Xenophobic Responses

Xenophobia is the dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.

In this section we will expand on the xenophobic responses throughout the 1970 in Europe, these events were due to build up tension regarding race. Both policy and society rejected the idea of multiculturalists, but with the increase in different races in Europe this caused tension within states. With mass immigration post WW1 and WW2 throughout Europe, it was past arguing that Europe was being a multi-racial continent, the 70s was a time where this became apparent and caused violence and tensions through many different European nations, this violence and tension has continued until today.

Tensions in the UK

Post WWII, Britain experienced mass immigration, mainly from African countries and the Caribbean, many decolonized states. By the 1950 the white-working-class were displaying hostility towards black families in the Notting Hill area.The White Defence League was created, advocating for ‘keeping Britain White’. Tensions grew over the summer, and on the 24th of August 1958 a group of english youths committed serious assaults on six West Indian men in four different incidents. Later that night, 300-400 white people were seen on Bramley Road, attacking the West Indian residents, starting a riot that continued until the 5th of september. More than 140 people were arrested over the two weeks, mostly white youths and some people of colour.

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Reunification in Germany

In this archive photo, police are seen during the xenophobic riots that took place in September 1991 in Hoyerswerda, Germnay. The riots lasted from the 17-23 of september, they started with a group of mainly young neo-Nazis attacking Vietnamese street hawkers. When the police intervened, a hostel was then attacked that had Mozambican workers. The riots continued, hurting 32 people and damaging buildings from stones and petrol bombs. 83 people were arrested and the city made efforts to polish its public image and to take action against right-wing radicals, however racial riots have occurred again in the town. Hoyerswerda has never fully recovered from the events and its population continues to shrink today.

Racism Today: Syrian Refugee Crisis

Since the Syrian war began in March 2011, thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes due to war and violence. The Syrian refugee crisis is the largest refugee and displacement crisis of our time. About 5.6 million Syrians are refugees, and another 6.2 million people are displaced within Syria. Nearly 12 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance. At least half of the people affected by the Syrian refugee crisis are children. These refugees have fled by land and boat to neighbouring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Europe.

Xenophobic Responses: Work

Tensions in the UK

In the 1970s in the UK, people of colour were victims of racial violence and perpetrated by far-right groups such as the White Defence League and the National Front. Oppressive policies alongside societal oppression caused violence and tension towards ethnicl groups and people of colour. A series of riots were sparked in the 1980s from the built up tenions from post war immigration, such as the 1980 St. Paul’s Riot and 1981 Brixton Riot. The1970s had seen an increase in unemployment and a deterioration of race relations as the right-wing National Front party campaigned in local and national elections. The St Pauls riots occurred in St Pauls, Bristol on the 2nd of April 1980. Police raided a cafe in the area due to disturbances and violence, 130 people were arrested and 25 people were taken to hospital. The riot occured due to the increased racial tension, poor housing and alienation of black youths at the time. As a result of the riots local authorities and governments began to pay attention to these issues and address the lack of support to these communities. However due to the St Pauls riot this sparked many more riots throughout Britain during the 1980s, such as Toxteth and Moss Side in 1981, St Pauls again in 1982, Notting Hill Gate in 1982, Toxteth in 1982, and Handsworth, Brixton and Tottenham in 1985. These events all occured due to the historic oppression of people of colour in the UK, rooting from slavery and the unjust treatment in post war immigration.

Xenophobic Responses: Welcome

Reunification in Germany gives rise to xenophobic clashes

The reunification of Germany in the late 1980s was a result of tensions and resolutions since 1945, when Germany was divided to East and West. During the Cold War, the divided Germany caused tensions to brew between races and sides of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Blockade from June 1948 - May 1949 showed heightened xenophobia and the implication of political decisions. With the gradual diminish of Soviet powers in the 1980s thousands of East Germans began to flee the nation, policies that relaxed borders with Hungary and Austria put a hold in the ‘Iron Curtain’ allowing this mass migration. By 1989 the Berlin Wall started to come down bringing Germany closer to reunification. However unifying the country just masked the strong subterranean dislike between many of the West Germans and East Germans, this led to increasing tensions between different races and migrants. Within a year of being unified the country experienced 80 different race driven violent events, four times larger than the previous year. More than 150,000 refugees had arrived in Germany after 8 months of being unified, this is three times larger than any other European country. The Hoyerswerda Riots made headlines in Germany as it marked the first time political leaders had listened to demands from violent racist. This led to attacks spreading across the country. After the Hoyerswerda Riots, 230 foreigners were rushed aboard buses and taken to army bases, the Hoyerswerda residents later appeared on national television to proclaim their town "foreigner-free.”

Xenophobic Responses: Welcome

Racism Today: Syrian Refugee Crisis

At the height of the Syrian Refugee Crisis, 5.6 million Syrians sought asylum in other countries. Despite Austria, Germany and Sweden taking in large numbers of refugees, other European countries closed their borders to those from Syria and other countries, making a chaotic situation even worse. It is clear that transnational dynamics including the “war on terror” have increased far-right extremism, prejudiced attitudes towards migrants, and international xenophobia. The right to asylum is being undermined by xenophobia as well as nationalistic and political rhetoric intent on linking refugees with security concerns and terrorism.

It is also clear that public attitudes towards migration vary greatly, especially in Europe. In a survey conducted in 2016 amidst the European migrant and refugee crisis, Eastern and Central European countries had much lower acceptance of those migrating than Western European countries. Another survey asked participants to evaluate profiles of asylum seekers that randomly varied on nine characteristics identified as potentially important for public support, including education and skills levels, religion, and reasons for seeking asylum.

Asylum seekers who had higher employability, consistent asylum testimonies, severe vulnerabilities, and those who identified as Christian rather than Muslim received the greatest public support. In short, refugees were perceived as more deserving of support when they could potentially make economic contributions and had humanitarian grounds for entry. Similar to the 1970 Riots, refugee entry is primarily based on religious and socio-economic discrimination.

Sadly, the requirement to be able to make some kind of economic contribution takes precedence over basic human rights when it comes to letting innocent Syrian immigrants into certain countries in Europe. Even then, these poor people still faced xenophobic attitudes that stemmed from potential socio-economic fears, and there are hundreds of thousands of families who are still struggling to gain entry into any country to avoid death in their own.

Even still, the Syrian Refugee Crisis has and is continuing to be largely ignored by advanced European countries. These countries choose instead to allow developing border countries of Syria such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan to bear most of the burden. None of these border countries have fully ratified international agreements to protect refugees’ rights, and their governments have enacted discriminatory legislation against refugees, making it more difficult for them to obtain legal aid, work permits, education for children, and psychosocial assistance. This leaves refugees extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, which echoes the foundation of the 1970 Riots.

If the EU decided to instead honor the Convention Relating to the International Status of Refugees of 1933, it would require them to undertake the international treaty law of non-refoulement which explicitly states these countries cannot force refugees or asylum seekers to return to a country in which they are liable to be subjected to persecution. It also requires the EU not to refuse entry to refugees at the frontiers of their countries of origin.