How about this case of "racism in Arabia" (I'll spare everyone the gruesome picture of the poor girl): http://www.migrant-rights.org/2010/...ured-in-saudi-arabia-another-beaten-to-death/ This week, two cases of severe abuse of Indonesian maids by their Saudi sponsors have surfaced, one of them ending in death and the other in serious injuries. The first case, of 23-year-old Sumiati BT Salan Mustapa was first reported by the Saudi Gazette. This initial report mentioned that Mustapa arrived in Saudi-Arabia in July to work for a family in Madina. On November 6th Mustapa was admitted to a private hospital in Madina injured from head to toe in an unconscious state. The private hospital was unable to treat her serious injuries and she was transferred to the King Fahd hospital. A worker there told the Gazette that Mustapa’s body “was burned on many places, both legs were almost motionless, some parts of her skin on her head were removed and strong marks of old wounds were on her body including skin loss on lips and head, a fractured middle finger and a cut near an eye.” Mustapa also showed signs of malnutrition or excessive blood loss. Didi Wahyudri, Indonesia’s citizen protection consul in Saudi Arabia told CNN that Mustapa was abused from the first day of her employment and that she was beaten badly. According to the Al-Watan newspaper report, “In room 365 at the orthopedic ward in King Fahd Hospital in Madina, Mustapa looked deformed as if her scalp had been peeled off….burns are scattered all over her lean body including her upper lip and fingers…she is bandaged all over and could hardly move or speak.” Report in the online paper Al-Saudia said today (Friday) that Mustapa’s female employer was arrested in connection with the case. According to the Madina police chief, three members of the family were involved in the torture. While the Saudi regime maintains that this is an “individual case” and that “the media have exaggerated the report”, a new story coming from the Saudi town of Abha puts this into question. According to CNN, on November 11th the body of an Indonesian maid, Kikim Komalasari, was found with signs of serious physical abuse on the streets of Abha. According to Indonesian officials, the employer suspected in the attacks was arrested by Saudi authorities. These stories of abuse are of the most extreme kind migrant workers endure in Saudi-Arabia, but abuse is not rare. When employers are given unrestricted powers over their workers in the Saudi sponsorship system, this creates an opportunity for abuse. Migrant workers cannot change sponsors even in cases of abuse, but the sponsors can have the workers repatriated at will, or prevent them from leaving the country. Domestic workers are also excluded from the protection Saudi Arabia’s labor laws offer. This abuse happens because little is done to prevent it.
Does this make it less sad? Makes me twice as sad. I think you're offended. I think you think I don't like you because you're European. I want you to know, if I didn't like you, your being European would probably be the last reason. Anyways, I don't want to derail the thread anymore. This thread is about European racism, and I was asking about how it affects immigrants. If you would like a list of countries which don't keep statistics on their crimes or to talk about the oppression of women in the UAE, feel free to start a thread about it.
Don't you work for a regulator? Why don't you suggest that these statistics are going to be recorded from now on? Interesting comment, considering that the standard response by our young angry islamist posters here when any kind of problems from people "who happen to be muslims" are brought up is to a) pretend it did not happen, b) attack the source, c) point fingers at other groups ("what about the child abuse in the catholic church"; "what about Northern Ireland"). Someone brings up a two-year old, very sad, isolated incident, in which two different immigrants (one from Russia, one from Egypt) had a conflict and the obviously racist and unstable immigrant from Russia committed a terrible murder. Politicians of all parties in Germany condemned this, and many attended the funeral. Outrage was HUGE in Egypt and many politicians used the case for their personal political gain. At the same time, there are many, many more horrible cases of abuse and murder of maids in Saudi-Arabia. Where is the outrage? Why does the government downplay these incidents?
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/330-sri-lankan-maids-died-in-mideast-in-2009-27264.html The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) recorded 330 deaths of Sri Lankan maids in the Middle East in 2009. The figure was revealed at the same time as the bureau called for a full inquiry into the death of a 26-year-old maid at the hands of her Saudi sponsor, in the latest abuse case to be reported in the kingdom. The full facts of the case are not yet known, but a source told Arab News the maid's body was covered in burns and that her sponsor was in custody. The woman had previously written to her parents complaining of abuse, the paper said. Of the 330 deaths the majority are not considered to be murder, the paper reported. However, abuse of domestic helpers, including beatings and denial of pay, is widespread across the Middle East. In September last year, Indonesia indefinitely suspended the traffic of domestic helpers to Kuwait due to concern over widespread abuse and exploitation by their employers. The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh told the paper the country’s mission in Saudi Arabia receives about 10 runaway maids a day.
lol, my job is none of your business. Had I known somebody on the board would be such a douche about it, I wouldn't have even mentioned it. My bad. Terrible things are happening all over the world, I'm not sure how they're related to European racism. I'll let you go on shamelessly derailing this thread.
Just found this horrible story while researching this topic.. This is a couple of years old, I'm going to do some digging to see how this turned out.
