jetsetter
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Talk of the Nation, July 10, 2008 ? A new plan in Italy would fingerprint every Roma Gypsy in the country. It's the first time the government has targeted an ethnic minority since the days of Mussolini. And across Europe, xenophobia seems to be moving from the far right to the mainstream.
NPR's senior Europe correspondent Sylvia Poggioli discusses anti-immigrant anxiety in Europe with Glyn Ford, labor member of the European Parliament and former chairman of the Parliament's Committee of Inquiry into the Rise of Racism and Fascism (1984-'86), and Jakob von Weizsacker, a research fellow at Bruegel in Brussels, Belgium.
Listen to the program: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92421149
This is a thirty minute segment from the NPR radio program "Talk of the Nation". I suggest you give it a listen and we can reflect on it in this thread. While I was aware of a certain amount of racism in Europe I was not aware of so many officials being elected who seem to have quite disturbing views on immigration (legal or otherwise).
I always find it quite humorous when I read an article from a European news agency about illegal immigration or race in the United States. They always try to make it look like the average U.S. citizen is a racist or mistreats illegal Hispanic immigrants. But then I read an article about legal Eastern European/African/Middle Eastern immigrants in Europe and then its the Europeans who are the good guys even though it seems that the Europeans are treating these immigrants with more disdain and racism than one would find in the United States.
It is true that the U.S. is a nation of immigrants and immigration and perhaps that is why we seem to be better at taking them but still, Europe needs to try much harder and not ignore the problem.