Xenophobia
Xenophobia is an intense dislike and/or fear of people from other countries. It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself.
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As with all phobias, a xenophobic person is aware of the fear, and therefore has to genuinely think or believe at some level that the target is in fact a foreigner. This arguably separates xenophobia from racism and ordinary prejudice in that someone of a different race does not necessarily have to be of a different nationality. In various contexts, the terms "xenophobia" and "racism" seem to be used interchangeably, though they can have wholly different meanings (xenophobia can be based on various aspects, racism being based solely on race and ancestry).
For xenophobia there are two main objects of the phobia. The first is a population group present within a society that is not considered part of that society. Often they are recent immigrants, but xenophobia may be directed against a group which has been present for centuries. This form of xenophobia can elicit or facilitate hostile and violent reactions, such as mass expulsion of immigrants, pogroms, or in the worst case, genocide.
The second form of xenophobia is primarily cultural, and the objects of the phobia are cultural elements which are considered alien. All cultures are subject to external influences, but cultural xenophobia is often narrowly directed, for instance at foreign loan words in a national language. It rarely leads to aggression against individual persons, but can result in political campaigns for cultural or linguistic purification. Isolationism, a general aversion of foreign affairs, is not accurately described as xenophobia.
Examples
The expression of xenophobia is not limited to specific cultures, societies, or geographical regions and has been observed in a multitude of nations across the world.
Australia
Xenophobia has been documented in Australia since British colonisation. The early settlers had an attitude of racial superiority to the aboriginal inhabitants, persons whose culture was largely unknown to them, and the laws were very liberal for the rights of any European to claim land from the crown that had traditionally been lived on by aborigines. Aboriginal inhabitation of the land was not regarded as land ownership, and the aborigines were often violently evicted. The law would often protect any European who violently defended themselves and offered little recourse to any aborigine who felt themselves wronged. Deliberate murder of aborigines would often be hidden behind claims of self defense. An element of xenophobia may also have been present in the hostile responses by some Aboriginal communities even where white settlers attempted to peacefully coexist with them.
Colonial authorities and some of the more affluent settlers attempted to target Asian immigrants, and some anti Chinese laws were passed in the 1850s. Chinese people were feared because some felt that they could possibly colonise Australia themselves, and they were for the most part, not christians. Chinese labourers also undermined wages for European labourers as they were willing to accept worse working conditions and pay. There was also a racial element. One of the earliest voices raised against the Chinese was William Westgarth, a founder of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce. Westgarth rose in Victoria's parliament in 1853 to ask "whether it was the intention of the Government to adopt any measure for the exclusion of such population", and to ensure that they "or any other inferior race" were not "chargeable to the state". Anti Chinese feeling culminated in a massacre of Chinese gold miners who had raped some European women.
At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, a racial equality clause was brought forward by Japan. Australia's Prime minister Billy Hughes was opposed to this, even making threats to leave the conference if it was included. Hughes feared the impact that Japanese immigration may have in the likely event that Australian and Japan were to go to war, and one of the ramifications of the recognition would allow mass Japanese immigration to Australia.
A policy known as the White Australia policy was introduced. As the name stated, it was intended at restricting all non-white (Especially Asiatic) populations from existing inside Australia. Non-White populations were not included in the census, or permitted to vote, although persons with mixed white-aboriginal ancestry were included as part of the white population. In 1925, Prime Minister Stanley Bruce said:
"We intend to keep this country white"
—Stanley Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia in 1925., '
From the early 1860s until 1969 thousands of Aboriginal children were taken by force by missionaries, church officials, police and various government authorities under an official policy to "protect" these children, a policy that would become known as the Stolen Generation. The motivation behind these removals was primarily to "Breed Out" the aboriginal characteristics in mixed race children, in order to preserve "White Purity". Australian politicians were scared that coloured populations would end in dividing Australia in the same manner that led to the American Civil War, and men that masterminded the white Australia immigration policy, such as Arthur Calwell reckoned that populations that consisted of different peoples would inevitably fail, often citing the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as an example. It should be noted that small amounts of Asiatic persons were allowed to stay in Australia after world war 2, whilst others were forced out as undesirable citizens.
