How much anti-muslim / anti-immigrant sentiment is there where you live?

As a Dutchman, I have a pretty good view of Dutch public opinion, but I find it very difficult to establish the situation in other countries. Here, anti-islamic sentiments and anti-immigrant sentiments have pretty much become synonyms, and the situation is rapidly deteriorating, with a sizeable portion of the population (some 20% according to recent polls) taking a very hostile stand towards muslims and immigrants by supporting the political far right, and an increasing segment of the population (though still, fortunately, relatively small) actually advocating violence and murder towards muslims and immigrants.

Is the situation where you live similar to this, or is this something that is mercifully limited to Holland?

i couldnt help but smile at the irony of the 'muslim matrimonials' advert on this page..

however,the answer to your question is "what muslims?" we havent got any registered muslims in Cornwall as was pointed out on local tv when the last census was carried out a few years back.



we do however have the largest contingence of registered Jedi in the UK

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[b]JoxerTheDeityPirate wrote: [/b]







i couldnt help but smile at the irony of the 'muslim matrimonials' advert on this page..

however,the answer to your question is "what muslims?" we havent got any registered muslims in Cornwall as was pointed out on local tv when the last census was carried out a few years back.







we do however have the largest contingence of registered Jedi in the UK





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Ah, I see. I might have to move there. I'd rather have a bunch of harmless excentrics than be stuck in the biggest religious brawl since Luther told the Pope where he could shove it.

We have problems with so-called "parallel societies" meaning Muslim immigrants (from Turkey) who do not speak the language, do not obey many laws here and build ghetto-like communities in the poorer parts of the big cities. Since Germans are very afraid to be called racists the issue is not dealt with in a matter-of-fact, effective way but we have the politically correct people on the one hand who demand that German teachers must learn the Turkish language to make it easier for the kids and the neo-nazis on the other end of the spectrum who try to create hatred against the minority - thankfully with little success so far.

I think it's not a religious issue at all, it's a cultural issue and Germany has to finally realize that we are a country with immigration and deal with it in an adult way. Then we can have laws like other immigration countries and set out the rules for immigrants. For example it's not a faith issue that women and men have equal rights, it's not in the Quran that Muslims must supress women. If we had immigration laws the immigrants would have to accept the constitution and laws of this country. There are (very few) problems with Islamistic imams and islamistic groups but they are handled by the police like other extremists.

I dunno how it works in European nations, but in Australia it comes as no surprise to me when there's an anti-Islamic sentiment.  First of all, there's a lot of racist assholes in my country.
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[/QUOTE]Second... this happens every generation or so.  Once upon a time, Germans (because of WWII) got a lot of crap for being here.  My Dad had to put up with that, being a migrant worker in the 60's.... but nowadays, they're that integrated that you really don't get a big anti-German sentiment here unless you talk to people with dementia.[/QUOTE]
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[/QUOTE]It just happens... the Germans, then Greeks, Vietnamise refugees, Lebanese... in no particular order.... when the public suddenly become aware (for whatever reason) of the presence of a particular minority, they go a bit mental about it for a while.[/QUOTE]
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[/QUOTE]I would really like to believe that the hubbub about Islam will pass, and that they'll be regarded (by the sane folk in my land, at least) as jsut as acceptable as anyone else.  Fuck's sake, we live in a stolen country anyway.. we could at least share the fucking thing![/QUOTE]

To be blunt; It's rampant here. America's pretty bad about it anyway, but it's especially bad in the Southern states.

I worked at a store and a guy who is Muslim owns it. His brother moved to town as well and is manager of the store. They are hilarious guys and I've known the owner for about 6 years. There's a few Muslim familes in my town, of about 6,000. I only recall about one person who hates Muslims in this town, and the guy is an old asshole anyways. I hear more rascism and hatred about black people.

