A diversifying Europe must not tear itself apart

Initial reports from Amsterdam last week described horrific scenes of Israeli football supporters being beaten up in violent clashes that the authorities condemned as antisemitic.

A more nuanced version of events gradually emerged: extremist fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv had been creating chaos before and during the match against Ajax, with anti-Arab chants and the championing of Israeli attacks on Gaza. Houses bearing Palestinian flags had been attacked. Among a relentless succession of racist chants, supporters sang: “There are no schools in Gaza, because there are no children left.” All hell broke loose after the match, with violent clashes between Maccabi fans and local people, many of whom are of North African origin. Gangs of youths attacked Israeli football fans.

The Maccabi ultras have a shameful history of racist violence and agitation, with strong connections to Israel’s extreme right. Fans are notorious for shouting racist slogans at players of various ethnicities, including members of their own team — such as the Jewish Ethiopian player Baruch Dego, who routinely had to put up with monkey noises from the crowd. During the 2020-2021 anti-Netanyahu protests, Maccabi fans attacked protesters with sticks and broken bottles.

This all raises the question of why European states let them enter in the first place and why preemptive measures were not taken to prevent violence. Indeed, the controversial decision has been taken to proceed with the Israeli national team’s match in Paris this week, despite everything that occurred in Amsterdam.

We should condemn violence of all kinds. But this is just one example of thousands of such tumultuous incidents since the eruption of violence in the Middle East in October 2023, which has given rise to mass demonstrations around the world by supporters of both sides, a sharp rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks, and a tsunami of online hate speech, misinformation and incitement.

Much of the exacerbation in civil tensions has been deliberately engineered by various entities with specific antisocial agendas

Baria Alamuddin

Much of this exacerbation in worldwide civil tensions, such as the rioting that erupted across Britain in the summer after three children were stabbed to death at a dance class, has been deliberately engineered by various entities with specific antisocial agendas. Fake online claims that the perpetrator of the Southport stabbing was a Muslim immigrant led to far-right and neo-Nazi groups organizing several nights of violent Islamophobic rioting. Hostels housing immigrants and people from ethnic minorities were attacked. The rioting subsided only after huge nationwide antiracism rallies, along with a robust government response.

Such events occur in the context of years of whipping up of anti-immigrant sentiments by right-wing politicians and the populist media, normalizing increasingly draconian political measures to curb immigration, often with the shocking outcome that thousands of those fleeing war and persecution are abandoned to drown at sea.

Europe plays host to huge populations of multiethnic origins, including North Africa and the Middle East. While such xenophobia is frequently focused on recent migrants and refugees, the extreme right has also sought to foment hatred of all those of non-European origin. The Gaza conflict has contributed to this polarization, with the far right seeking to demonize Arabs and Muslims as “terrorism supporters,” while huge numbers of white Europeans have become increasingly outspoken in support of the Palestinian cause.

In France, more than 10 percent of the population are immigrants born outside the country, with a significantly wider proportion of citizens having parentage of various ethnic origins. Many other European states enjoy comparable levels of diversity. The reality is that immigration into Europe will continue increasing, because the economies of aging Western nations with plunging birth rates are in dire need of foreign workers and the number of people displaced by conflict and instability worldwide has soared. Over the coming century, we will probably reach the point at which a majority of European citizens claim, at least in part, descent from immigrants. Entire economic sectors these days are dominated by people of a broad spectrum of ethnicities.

Thus, the racist panic of those on the extreme right arises from a recognition that their hateful cause is already lost. When I moved into my current home many years ago, the previous owner remarked that in this “really nice neighborhood” I would not come across anybody else from other countries. Nowadays, a significant number of my neighbors are of South Asian origin.

But we must not ignore the genuine social challenges of large-scale immigration. Refugees are often traumatized by the horrific experiences from which they fled. The children of immigrants often feel a sense of dislocation, of not properly fitting into either culture. Too many immigrant districts have become ghettoized, as impaired access to quality education, services and career opportunities create a vicious circle of deprivation. It is also vital that immigrants themselves strive to integrate with their new culture, conscientiously learning the language and not behaving in ways that will alienate and antagonize.

With the preeminence of the European extreme right over the past decade, there have been consolidated efforts to weaponize cultural differences. Too often, the populist media, instead of enlightening and informing, has founded its business model on playing on people’s prejudices and preconceptions — hyping fake and exaggerated stories to whip up animosity toward all those who are different.

Cultural diversity is already wholly inherent to contemporary Europe, and managed immigration is a prerequisite for its continued economic vigor. The world’s greatest cities, such as London, New York and Paris, are the most diverse. Newly arriving cultural influences immensely enrich Europe: music, art, literature, food and other cultural practices have immeasurably broadened the quality of life of communities that were previously rather more parochial, conservative and homogenous. Governments must take the lead in encouraging societies to celebrate and champion this diversity, which enriches us all.

The real threat to Europe from within is not from North Africans, Turks or Afghans, but from the narrow-minded xenophobes and hatemongering media organs that aspire to tear their own societies apart.

• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.