During the mid seventies, the government of Gough Whitlam removed the White Australia policy. Ironically Whitlam would also display signs of xenophobia in rejecting Vietnamese boat people who fled the communist victory.
In contemporary Australia, many university professors and other literati often argue that former prime minister John Howard politically exploited xenophobia during the Tampa incident. Others see the Cronulla riots as an example of xenophobia. Others still, on the other wing of politics, would argue that those incidents involved advertising resolve for the rule of law and provocation by the Islamic population in Sydney in terms of not condemning gang rapes of British and Irish Australian women by Islamic immigrants that often hid behind Islam and gang activities in Cronulla by Islamic youth. The issues behind xenophobia still remain controversial in Australia today.
North America
In Canada's western-most province of British Columbia, there has been a history of xenophobia towards people of Asian descent living there. In the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, people of Asian descent were considered savage and uncivilized people and racial violence occurred against members of the Chinese, Japanese, and Sikh communities during that time. For some time in Canada in the early twentieth century, a Chinese Head Tax existed, which was a discriminatory policy which forced Chinese immigrants to pay a fee in order to enter the country, which other immigrants did not have to do. In World War II, both Canada and the United States interned citizens of Japanese-descent as Japan was associated with the Axis Powers. Japanese were displayed as a vile and dangerous people in government propaganda. Japanese-American and Japanese-Canadian property was confiscated and not returned by Canadian and American authorities.
Europe
Xenophobia has been exhibited across the whole Europe by its various cultures and nationalities, both against non-Europeans and other Europeans.
In Europe there is growing trend on anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim sentiment. In Western Europe, the less educated, those over 50, and those with opinions on the political right tend to have negative opinions of both Muslims and Jews.[1]
Northern and Northwestern Europe
In Northern and Northwestern Europe, a variety of xenophobic trends have occurred throughout its history. These xenophobic trends have largely been focused towards a xenophobia that has reflected macro-historical trends, such as between people from Northern Europe and Southern Europe, between Catholics and Protestants and anti-semitism against persons of Jewish identity.
The worst era of xenophobia in this area and in Europe as a whole was during the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler in Germany which committed mass-persecution and genocide of Jews, Roma, Slavs, homosexuals, and various other minorities as well as political opponents. By the Nuremberg Laws, German born persons of Jewish faith were no longer able to retain German citizenship and were forced to fly flags representing their Jewish identity. Over six million Jews, most of whom were from countries outside of Germany, were deliberately murdered in a pre-meditated attempt to destroy the Jewish race. During the Nazi invasion of Russia, over twenty million Russian Slavs also died, representing a pitiless attitude to those that the Nazi doctrine deemed as only worthy of existing as German slaves.
During the past fifty years, most Northern European countries have experienced both European and non European immigration to an extent that in France today, only about half of the population is descended from its 19th century sires, with the trend existing to a lesser effect in other countries like Britain and Germany, causing some displacement to the indigenous inhabitants. This has resulted in a resurgence of xenophobic nationalism at the political level in countries like Germany and France towards minorities which both countrys' governments have set out to oppose. In Germany, xenophobia and neo-nazism has risen in response to increased immigration to Germany by among others, Turkish immigrants. In France, a history of xenophobia towards France's Muslim population, almost all of whom are either first or second generation immigrants, has existed for sometime, with political parties like the National Front campaigning on xenophobic views towards Muslim people in France.
