EUROPE GOOSE-STEPS TO THE RIGHT
Venice, Italy, June 11 — Frightened by recession and intimidated by migration many European voters supported xenophobic and racist parties in the election for the European parliament this month creating the absurdity that some member nations will be represented by neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
The election of fascist members augurs badly for millions of Africans, East Europeans and Moslems working or living often in precarious legal positions in Europe, a continent whose parliament now provides nearly eighty percent of the laws governing member states. It is certain these new rightwing parliamentarians will push for tougher anti-immigration legislation and harsher penalties for illegal migrants.
Racists and xenophiles are riding high on the contraction of global economies and the fear generated about job losses as unemployment escalates.
Many simplistic voters obviously believe closing the door to the migration of people from the Middle East and Africa will solve the crisis though sober economists argue the recession would be worse without the cheap manual labor and purchasing power of these immigrants just as the USA today could not do without its Latino labor.
Even before the ballots this month racist phobia had already led to brutal attacks on Africans, Moslems and gypsies, particularly in Italy where the xenophobic Northern League achieved considerable gains at the polls and in Great Britain where two neo-Nazis, among them British National Party (BNP) founder Nick Griffith, were elected to the European parliament. The BNP took an amazing 6.2 per cent of the vote. Radical right-wingers or Neo-Nazis also made impressive gains in Holland, once a bastion of liberalism, and in Hungary. These gains at the urns were deliberately enflamed by religious and racist prejudices…..Read