How am I a douche about it? Are you in charge of working on the "sponsorship system" that allows people to keep their maids like slaves? If yes, I trust you are putting a lot of energy into revising it so that working and living conditions for these poor people get improved. I followed your suggestion and started a new thread to discuss racism in Arabia. I will agree with you that there are idiots and racists in pretty much every place in the world. Why would I deny that there are people like that in Germany? Obviously, there are. But posting links of isolated incidents does not mean much. What is interesting is to look at how the respective governments treat these issues and how widespread racist attitudes are, so one can think about what could be done - in any place - to overcome them.
Racism in Europe is definitely on the rise, reports show that each year violence is increasing towards visible minorities. I believe there is a poster on Clutchfans who provides us first hand evidence of this hateful attitude. Its sad that people are taking up violence as an answer. http://www.newsweek.com/2008/05/27/italy-s-unwanted.html# Italy’s Unwanted With anti-immigrant violence rising, Amnesty International condemns Rome's new 'climate of discrimination The Pigneto neighborhood is one of the most culturally diverse in Rome. City residents consider it bohemian and flock to its ethnic restaurants and quaint stores. But last weekend the trendiness turned to ugliness when a group of around 20 balaclava-clad men, some wearing bandannas with swastikas, demolished shops and beat up non-Italian shopkeepers—mostly Chinese, Indian and Bangladeshi—with lead pipes and baseball bats. CCTV footage captured much of the violence, and residents reported that the gangs chanted "Get out, b*stard foreigners." Xenophobia is hardly new to Europe. ---------- Xenophobia, Islamophobia and Anti-Immigrants Sentiments Rise Again in Contemporary Europe http://franckduvell.posterous.com/xenophobia-islamophobia-and-anti-immigrants-s ------ World: Europe Anti-immigrant violence flares in Spain http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/396285.stm ------ Right-Wing Violence and the Public Sphere in Germany http://www.princeton.edu/~artspol/conferences/Olzak.pdf
Hmmm, after doing some reading about European racism, I have to wonder if it is the fault of the people because it seems like some racism is indirectly institutionalized in the form of political parties. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/swWxVKmT2PY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/swWxVKmT2PY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object> How can this stuff happen just a few years ago? * I'm not focusing on Germany to annoy anyone, it's just that I AM in Germany and google is giving me results/etc based on my location.
Wow - extremely superficial quick Google search you have done there. You didn't even bother to check the date on that report from Spain. As I said, I do not doubt that racists exist pretty much everywhere in the world. But - fortunately - I do not see any statistically meaningful rise in racism across Europe. In any case, levels of racism do not seem to compare to the systematic exploitation and abuse of migrants in Arabia.
About Zeca Schall and the NPD: Unfortunately, these Neo-Nazis exist. They are like the Ku-Klux-Klan in the USA: Because of free speech considerations, they cannot be completely silenced, even though my personal preference would be to see them all in jail. The encouraging thing is how many regular citizens spoke up for this guy. These issues seem to be more prevalent in former East Germany, where people in general seem to be more xenophobic than in West Germany (which might have to do with people there being poorer and not having had the democratic education the people in the West had since 1945). Par for the course, here are some interesting comments on racism in Dubai from Asians: http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=218516 I am not posting that to deflect from the incidents in Germany, but to illustrate my point that idiots/racists exist everywhere. The question is, are we talking about isolated cases and fringe groups, or are there cultural/legal/ideological conditions which favor this kind of stuff.
Absolutely FASCINATING. So you say the difference between East and West is probably due to the difference in socio-economic conditions, namely education?
I don't know what exactly it is. It could also have to do with religion, actually, as this is one of the big differences between East and West Germany. Most people in the West are either catholic or protestant christians, and also nowadays a lot of muslims. People in the east are largely atheist (due to the long reign of communism). Maybe people in the east were taught less of the typical positive values of the Abrahamic religions. I really don't know. But it's not like everyone in the East is racist and nobody in the West is. It's just more there.
