As the racist, Islamophobic, sexist and anti-LGBT+ Donald Trump accepted the oath of office in front of an embarrassingly-small crowd, another small gathering of equally ignorant people was taking place across the Atlantic. In Germany, European nationalist leaders were having a meeting to discuss how to “wake up” white Europe and expand their own political power.
“2016 was the year when the Anglo-Saxon world woke up. And 2017, I am sure, will be the year of the awakening of the people of continental Europe,” said Marine Le Pen.
The attendees of the meeting were European right-wing political leaders and members of The Europe of Nations and Freedom group in the European Parliament. Two of the most notable leaders present were Marine Le Pen, who could very well be the next president of France, and the vocally anti-Islam Geert Wilders, whose party could become the biggest in the Netherlands as soon as March. Together, the two, with help from the other guests, hope that they will be able to achieve a similar victory to Trump and consequently bring the same divisive politics to Europe.
There are many similarities between Trump, Wilders and Le Pen (aside from the two men’s obvious love for ridiculously fluffy, blond and strangely combed hairdos). For example, their economic protectionism, anti-establishment, anti-immigration, anti-E.U. and most notably their “The people of my country first, always” mindset. However, they don’t seem to include Muslims or refugees as people in their countries. They are at least willing to sacrifice the rights and protections of these groups to bring back a romanticized idea of “nation states.”
One of the most troublesome and mind-boggling concepts that these people have convinced themselves of is that white people in Europe are somehow oppressed because of their nationalities and ethnicities. When Marine Le Pen was praising Trump, she said that “He will not support a system of oppression of the people.” And as they are openly racist and anti-Muslim (Le Pen went to trial for Islamophobic remarks and Wilders has been “found guilty of Inciting racial discrimination”), I would say that It’s pretty safe to say that when they say “people” they mean white people.
Now, of course, white people can experience economic stress, unemployment and a lack of opportunities to improve their life, but so can everyone else. The problem is that the white nationalist leaders present at the conference seem to think that those are problems white people face exclusively. They also claim that the roots of most problems can be found in immigration, the refugee crisis, a globalized society and the failures of establishment politicians and that the solution is protectionism and closed borders. Recently, they have been singling out immigration as the main culprit. When, in fact, immigration has many positive effects on the economy.
It is important to remember that regardless of whether or not letting refugees into our countries is “economically beneficial” or not, we have to let them in because we should help fellow humans regardless of anything. The refugee crisis is first and foremost a crisis for the refugees, who have been forced to leave their homes and entire lives behind to escape war and death, not for the people who already live in safety.
While I agree that white Europe needs to wake up, I don’t agree with anything else they said. White Europeans aren’t oppressed, and economic problems such as unemployment won’t be solved by blaming immigrants, people of color, globalization, the media or the establishment. Moreover, it isn’t reasonable or remotely human to claim you’re “the victims” in a situation where the supposed “oppressors” are people fleeing war, persecution and death because you would rather not have to think about or deal with that reality. Your comfort isn’t more important than people’s right to live.
White Europeans need to wake up, realize their privilege and stop making up ways in which they are being oppressed so that we can actually come up with solutions for the problems facing Europe and the world.
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