Links in the chain of European racism
01 January 1991
Links in the chain of European racism
artdoc December=1992
CARF sticks by its position of highlighting the rise in German
racism. Here we explain why.
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A small but vocal section of the British Left has accused
anti-racists in the UK who speak out against German racism of
contributing to an atmosphere of German-bashing Jingoism.
Of course we must not foster silly arguments that German
nazis are nazier because they are German. And of course, in
drawing attention to nazi violence, we must not forget German
state racism. And of course we must always bear in mind that
Germany actually takes in ten times as many refugees than
miserly Britain. Yet with all these caveats, CARF still
believes that it is important for anti-racists everywhere to
be alerted to the particular rise in German racism and
nationalism.
Solidarity
First, events in Germany call for practical actions of
solidarity. `We are a group of refugees coming from different
countries', the recently formed network of refugee organi-
sations in Berlin wrote to CARF.`This government has sent us
by force to die in the East. Through fear and ignorance we
agreed to take our children there, to be an easy target for
the neo-nazis. We are fighting for our right to live, to
survive as human beings.'
German refugee organisations are also calling for
international attention to be brought to bear on both the neo-
nazi violence and the growth in state racism. A refugee
worker from Berlin told CARF: `Not only have military
personnel been deployed to facilitate the fast track system of
processing applications, but conditions in the camps are fast
deteriorating. There are no basic amenities, no translators,
no social workers and the authorities are deliberately forcing
too many asylumseekers into the refugee camps so that they
look overcrowded.'
In one camp, in Brandenburg, on the Oder-Neisse river
(the border between Germany and Poland), 2,100 asylum-seekers
have been crowded into a reception centre which normally
houses just 1,200, with a gymnastics hall and prefabricated
containers being used to accommodate the overspill.
All this is creating a climate of popular racism in
which. refugees, and increasingly the Gypsies, are stigmatised
as scroungers, thus legitimising the violence. In Bavaria,
there is strong local opposition to government plans to house
asylumseekers in prefabricated containers in fields. One
farmer told a Radio 4 `Special Assignment' programme,
`Everyone is completely against the idea of asylum-seekers
being housed here... They are not political refugees anyway.
They just want to take our deutschmarks.'
Speaking with one voice
The second reason why events in Germany are so fundamental for
us in Britain is that Europe's immigration policies are now so
intertwined, the views of politicians so uniform, that events
in one country cannot but shape events in another. And the
German experience is being held up by our politicians as the
reason why we should clamp down on refugees coming here (never
mind that we take a tiny fraction of the proportion of
refugees Germany takes; never mind that the number of refugees
seeking entry to the UK is declining). Hence, to the old
refrain, `More refugees, more racism' has been added a new
verse:`If you don't believe us, look at Germany.'
Buying German ideology
Clearly, British nazis are inspired by events in Germany.
John Morse, writing in the October British Nationalist, called
the events nothing short of an `uprising' and warned that the
violence there could `soon find its counterpart in Britain'.
In Austria, racists, inspired by German events, threw molotov
cocktails at an asylum centre in Gutenstein, 50 kilometres
from Vienna. Politicians from Vienna and Salzburg have seized
on this, the first publicised attack on a refugee centre, to
argue that no more