Governments called to action as racists turn to social networks

Nils Muiznieks, Chair of the Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance wants urgent action to halt a rising tide of cyber-racism.

Log into Facebook. Look for a good game to play, maybe something with a bit of action like World of Warcraft. What’s this one? Blood and Honour. Looks good, I can buy weapons, battle rival groups…


If this sounds like the sort of thing for the average teenager, think again. This particular Facebook page belongs to Blood and Honour, one of the most notorious racist skinhead groups. And they are just one of many organisations that are peddling hate by harnessing the power of the Internet.

This was one of the trends exposed by ECRI (the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance), the Council of Europe’s independent anti-racism monitoring body. Our annual report shows a rise in racist and xenophobic views, especially amongst young people.

Some of it can be put down to the economic crisis, with scapegoating common against targets such as Roma, Jews, Blacks and Muslims, and immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees. But it is in the cyberworld that the battle for hearts and minds is taking place, and were right wing racists are seeking to recruit, radicalise, and organise.

ECRI’s work shows that racist movements and political parties have sophisticated media strategies and use social networking sites to great effect. Beside the Facebook examples, we have found regular YouTube postings inciting hate and glorifying violence. The Internet is becoming the primary area for racists to campaign, and the anti racist movement needs to get to grips with this new world.

Why has the industry not noticed that there platforms are being abused by extremists? Quite simply, our conceptual equipment and legislation are unprepared for this new age. While anti-racist NGOs in certain countries, such as the Netherlands and Germany, have developed an effective professional dialogue with service providers, this is not the case in most European countries.

Indeed, regional and international human rights organisations have not yet learned how to engage the big players – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, My Space, Google and others - in a serious dialogue on combating racism while maintaining freedom of expression on the Internet.

The Council of Europe has often called on governments to enforce criminal law against hate speech in cyberspace. However, many countries take such measures only as a last resort, out of concern that they may cramp freedom of expression. The truth is, though, that the Internet industry can take many steps without crossing that line, such as employing clear terms of service to make it easier to take action against hate sites, promoting industry codes of conduct, and developing online complaints mechanisms.

History shows that it is all too easy for extremists to ride on the fears and uncertainties of economic bad times to recruit to their cause. The Internet makes it even easier for them to reach people – especially those who are young and vulnerable. For the sake of my own children, and all the young people out there, it is time to bring the anti racist fight to the cyberworld.

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Focus on ECRI

Image by thivierr via Flickr

Discrimination based on racial and religious difference has long scarred Europe's social and political landscape.

The confinement and massacres of Jews and the slaughter and slavery in colonial territories defined an Apartheid system which for centuries received cultural sanction and religious indulgence.

The Nazi ‘Final Solution’ was a terrifying 'highpoint' of twentieth century prejudice. The later arrival of non-white immigrants in Europe gave another spur to bigotry.

Though racism and anti-Semitism survive to this very day, they are, by common consent, on the run. Better education, mass tourism, increased opportunities for social integration, marriage, the influence of cultural icons and a record period of peace and prosperity have combined to clear the public arena of overt expressions of prejudice.

This sea change in social attitudes has been accelerated by the increased vigilance of organisations and activists who have forced political and civil society to maintain the offensive against discrimination.

For the past 17 years, the independent European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has been a key partner in this transformation. The human rights monitoring body advises the 47 members states of the Council of Europe on policy measures needed to combat violence, discrimination and prejudice on the grounds of race, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin.

In its comprehensive reports, ECRI examines in each country the legal framework for fighting racism and racial discrimination, its practical implementation, the existence of independent bodies to assist victims of racism, the situation of vulnerable groups in specific policy areas (education, employment, housing etc.) and the tone of political and public debate around issues relevant for these groups.

ECRI counts as one of its most important achievements the adoption of Protocol 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This prohibition of discrimination which entered into force in April 2005, ranks as a high water mark in the legal challenge to racism.

The fight against discrimination is not over, of course but the work of ECRI and others has forced racists to adapt to a changed social and political environment. Public declarations of racial prejudice in the virulent terms of the 1960’s and 1970’s are seldom heard. Instead, the basis for intolerance has shifted.

''There has been a move from biological racism to cultural racism,'' an ECRI spokeswoman revealed, highlighting the new frontier in racist discourse.

She also pointed to a trend by governments towards discrimination in the name of integration and reverses of recent anti-discrimination gains, springing from the 'War On Terror,' as significant challenges to social cohesion.

The plight of Roma communities in Europe is another important concern. Already, the organisation has succeeded in gaining traction for its view that 'Roma-phobic' stereotyping is as unacceptable as racism.

''The media is doing good work in explaining the Roma situation with objective reports,'' the ECRI spokeswoman added. ''Roma can have the nationality of a country but do not take part in the life of the country. Political participation is a natural consequence of having real roots in a society. Roma should be encouraged to express themselves.''

ECRI’s policy advice and its educational work have helped to swing opinion in favour of the understanding that bigotry is as much a problem for the majority as it is blight on the affected minority.

''Everyone is endangered by discrimination,” the ECRI spokeswoman added. “No one can feel safe. Societies built on hatred do not work. Discrimination just doesn’t make sense.''

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Roma Holocaust / Pharraimos Remembrance Day

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Remembering the Roma Holocaust honours the “silent voices” of the many victims of the Nazi terror and gives meaning to the fight against racism and intolerance.

This was the message of Rudko Kawczynski, President of the European Roma and Travellers Forum today at a commemoration event at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.

