Latent antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia have lurked within European
societies for centuries—as they do in the United States and many other
countries. In the wake of World War II, national laws in many European states
gradually criminalized many manifestations of hatred and incitement, and the
European Union adopted a range of antidiscrimination policies. But the European
financial crisis thrust the poorest E.U. member nations into deep recession,
and a sharp increase in unemployment coincided with high migration from
non-European countries.
This rekindled old bigotries and fanned new resentments. Alienation from
decision-makers in Brussels and Berlin, and anger over foreign-imposed
austerity policies, have aggravated the sense of grievance. Hate-mongering has
re-emerged as a powerful tool deployed by a new generation of ambitious,
unscrupulous politicians.
Yet in Europe, as on every other continent, some countries do a better
job than others in educating their publics to reject hatred; and some governments
are better than others at explaining the dangers of scapegoating, a task each
society and each generation must tackle anew.
These healthy societies are by no means immune from ancient canards
against Jews or Roma; or racist sentiment toward migrants from Africa, Asia or
the Middle East; or the rejection of homosexuality or other non-traditional
sexual identities and behaviors. But their governments are better at setting
norms and enforcing laws and policies designed to curb the manifestations of hatred
through deeds that threaten other people, violate their fundamental rights, or
harm them.
In other countries, the hatred festers and becomes harder to exorcise.
This report is about two of those places.
This report examines the human
rights implications of the antisemitic, racist, fascist and pro- Russian parties
in Hungary and Greece, as well as the impact of the far-right parties on the governing
parties of the European Union, regional security, and U.S. foreign policy.