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[b]Sweet Insanity wrote: [/b]

I worked at a store and a guy who is Muslim owns it. His brother moved to town as well and is manager of the store. They are hilarious guys and I've known the owner for about 6 years. There's a few Muslim familes in my town, of about 6,000. I only recall about one person who hates Muslims in this town, and the guy is an old asshole anyways. I hear more rascism and hatred about black people.
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The great thing about Newport is that people of all races, creeds and colours can unite in their dislike of you.

fatty.

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[b]ThomasQuinn wrote: [/b]

As a Dutchman, I have a pretty good view of Dutch public opinion, but I find it very difficult to establish the situation in other countries. Here, anti-islamic sentiments and anti-immigrant sentiments have pretty much become synonyms, and the situation is rapidly deteriorating, with a sizeable portion of the population (some 20% according to recent polls) taking a very hostile stand towards muslims and immigrants by supporting the political far right, and an increasing segment of the population (though still, fortunately, relatively small) actually advocating violence and murder towards muslims and immigrants.

Is the situation where you live similar to this, or is this something that is mercifully limited to Holland?
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Dear Thomas,

I hope you're doing fine.

You always bring up interesting thoughtful thread. Thanks for this.

I think the Brazilian perspective hardly matters here...lol...but, here it goes: we have absolutely no anti-muslim feeling. None at all. In fact, we're here very pro-Muslim and sympathetic to many of their plights in many regions of the world. We have a very big, large Muslim community in Brazil, and there have been post-graduate courses on Arab language, culture and literature, for instance, for a long time. We've had at least three direct translations of the egyptian and syriac versions of1001 Nights from Arabic into Portuguese; at least six or seven of the Q'ran. Both pre-Muslim Arab culture and Muslim Culture - caligraphy, religion, and so on - generate a lot of interest in people.

Take politics, for instance: Brazilians, even in foreign relations, tend to be much more sympathetic to Muslims in general, and Palestinians in particular, than to Israel - contrary to what happens in the U.S, I guess. 

Even though I'm Jewish, very religious - I was brought up in a quite strict hasidic tradition - and lived in Israel for a good deal of time, the only way I can relate to politics is through humanitarian work - the kind of work one does regardless of whether the victims are Muslims, Jews, Christians, Whites, Blacks...whenever brutality is committed and the most basic human rights of people are denied, no matter what's their religion or race, I get saddened. I work translating reports and articles for a Human Rights Organization and that's how I can relate to politics - being against the disrespect for human rights, the rule of law, violence in general, war, racism. I have no interest whatsoever in the official politics of the minor or major parties. 

Thanks for the thread, my dear, and take care!!!

Have a nice day!

Yara

There is very little if any visible anti-immigrant sentiment in my neighbourhood.
However, this lack of open racism is conpensated by the unreasonable level of open intolerance and hatred directed towards "normal everyday phenomenons" such as bicycling as a form of transport :)

@ Everyone:

So it looks like it's becoming more or less endemic to the western world. Hopefully, it'll just be a short episode, with less disastrous consequences than the anti-semitism of the early 20th century. Thank you for sharing your experiences on the subject; I must say that I recognize quite a bit of it. Scandinavia and South America seem to be coping quite well so far, so the rest of our nations might yet come to their senses...somewhat. As far as I am aware, there have always been xenophobic sentiments in pretty much every country, but I had not experienced anything quite so virulent as the last three to five years. Fortunately, it looks like the sane people still outnumber the bigots.

Unless you read the Telegraaf, Spits or GeenStijl of course :P

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[b]FriedChicken wrote: [/b]

Unless you read the Telegraaf, Spits or GeenStijl of course :P


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or the Daily Mail

Tabloids are of all times and places, I'm afraid. Just different guises.

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[b]Dan Corson V: December Boy wrote: [/b]

To be blunt; It's rampant here. America's pretty bad about it anyway, but it's especially bad in the Southern states.
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To be honest, I am not sure how true that is. 
I would say that, racism is equally distributed around the world.  And, most new studies show that, as older generations die, racism slowly creeps down.