A minute's silence marked the deaths of the many thousands of Roma and Sinti people killed at the Aushwitz death camp on 2 August 1944.

Kawczynski said the holocaust, known as the Pharraimos, had affected greatly the Roma community.

“The Holocaust was a monumental crime," he added. "We approach life with fewer illusions.

“It's been a long struggle. Roma suffering went largely unnoticed for decades as nations pursued racist practices against Roma and Sinti.

“This holocaust memorial has a role to play in combating anti gypsyism. Racist ideologies have not vanished from our world. The suffering of millions should not be in vain."

European Roma And Travellers Forum

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July 2010 Podcast: Romaphobia

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Roma and Sinti communities have been described as the rejected Europeans.

They have lived here for centuries and yet during much of that time have been segregated, excluded and even murdered.

In today's programme, Robert Rustem of the European Roma and Travellers Forum explains why Roma activists are looking for inspiration to the Black Power movement of the United States in their fight against discrimination.

We also explore the roots of Roma phobia with studio guests Samantha Agro, a journalist with the ANSA press agency and Michael Guet, a Roma specialist from the Council of Europe.

And Nils Muiznieks, Chair of European Commission Against Racism And Intolerance gives a glimpse of a future dilemma for European governments - their economies will need migrants but their citizens don't want them.

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ECRI Report: Europe's Dilemma

In an interview following the launch of the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance's annual survey, chairman Nils Muiznieks explains Europe's dilemma.

"Europe needs migrants but Europeans don't want them," he says. "The pull from the demographic crisis will continue as will the push from sending countires."

He goes on to discuss the "existential crisis" in parts of southern Europe.

Listen to interview with Nils Muiznieks

ECRI report

Why Martin Luther King Matters To Europe’s Roma

By Robert Rustem, head of the Secretariat for the European Roma and Travellers Forum

There can be few more inspiring litmus tests of social justice than the one laid out for America in Martin Luther King’s ‘I have A Dream’ speech.

The black civil rights leader’s passionate appeal at the March on Washington on 28 August 1963, was an exhortation to recast the country’s racial model.

Some 47 years later, King, the man and the methods of the civil rights movement remain a model and a point of reference for marginalised communities.

Roma activists in Europe are now looking closely at King’s fight for justice and are debating the value of direct action and civil disobedience in overturning the racism which has marked them out as second class citizens in the countries they call home.

Certainly, there are strong parallels in the condition and treatment of the two communities.

Like black Americans of the pre-civil rights era, Europe’s 12 -15 million Roma are “politically invisible” despite being the region’s largest ethnic minority. Roma suffer from widespread and deeply-ingrained discrimination. Compared to other groups, Roma people have lower life expectancy. They have poorer health and live in worse housing. Employment and education levels are abysmal and of little concern to the politicians, whose commitment to change is at best weak, and most of the time non-existent.

Like black Americans, Roma know the indignity of segregated schooling and medical experiments conducted without informed consent. The American Tuskegee syphilis programme finds its echo in the sterilisation of Roma women throughout Europe.

Whilst Roma do not yet face the terror of lynching, they are still subject to random attacks and, as in Belfast last year, are liable to be chased out of their homes. In some parts of central and eastern Europe, Roma run the risk of being murdered in their sleep.

The hate which fed the systematic killing of up to 1.5 million Roma during World War Two’s ‘Pharrajimos’ or Roma genocide continues to this very day.

The television appeal for a “final solution” to the “Gypsy problem” made in the Czech Republic last year, was a grisly reminder to Roma communities that even in 21st century Europe, they should keep moving or live in fear.

Rather than recognise the plight of Roma as an urgent social and political issue, too many European governments ignore the application of their own laws, see Roma as primarily the concern of local councillors or the criminal justice system or simply do nothing at all.

A similar intransigence served as a call to action for the African-American leadership in the 1950’s. It responded by mobilising support among black and white people and set out to pour shame on America’s political elite.

Bus boycotts, sit-ins, marches, demonstrations and the emergence of more militant political forces such as Malcolm X, focussed the international spotlight on the injustice of Jim Crow apartheid and created the political pressure needed for lasting change.

There are those in the Roma community who believe that similar non-violent tactics may now be needed in Europe to end the cycle of good intentions, warm words and neglect that has marked the post-war discussion of the ‘Roma Question.’

Admittedly, such thinking remains on the fringes of political activism but it is likely to filter into the Roma mainstream should they continue to be excluded from the European project of free movement and open borders .

More strident voices are already arguing that Roma communities have waited long enough for what Martin Luther King described during his epic speech as “the riches of freedom and the security of justice.”

Change for Roma is coming too slowly and too late. For decades, the Council of Europe in particular has worked to fight anti-Gypsyism. Its Dosta! (Enough) Campaign recently recruited the French actress Fanny Ardant, director of the film Chiméres Absentes, to highlight the injustices forced upon Roma people.

Whilst it is true that there are no longer anti-Roma laws on the statutes in Europe, the mountain of reports from the Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Commission Against Racism And Intolerance (ECRI), show that virulent anti-Gypsyism not only survives but is growing in many countries.

That is why Europe’s Roma will share in the celebrations marking the 47th anniversary of the March On Washington and look to the civil rights movement for inspiration.

It offers a convincing example of how reconciliation, social justice and the progress of the marginalised into to the mainstream can be achieved.

Audio Interview

European Roma and Travellers Forum