The rise and rise of the right

One from the archives on our sister site, published by Bert Hetenbry.

I hate it when this happens: stroll into a bookshop and see a book that looks good, read the cover notes and spend the money. Get home and start reading and the author is having a giant whinge, in this case how the invasion of refugees is killing Europe: “The Strange Death of Europe” by Douglas Murray.

His other books are also bit of a whinge, whinging about the threats he sees the west facing, The War on the West and The Madness of Crowds: Race Gender and Identity.

In a sense, he is right, the changes we have seen in our lifetimes have been great, and in my view mostly positive, but he tends to cherry pick events and statistics, laying out a bleak future for Europe and the west in general… or should I say the ‘superior white Christian world’.

Since the 1950s there has been a constant flow of migrants around the world. People moving from one country to another, moving from war torn Europe to the relative safety of ‘the new world’, Canada, USA, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. At the same time displaced Jews were seeking safety and security in the newly created Israel.

The mass migration left many jobs unable to be filled and so while Europeans were busy leaving Europe, people from the Middle East were encouraged to fill the labour voids in the most basic of service industries. People came, initially thought to just fill the jobs the remaining Europeans thought beneath them, expecting that in time, those ‘guest workers’ would go back home, but they didn’t. They stayed, making comfortable lives in their adopted lands, bringing with them their cultures, languages, and religion. Subsequent generations benefitted from the educational opportunities on offer and the growing economies to become fixtures in their new homelands.

Political stability and growing economies throughout Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand made each of those regions attractive to people in less stable environments. Conflict and political unrest in Africa and the Middle East saw further waves of migration as people sought to escape from the various threats of civil wars, famine, religious conflicts and political and economic uncertainties.

The collapse of empires added to the instability and in particularly in Britain and France, but also the Netherlands and other European colonial powers, citizens from former colonies arrived, claiming the rights of citizenship as permanent settlers, again, initially filling roles which were beneath the dignity of the colonial masters to fill, collecting fares on public transport, collecting garbage, the undesirable jobs, but bringing up families, educating children to become future leaders in commerce, industry and politics.

During the post war period an important political development was the unification of Europe, firstly under the Treaty of Rome with six countries working together but gradually expanding to include 27 countries today, using a common currency and allowing free movement between those countries, including the right to work and study, and enabling the free movement of goods and services between the member nations, effectively a unified economic bloc. To a large extent, the divisions of national identity which had caused so much division in the past, regional wars and two world wars have been minimised, perhaps relegated to the sporting arenas as a unified Europe is a haven of international peace.

With that peace came social changes which broke down barriers, religion become a secondary consideration, national identity, women’s rights, gay rights, a more accepting, liberal culture flourished. But as the populations grew, it was the new immigrants who grew the fastest, birthrates of Europeans fell to below replacement levels but the newcomers – mainly Muslims – saw their populations grow, and instead of becoming liberal like the Europeans, held fast to their religion as migrants have done where ever they have migrated to, forming communities around cultural symbols they bring with them: language, religion, culture, morality. A comfort zone for them but seen as a threat by others.

Tensions in the Middle East, conflicts between the Islamic sects and power struggles, the fall of the Shah’s regime in Iran, ongoing strife between Israel and Palestine, civil wars in Lebanon and Syria and numerous conflicts throughout Africa has seen a continuing flow of refugees head toward Europe as the first destination. Currently the UN estimates there are over 120 million people, either refugees or stateless people. Many seek refuge in Europe, and Europe has been a welcoming destination for a number of years. But this is fuelling discontent.

Angela Merkel’s immigration policy and humanitarian approach to refugees and asylum seekers has been a factor in the rise of the far-right; Alternative fur Deutschland party in Germany. Recent elections in The Netherlands and France have seen nationalist, right-wing parties increase their vote. Hungary, under the Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sealed the borders, not allowing the flow of refugees access to Hungary, not even as a transit route to other, more welcoming European nations.

Britain, under the recently ousted Tory government saw a retreat from the European Union and a harsh anti-immigrant approach as refugees kept crossing the English Channel from France. Following the Australian policy of off-shore detention, there was the attempt to send those seeking refuge to Rwanda.

The recent election in the US had immigration and unwanted foreigners front and centre as there has been a constant stream of illegal immigrants crossing from South and Central America and from strife ridden island nations in the Caribbean. The flow of people seeking ‘a better life’ seems to never end. What is it that makes Europe and the USA (and for that matter, Australia) such sought after destinations for the stateless and the refugees, for poor people looking for employment and a living wage?

What is wrong with the ‘rest of the world’? Why are other regions not seen as worthy destinations for those seeking refuge or economic opportunity?

What is wrong with wealthy Middle Eastern states; Iran, Saudi, Qatar, UAE and so forth. Each has burgeoning economies based on the wealth generated by liquid gold, oil. Each imports labour to do the hard work of construction as well as in the service industries, employing guest workers from Pakistan, the Philippines and other impoverished countries.

Some of the problems being faced in Europe which would not, should not be an issue in the Middle Eastern nations is religion since all nations listed are Muslim. And their skin colour is brown cultural values are similar. (Sorry if that is a bit racist, but colour of skin, religion and cultural differences are really the issues here.)

And they are the constants in the books by Douglas Murray. He does not like change, he wants to live in a perfect world where all are like him. The changes which have given rights to other people, different people are dangerous, they upset the sensibilities of good white people who know who they are because they have the bits which define them as man or woman, and they know their special place in relation to their religion, they are literate, they are educated and know their place in the world.

He asks not why people seek to travel from their homelands, whether it is because of famine, poverty, climate change, persecution, civil wars or religious bigotry, but looks only at them being where they should not be, behaving as they should not behave, believing what they should not believe. They are different and do not belong.

And he has a broad following, not that his followers know who they are following, but the language of hate, of division, of fear marks the vitriol of so many politicians on the right, and those who feel threatened by difference can be as far removed from the problem they see as the woman who was afraid of a trans person using the women’s toilet when she admitted she knew no trans person, but was responding to social media commentary, or the young man who hated ‘gays’, but when asked about racism, understood what hatred was since he is Maori, a minority in Australia.

Or witness the ugly debate in the Senate on Wednesday, Pauline Hanson, Fatima Payman and Lidia Thorpe in verbal conflict, all to do with race and religion, with people being different. Each is an Australian citizen, each has a position as Senator, each representing their constituents.

But the discrimination has its seeds in colonisation, just as the immigration dilemmas in Europe and America, were it not for colonisation, neither Pauline Hanson or Fatima Payman would be here in Australia.

I visited the holiday destination Rottnest Island recently and was reminded of colonisation and the treatment of difference since the island was used as a prison for Aboriginals in the early days of settlement. A story was told of an An Aboriginal man having his spear in the woomera, ready to kill a kangaroo when a rifle shot sounded and the kangaroo was claimed by the white settler who was grazing sheep on that land. Rather than let his mob go hungry, the Aboriginal killed a sheep which was nearby. He was arrested, charged with theft and sent to Rottnest to serve out his sentence.

I fear that with the upcoming election, difference will play a significant part. Hatred of difference, hatred of ‘illegal immigrants’, hatred of First Nations people with a tough on crime strategy, criminalising poverty and race, hatred in one of the most ethnic and culturally diverse nations on earth.

Why?

 

 

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