Arizona is clearly not the only place in the world where hatred rears its ugly head. In the Netherlands, a party that calls for a ban on Muslims immigrating into the country has gained seats in parliament, from nine to 24.
Naturally, the usual band of right wing bloggers are celebrating this election outcome.
The headline in the Washington Post blog entry on this subject reads, "Anti-Islam Party Surges in Netherlands." If you imagine for a moment substituting the word "Jew" for Islam in that headline it would become just a little more clear just what is going on here. Some things just never change, do they?
Meanwhile, Great Britain has enacted a new law requiring that all spouses of legal British residents be able to speak English before they can enter the country. The Telegraph points out that Queen Victoria would never have been born if that law had been effect in the nineteenth century. The AP article on this suggests that "such a move would likely go against the grain of even the more conservative elements of American society, where the diversity of languages has widely been seen as a sign of cultural vibrancy."
Well, maybe not in Arizona.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
On the one hand it's nice to know that the crazy virus that has infected the US apparently is in a lot of other places as well. On the other, it seems the cosmic consciousness of planet earth is regressing.
I sometimes think of Europe as being more enlightened than the US, and in some ways it is (capital punishment and universal health care come to mind), but in other ways, not so much. One need only remember Europe's extremely sordid history with antisemitism.
Yes, it happens here in Australia too. We do accept migrants and refugees who can't speak English, but to be a citizen you have to not only be able to speak English but get at least 15 out of 20 on a multiple choice test about Australian history and culture. However, no-one with any serious clout has yet started the discussion about banning Muslim immigrants - we had a right wign party explode onto the scene about a decade ago on anti-immigration rhetoric but it exploded spectacuarly.
Jon, are you referring to One Nation? I remember hearing about them a while back (they definitely made international news in the late 90s or so) but I guess it is good news that they seemed to have died out as quickly as they arose.
Yes, that's who I was referring to. Even though they died a quick and messy death, a lot of their ideas made it into the mainstream. This means we now compulsorily detain all unauthorised refugees who arrive by boat, and this appoach is supported by both major parties - so we have refugees spending months and sometimes years in overcrowded detention centres for the crime of not having the right paperwork. It also means the Howard Government supended the racial discrimination act so they could intervent in the lives of remote Indigenous residents in ways that would never be considered in other communities. Sorry, I'm rating about Australian politics...
Post a Comment