenophobic party is the Front National, which garnered 17 per cent of the national vote in the presidential elections in the early part of this decade. One of the main goals of the Front's platform, based on hate and exclusion, is to give preference for jobs and housing to nationals and Europeans and to immediately expel all illegal immigrants. In Germany, there are also three xenophobic and anti-Semitic parties. These include the German People's Union, the German National Democratic Party and the Republicans. The country's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution reported in the not-too-distant past that there were 169 extreme right-wing groups in Germany. In Britain, the leading extremist political group is the British National Party (BNP). A study conducted by the European Union Accession Monitoring Programme had earlier stated that the BNP honed its "racism into a specifically anti-Muslim message." A new racist party, the 'November 9th Society', which was established in 2004, "openly proclaims its status as a British Nazi party with a platform based on the theories of Hitler and the superiority of the Aryan race," according to the UN study. The study has also singled out racism in Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and Russia. The situation in Russia is "becoming particularly worrisome, with an increase in violence against Muslims." Racism is also on the rise in North America, defined as the United States and Canada. The number of extremist groups in that region, such as the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi groups and people's militias, is believed to be rising fast. To this is added the post-September 11 situation, that has brought a resurgence of activities among racist and xenophobic groups and increased the level of violence, in particular against specific individuals and communities: Muslims, Arabs and Asians. A concerned non-Bangladeshi resident, New York, USA Sir Fazle is exemplary CONGRATULATIONS to BRAC Founder-chairman Sir Fazle Hasan Abed upon being awarded the first World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) laureate in recognition of his dedication to education in Bangladesh and across the world. The award, presented in Doha in the presence of 1300 distinguished representatives from 104 countries across the globe, brings great honour to Sir Fazle personally, Bangladesh generally, and all the BRAC employees collectively whose dedication and continual exemplary good work contributed handsomely to it. It always uplifts my heart and engenders great hope when I see Bangladeshis do well on the world stage, as Musa Ibrahim, MA Muhit and Wasfia Nazreen did earlier with their mountain-climbing accomplishments. Sir Fazle, no doubt you are one in 155.5 million and exemplary to the highest degree in all that you do. Sir Frank Peters Gulshan e-mail : sirfrankpeters@googlemail.com