The chuds will show up at sports events. Spain is one of the only EU countriest strongly resisting its position as a US vassal state.
Someone from Spain can maybe give some more perspective. Would be interested in knowing if the population at large is also falling into xenophobia and nationalism. I see a lot of Europe having its nationalist anti Muslim movements strengthen in a time of anti American views. It’s like the vassals of Europe denying they are vassals of American empire and somehow still falling into the same xenophobia that America uses to justify its terrorism in West Asia.
It’s like blaming the victims of the empire that owns the leaders in your country (less so Spain obviously).
Racism and xenophobia isn’t new to Europe whether in the west or east. Especially not in soccer matches. I don’t know a year where racist chants weren’t a problem for non-white players in Europe. Don’t hear about it as much as before. If you’re not white, you will experience racism in Europe especially outside of the major cities with large historic immigrant populations and you’ll less likely have bystanders come to your defense compared to like in the US, Canada, Australia
Before Trump 1, I thought the neo-Nazi groups in Europe were better organized and closer to mainstream. Trump just gave the movements in the US a major boost. All the focus on the US is distracting leftist Europeans from their own internal decay. Even if national rally loses the next election in France, they’re seemingly getting closer each go around
And imperialism, marketing says Europe had some humanist epiphany in its period of decolonization, but that immediately ignores stuff like Algeria, Vietnam, Suez crisis. Stuff like French coups across the Sahel. Assassinations of leaders in Africa by former European colonial master countries. Assassination attempt on Iranian prime minister. Afghanistan in general since the end of the Durani empire. Sterilization of intuit people of Greenland. European nations haven’t been unwilling benefactors of American imperialism. It was a failure to maintain their own imperial power that had them volunteer to playing the gang leaders posse members
Large anti-immigration marches have been happening across numerous European countries for years now. They seem to be growing. In western Europe I recall Spain and Italy are standouts in terms of growing xenophobia with non-white immigrants and tourists
If you’re not white, you will experience racism in Europe especially outside of the major cities with large historic immigrant populations and you’ll less likely have bystanders come to your defense compared to like in the US, Canada, Australia
A close friend of mine is African-American. He’s lived in Spain for a very long time and is a highly visible person because he’s also big and tall (6’5"). He says there’s some anti-foreigner sentiment (people will call him a guiri until they realize his Castilian and Catalan are fluent), but he says the racism is far less, and less dangerous, than in the US.
Another close friend is American of Jamaican origin. He lived in London for several years and also found it less dangerous than the US. The risk during cop encounters is far lower.
My sons look Middle Eastern (their mother’s Arab and they have beards-- hipster rather than Islamist, but idiots can’t distinguish) and have travelled extensively all over Europe, as well as North Africa and the US. In Europe, the worst hassle they’ve gotten has been in some of the Slavic countries (rural Czechia was bad, as were non-urban parts of Hungary and Bulgaria), but it hasn’t been that severe. A bit of shit talk, no violence. Compare that to a physical assault in Texas and incidents of police harassment in California and Washington state.
My wife’s experience, having lived in both the US and UK for extended periods, is similar: there’s prejudice in both places, but only in the US have people gotten openly aggressive with her. Well, once in London, a skinhead started shouting at me because I was with her (I had a shaved head and was very fit back then, so I think he assumed I was another skin), but it didn’t escalate.
Regarding the Texas incident: accusing someone of being an Islamic fundamentalist while they’re drinking an IPA in a bar and flirting with a local woman requires a degree of stupidity that’s hard to find outside the US. Especially when the response is “Da fuck’s wrong with you?” Tattoos are also not common on Muslim fundies. Anyway, after the guy threw a punch, my son trapped his arm and held him like that until a bouncer could be stirred from his lethargy. The IPA was not spilled, but he had no luck with the woman.
Yeah, I know, anecdata. But overall, despite the recent rise of the hard right in Europe, I’d say it’s still not as bad as in most of tthe US.
Very informative comment. Thanks.