Switzerland
The United Nations special rapporteur on racism, Doudou Diène, has observed that Switzerland suffers from racism, discrimination and xenophobia. The UN envoy explained that although the Swiss authorities recognised the existence of racism and xenophobia, they did not view the problem as being serious. Diène pointed out that representatives of minority communities said they experienced serious racism and discrimination.[1] - [2] [3] - More than half of the Swiss population are xenophobic [4] and two thirds want foreigners to be better integrated, according to a survey published in June 2006 which measures the development of xenophobic and rightwing extremist attitudes. This first type of data, which was not uncontroversial, tends to support observations made by anti-racist institutions, as well as outside observers.[5] Nevertheless, Switzerland has the highest immigrant population of any European country with more than one and a half million residents, as 23% of its 7.5 million residents are foreign-born.[6] And the foreign population permanently resident in Switzerland have also been raised in 2008 (by 5%).[7]
Balkans and Balkanisation
- See also: Balkanisation
Southeastern Europe Balkans and Balkanisation has been subject to degrees of xenophobia for many years and heighted xenophobia during the 20th century to present. Religious and ethnic divisions have caused antagonistic relations between the peoples of Southeastern Europe. The creation of Yugoslavia in 1918 led to escalating ethnic and religious rivalries and violence which fully exploded in World War II, when the Axis Powers backed xenophobic nationalist forces in Croatia to form an independent Croatian state which proceeded to persecute and kill hundreds of thousands of Serbs and Jews. Xenophobic nationalism amongst Serbs rose in response leading to ethnic violence against Croats and other ethnicities which Serb nationalists deemed as complicit with the destruction of Yugoslavia, such as Bosniaks and Albanians. These extreme nationalist forces were contained under the authoritarian rule of Communist dictator Joseph Broz Tito who repressed ethnic nationalism in Yugoslavia until his death in 1980. As the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia collapsed in the 1990s, xenophobic views between ethnicities who were rivals over territory began to develop. Atrocities, ethnic cleansing and genocide occurred during the Yugoslav wars between these ethnic groups, with the most atrocities being committed by military and paramilitary forces of the largest and most well-armed ethnic faction, the Serbs. Serb nationalists committed atrocities as acts of revenge for long-standing historical rivalries and disputes against Croats, Bosniaks, and Albanians who they claimed were occupying Serb lands and had to be ethnically cleansed. Bosniaks, Croats and Albanians also committed atrocities against Serbs. Since the collapse of Yugoslavia, ethnic Albanians, Bosniaks, and Croats typically have a negative and sometimes hostile outlook on Serbs, whose armed forces fought wars to keep Serbs united with Serbia and committed atrocities against all these groups. In turn, the primary rival to the Serb ultranationalists were Croat ultranationalists who saw Serbs as occupying Croatian lands and saw the Bosniak people as Muslim Croats who should be assimilated into Croatian culture, those who refused faced violence. Croatia has been effectively ethnically cleansed of Serbs. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of serious and large scale atrocities there caused the United Nations to intervene and push for the internal partition of Bosnia & Herzegovina into a Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) and a Bosniak-Croat federation (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). In turn, Serbs have an especially negative outlook on ethnic Albanians, Bosniaks, and Croats.
Japan
From 1641 to 1853, Japan had a policy of exclusion of virtually all foreigners (not merely an avoidance of foreign relations or isolationism), known as 'national closure', or sakoku. In the early 19th century, Mito scholars advocated jōi, the forceful expulsion of 'barbarians', though almost none existed there. By the middle of the 19th century, with outside pressure mounting, some Japanese scholars and leaders tied 'Western Learning' and 'Nativist Studies' (kokugaku) to a goal of nation building.[2] Nihonjinron, a widely popular type of nonfiction literature emerging in the second half of the 20th century, has been described as xenophobic,[3] though most of the works in the genre lack this element.