LOL, ok so which of my points are wrong? Please enlighten me, I’m here to “educate” myself. If you think what I say is so ignorant and clearly you know the truth why do you always insult other posters when they say something different and never show any proof. I’ve had difference of opinions with ATW many times we have normal discussions. I even had some nice discussions with Basso, even though we disagree on many things. Let’s hope you are also capable of having a normal discussion, instead of just claiming someone else is wrong and not posting anything else. But I will not be holding my breath for it :grin: Yes Wilders is conservative on many points. Maybe not all points he is sort of difficult to put in the Political spectrum, but in general he is conservative. Atleast IMHO I have many quotes, Do you really want me to quote them? (because then I have to search for them), but you can also take my word for it (it is liking finding quotes of Obama promising Change, and Mccain saying he is a maverick). He derived from the liberals, but in the Dutch political systems the liberal party also has some conservative points. He is not part of the liberal party anymore. People change parties when their views change, just look at Ayaan Hirsi Ali she used to be with the labour party and after that went to the liberal party. But like I said, there are also enough points in which he is not conservative. Maybe their concern is justified (I do not believe that). I wasn’t judging I was simply pointing out the similarities. But if I have to comment on it. Even if his fears are justified, his way of achieving a better world are wrong and can only lead to more polarization. Now he is sort of a self fulfilling prophecy, just keep shouting there is a problem and people will believe you and act on it, which causes the problem to occur. No I also do not believe he deserves to be demonized, however he is demonizing others (in general Muslims) so he shouldn’t complain when it happens to him. We have had this discussion many times, We disagree on the dangers of Islam. And that is ok in my mind, however the problem is that even if his (and your) fears are real than the way Wilders is handling it is not the way, he is only causing more polarization, and making the situation worse. That is the thing I hate about him (that and how unbelievable hypocritical he is).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Europe I thought Wikipedia had some interesting information about racism in Europe. Racism in Europe Germany In the post-World War II era, German reconciliation with its anti-Semitic past has been a protracted experience. Recent concerns about racism have centered around immigrants (Ausländer), who encounter prejudice when seeking jobs and apartments, or can even experience direct violent attacks by some right-wing groups. This pattern is similar to what is happening in some other European countries. The immigrants came in two waves. The first wave of immigrants came in the early 1950s, the so called Gastarbeiter (Guest Workers). They were almost exclusively requested and welcomed by the German government and companies as work-force increase to the growing and booming economy. These well trained working people were literally exchanged by their native countries for economical incentives and came mainly from countries such as Turkey, Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia to West Germany; and Vietnam, Angola and Mozambique to East Germany. Initially, the Gastarbeiter were expected to remain on limited contracts or work-permissions, and then eventually leave. Many of these contracts were extendent and family reunions were granted resulting in children born and raised in Germany. These second generation "Gastarbeiters" were now granted different rights (the right to live indefinitely in Germany - Aufenthaltsberechtigung) from their parents permission to reside for a limited, but for indefinitely extendable time (Arbeitserlaubnis). Problems of integration arose when these second and third generation "Gastarbeiter" remained citizens of other countries in which these generations had never lived and were increasingly culturally, socially and economically alienated. Starting from the 1980s, the second wave of immigrants into Germany were the Asylbewerber (Asylum Seekers) from war torn and conflicted areas such as Sri Lanka, Argentina and Lebanon. Announcing the word "asyl" on German ground meant automatic permission to enter Germany[citation needed], and this part of the law was being at least partially abused by some migrants who were not escaping political and social hardship in their native countries, but economical hardships, called Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge (Economic Refugees). Germany was not prepared and in denial of being a land of migration since at least the 1960s when the first children were being born to 'Gastarbeiter'. A failed integration of the first generation and failed German planning assisted in a general sense of not-belonging and the development of parallel societies that failed to identify themselves completely as part of the German culture and society, creating and enabling racism and discrimination. Sweden According to the report Racism and Xenophobia in Sweden by the Board of Integration, Muslims are exposed to the most religious harassment in Sweden. Almost 40% of the interviewed said they had witnessed verbal abuse directed at Muslims.[25] The famous Swedish botanic researcher Carl Von-Linné (Carl Linnaeus) was also a pioneer in race-biology field. He divided humans to races and related behavioural patterns and claimed blacks are lazy and slow while Europeans are innovative and smart. Sweden outlawed slavery in 1335. Sweden had trade colonies outside of Sweden where slavery was tolerated but performed mostly by other countries (99.9% of transatlantic slave transports was performed by other countries than Sweden).[citation needed] In 2007, there were a total of 3,536 hate crimes (defined as crimes with an ethnic or religious motive) reported to the police, including 118 cases of anti-Semitic agitation.[34] Racism in Sweden is reported to appear within Swedish health-care services as well. A nurse at a Stockholm suburb hospital lost his job after complaining on racial attitudes of the hospital staff to patients with immigrant background. Staff was cited saying "go back to Arabia", "the patient is screaming because it's in his culture", "send him to Auschwitz" and more [35]. Swedish social services have reported on racism in Swedish hospitals as well [36]. A study of statistics Sweden (SCB) reveals that segregation is widespread for Swedish immigrants when there are large differences in the fields of education, housing, employment and politics between immigrants and ethnic Swedes [37]. Sweden has been criticized by the UN human rights council for an increasing number of hate crimes which seldom resulted in criminal charges, when more hate crimes are Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, and homophobic, with an increasing amount of racist propaganda appearing on the internet and in Sweden's schools, for failing to provide adequate health care and education to immigrants, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants and the ongoing discrimination of the Roma and Sami minorities in Sweden.[38] Sweden has recently handed over 22 skulls of Hawaiians from the late 19th century in an official ceremony in Hawaii. Those skulls are only the top of an iceberg of thousands of remains from humans from different parts of the world that were found in Swedish museums and institutes. The remains are defined as a "racial inheritance", however Sweden did not publish how they got into Sweden.[39] In the USA, political commentators like Glenn Beck blasted Sweden for a politico-cultural philospohy akin to the Nazis in the early 20th century.[citation needed] Swedish national television (SVT) has reported on a new research done in Sweden which identifies that job seekers with a Swedish name have 50% higher chances to be called for an interview than job seekers with middle-eastern names. The research enlightens that there is not much difference between foreign-born job seekers and job seekers born in Sweden if both don't have a Swedish name; this indicates that ethnic discrimination is the main cause of the variations.[40]
