Recessions, and worse, like the GFC, as breeding grounds for all sorts of negatives in society.
Sadly, Europe is encountering more than its fair share of racism as a result of many economies being in dire straits.
FPIF [Foreign Policy in Focus] reports:
"Of the many undesirable effects of the ongoing — and increasingly policy-induced — recession in Europe, has received relatively less public attention: the resurgence of racist and xenophobic attitudes. This was already something of a problem, especially in Western Europe in the past decade, when right-wing political forces demanded major restrictions on immigration and sporadic episodes of violence broke out against migrant and Roma groups.
As the economic crisis bites deeper, and as the "austerity measures" enforced by governments cause more unemployment and more failure of small family-run businesses, bitterness and anger among the population will inevitably grow. The danger is that it will be directed not at powerful financial organizations, or even against governments that seem to bend like willows to every dictate of the market, but against vulnerable targets that can be more easily attacked. The most obvious targets, of course, are the migrants, who often stand out because of perceived racial differences.
This is a much bigger problem than is generally appreciated. European economic growth has relied more and more on migrant labor, which has been more typical of the U.S. economy. The economic booms of the 1990s, and from 2002 until 2007, combined with the demographic pressures of an aging population, created demand for all kinds of workers: on farms, in manufacturing, in construction, and in services. As a result, men and women workers have come from less-developed countries in Asia and Africa, as well as from the former socialist countries of east and central Europe. They came legally and illegally, often tolerating very low wages, poor living and working conditions, and constant insecurity, in the hope of somehow raising their own living standards and remitting something to households back home."
Sadly, Europe is encountering more than its fair share of racism as a result of many economies being in dire straits.
FPIF [Foreign Policy in Focus] reports:
"Of the many undesirable effects of the ongoing — and increasingly policy-induced — recession in Europe, has received relatively less public attention: the resurgence of racist and xenophobic attitudes. This was already something of a problem, especially in Western Europe in the past decade, when right-wing political forces demanded major restrictions on immigration and sporadic episodes of violence broke out against migrant and Roma groups.
As the economic crisis bites deeper, and as the "austerity measures" enforced by governments cause more unemployment and more failure of small family-run businesses, bitterness and anger among the population will inevitably grow. The danger is that it will be directed not at powerful financial organizations, or even against governments that seem to bend like willows to every dictate of the market, but against vulnerable targets that can be more easily attacked. The most obvious targets, of course, are the migrants, who often stand out because of perceived racial differences.
This is a much bigger problem than is generally appreciated. European economic growth has relied more and more on migrant labor, which has been more typical of the U.S. economy. The economic booms of the 1990s, and from 2002 until 2007, combined with the demographic pressures of an aging population, created demand for all kinds of workers: on farms, in manufacturing, in construction, and in services. As a result, men and women workers have come from less-developed countries in Asia and Africa, as well as from the former socialist countries of east and central Europe. They came legally and illegally, often tolerating very low wages, poor living and working conditions, and constant insecurity, in the hope of somehow raising their own living standards and remitting something to households back home."
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