Dominican Republic
In Dominican Republic, according to Amnesty International, the United Nations, and The Human Rights Watch, physical attacks against Haitians have increased since 1992 and reports of the lynching of Haitians surfaced as late as 2006. [4] Homes of suspected Haitians are sometimes burned to the ground and police roundups of "Haitian looking" people are conducted on a regular basis. According to another New York Times report in 2004, grandchildren and great grandchildren of Haitians are denied birth certificates, medical care, education and social services because of their race and decendancy.[5] [6] [7] [8] In 2007 the United Nations found "profound and entrenched" racism at all levels of Dominican society, including within families. [8] [9]
Middle East
The Middle East is subject to multiple disputes along religious and ethnic lines which have involved xenophobia, especially in Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian National Authority, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Iraq. In Egypt, discrimination against the Coptic minority has only slowly decreased, with some among the Coptic minority have xenophobic attitudes towards Muslims and Arabs. In Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, continuous violence between Jews and Arabs over disputed territory has created xenophobic sentiment amongst the two sides as well as in many Muslim countries towards Israel. On the island of Cyprus, the land is divided between Greeks and Turks who both have claims on the island. Civil violence has occurred in Cyprus between Greeks and Turks. In Lebanon, xenophobia has increased towards Palestinian Arab refugees who a number of Lebanese see as causing instability in their country. In Iraq, religious and ethnic tensions have exploded since the Iraq War began in 2003. Religious sectarian violence exists, as Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims have engaged in violent attacks on each other, while in the north, ethnic tensions are high between the Kurds and Arabs in northern Iraq and Turks in neighbouring Turkey. The Assyrians, a Christian minority, suffer persecutions from Arabs, Kurds and Turks.
South Africa
South Africa has had continual problems with xenophobia, most infamously under apartheid rule by the white-minority led government during the twentieth century. Under apartheid, black South Africans were automatically second-class citizens, who could not vote, could not participate in the political affairs of the country, and were not allowed to access facilities and public places that were designated for white South African use only. The apartheid government of South Africa was belligerent to neighbouring African countries, occupying Namibia whose people demanded independence, supporting white-minority rule in the former Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) and waging war in Angola. Apartheid rule came to an end in the 1990s and South Africa's new constitution committed the country to creating a multicultural South Africa in which blacks and whites could live in equality, but tensions between the races remain.
A new phenomenon in South Africa has been increasing xenophobia towards foreigners by South Africa's black majority.[9] A series of attacks against foreigners in South African townships in May 2008. The attacks originated in the township of Alexandra, an impoverished suburb of Johannesburg. An influx of foreigners in recent years, most notably 2–4 million Zimbabweans (roughly a quarter of the population of Zimbabwe), has led to social tension. Poor local residents believe foreigners are in direct competition for jobs and living space, and many incidents of crime are also blamed on these foreigners. More than 60 foreigners were reportedly killed in the attacks with roads barricaded and police battling with the protesters. [10] Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has since called on the South African National Defence Force to help the SAPS (South African Police Service) to prevent any further killings of immigrants. Xenophobic violence also spread to the Western Cape in Du Noon in Milnerton with hundreds of terrified foreigners forced to run for their lives. [11]
See also
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References
- ↑ Kohut, Andrew (October 30, 2008). "Xenophobia on the Continent". Pew Global Attitudes Project.
- ↑ Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashi, Anti-Foreignism and Western Learning in Early-Modern Japan, Council on East-Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1986. ISBN 0674040376
- ↑ Befu, Harumi, Hegemony of Homogeneity, Melbourne: Trans-Pacific Press, 2001.
- ↑ Dominican Republic: Haitian Workers Face Deportations, Rights Violations in Dominican Republic, Amnesty International Investigation Finds
- ↑ Dominican Republic: A life in transit - The plight of Haitian migrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent | Amnesty International
- ↑ http://www.http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/786433623r246231/
- ↑ http://www.websterfl.edu/~corbetre/haiti//misctopic/dominican/conception.htm
- ↑ Haiti: Conceptions of Haiti in the D.R
- ↑ The Pogroms in South Africa: a crisis in citizenship, Mute Magazine, June 2008 http://www.metamute.org/en/the_pogroms_in_south_africa_a_crisis_in_citizenship
External links
- Anti-immigrant xenophobia in the US
- Stories of Culture and Living in Foreign Cultures Compiled by The Glimpse Foundation
- Nationalism and xenophobia in Russia, SOVA Center's reports and daily updates on xenophobia in Russia
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